That's a mini. I have owned three of them over the years and these are their stories.

I bought the first one, a 1964 Morris Cooper (998 cc long stroke) in the middle of doing my Higher School Certificate. This made my parents extremely happy, they appeared to have the impression I wasn't fully concentrating on this most important activity I would ever be involved in. Probably correct.

Anyway I'd decided I wanted something newer and nippier than the 1956 Isis I had bought from my father. I couldn't afford a Cooper S but a few early Coopers were the right price. I found one that sounded OK, I was working at the weekend so father - who had been a mechanic for 30 years - went to check it out. Apparently the owner had done something to the brakes which rendered it unsuitable. I suspect this was more about trying to get me thinking about exams rather than cars, but no such luck. I found another one, cheaper, and we got it. It was similar to the model in the picture, in that it was green with a white roof, but it was very nasty - a previous owner had covered a good proportion of the interior with that sticky paper that you used to line drawers with, in an extremely tacky woodgrain design. I eventually got it looking halfway decent but the motor needed work, so we pulled it out and fitted rings and bearings.

After we reassembled it we couldn't get it to fire on all four. So the old man just stayed up, fiddling and farting about and I still remember as if it was yesterday the sound, at about 2 am, when he got it going right. The neighbours must have loved it (although one, with whom my parents were friendly, used to run a car repair business from his garage. Illegal? You bet. Did he get picked up for it? No - he was an ex-copper).

The early Coopers had the rubber cone suspension and driving this thing up to Sydney was a real experience - the road alongside Lake George used to be a real goat track and even with seat belts, you spent more time banging your head on the roof than sitting in the seat. And sleeping in a mini is a bit of an art, too.

A few years later I was sharing a house with some blokes, one of whom owned a Triumph TR5. This was a lovely piece of work and they were very rare - I bet he wishes he still owned it. But he wanted to ditch it so we trawled the used car yards together. At one yard we found two Datsun 240Z's and it was tempting to trade both our cars, as I owned a Triumph 2500 Pi at that time. However he did the trade and I didn't.

That said, the itch to change cars again was running strong so I went to Sydney. I very nearly traded the Pi on a Jaguar E-type: would have meant a truckload of debt (and woe, probably) so I shied away but it was very tempting at the time. I hadn't seen much else that caught my attention until I ran across a Mini K (1100cc) in that pride of place spot at the front of a car yard that is designed to catch your attention. It had been lightly warmed up and seemed OK, the real benefit was it would be a back trade and so I drove home to Canberra with the non-standard exhaust a happy burble in my ears - and vibration in my seat - and a few dollars in my pocket.

I owned that one for a year or so until I met the young lady who would eventually become Mrs VVB and we needed extra cash, so the K went for something - actually, several somethings - older and cheaper again.

The last Mini we had was when we were in Pakistan. I bought it from friends at the British Embassy - it was a standard 1000cc model, but I put a little steering wheel on it (the same friends got that out from England as there was nothing like that available in Pakistan) and it was a good little runabout. Mrs VVB was taught to drive in it by my boss's wife, after my attempts looked like ending our marriage prematurely - Pakistan is not the best place to learn to drive as any 'rules' are observed in the breach, including traffic lights. Anyway the boss's wife pronounced Mrs VVB as having been successfully taught, so I wrote a letter to the authorities that she should be issued with a licence, and she was. (Subsequently we went to Singapore where, on production of her Pakistani licence and after an eyesight test, she got a Singapore licence. Then we came home and she produced her Singapore licence - a much better one than from Pakistan, you will agree - and after an eyesight test, she got an ACT licence. Never having sat a test in any of the three countries).

The only downside to the Mini in Pakistan - apart from no airconditioning which was a bit of a bugger in summer - was its size. We used to go for long weekends up in Peshawar or further, in the Swat valley. In Pakistan the long distance buses -with bald tyres, people on the roof and lots of gaily flashing lights - operate on a 'first in, best served' basis, where they compete for the next fare. So we would be happily tootling up the Grand Trunk road to Peshawar and suddenly be confronted by three buses line abreast - on a two lane road - racing for the next passengers standing alongside the road. Very scary.

If I was to look for a 'fun' car to have at some stage in the future, a Mini would be high on the list. You never really lose the feeling they give you.