Car collection of the 17yr old Craig

Probably to most people, this wouldn’t be considered the garage of dreams but to me, this is the start of exactly that.

At the age of 17 I passed my test, in just under 4 weeks. I had booked my theory for my birthday itself and then went on to book my practical for the next available time. That time was 4 weeks and as Ipswich was booked up well beyond 4 weeks the closest slot I could get was Clacton. With the help of my amazing instructor I passed my test 1st time.

Aside from the little Mini I had to drive around the fields in as a kid I bought my first actual car 6 months prior to my 17th birthday and although it never moved I would often spend my weekends pushing it in and out of the garage to give it a clean. That car was my 1998 Citroen Saxo VTR.

Fast forward now to 2021 and I took a call from my friend Luke who just so happened to see an advert for a matching Citroen Saxo VTR, same colour, same interior…even the same year! I took a trip up north to view this 20,000 mile, totally original example and it brought back so many amazing memories. Even smelt like my old car. There began the start of my small but sentimental car collection.

Then came the purchase of my 1998 Lotus Elise, the car that many 17 year olds dreamt of owning but extortionate insurance costs put a stop to that ever happening! I found my Lotus in H&H Auctions for sale as part of the race driver Jeff Ward collection.

Having covered just 11,000 miles from new and still boasting a 100% factory specification this little Lotus was just too good to be true.

Finally, well I should I say ‘next up’ because hopefully this won’t be the final car is my 2000 Peugeot 306 Cabriolet.

Believe it or not, as a 17yr old the Peugeot 306 Cabriolet was the car I wanted to own but again, due to insurance and the cost of the car at the time, this was beyond my reach. 22 years on I see this incredible 13,000 mile example go through CCA (Classic Car Auctions) in Warwick and as we planned on a trip there for the auction I thought I’d give it a go and guess what…I won!

So now I’m the proud owner of 3 cars from my past and hopefully I’ll continue to find good examples of the cars I wished I’d have owned.

Thanks to our good friend Alan Kenny, the incredibly talented man behind the majority of the Silverstone, Iconic, CCA photographs for letting me have a copy of all of his images.