Why an SLK??
Well, apart from a tiny 6 month period in 2009, I have had a company car since 1995.
That's 24 years of driving nice wheels, but being taxed a sh*tloads!!.
Very grateful too, always appreciated the priviledge of being able to choose lovely cars every three of four years.
My last one was a BMW 5 series, lovely car, automatic and effortless.
But......but.......I'm not the kind of person who 'feels' right in a big exec car......sure I had the jobs and stuff but deep down I'm a Strat playing Surfer who always- ALWAYS - wanted a Delorean or a Chevy Blazer from 1985 haha.
I used to see myself getting out of the Bimmer and inside just laughed at the idiocy of 'me' driving such a corporate beast....I felt like a fraud.
So this May sees me being made redundant after nine years and very quickly needing to 'buy'.....yes BUY my own car to allow me to get to interviews and stuff, y'know, regular driving requirements.
So off I went in search of the usual suspects for a respectable 53 year old....Audi A4, BMW3, Mondeos, etc..basically straight back to corporate responsibility, saloon exec stuff, appropriate for a job seeker in middle mgt.
Then whilst at a 2nd hand dealer near my house, this little car was giving me the come on. I ignored it and perused the row of 5 door sensible cars and focused on well, Focuses.......but this silver fox juuuuuust kept coming into my peripheral and eventually, I thought, what the hell, sure, I can walk the corp walk, talk the corp talk, but do I want to drive the corp drive? on my own dollar? Aw Hell No! so I slapped my money down and drove home in a car that until that day I had never dreamed of owning.
Two months on and I can safely say that I have not stopped grinning when I fall into the drivers seat, drop the top and wield that heavy steering wheel into submission and take it out for an interview or round to the supermarket for no real reason.
It's fun, its funky, it's cool, it's a great antidepressant, it's not very common and above all, I feel like myself in it.
Sure I like the big freeway bullets and admire a nice BMW or Audi but do I miss them? Nope. Because the weren't 'me' and they weren't really mine.
This great car is both.
Never had a Merc before but this 06 plate roadster may well be the beginning of a new love affair.
Well, apart from a tiny 6 month period in 2009, I have had a company car since 1995.
That's 24 years of driving nice wheels, but being taxed a sh*tloads!!.
Very grateful too, always appreciated the priviledge of being able to choose lovely cars every three of four years.
My last one was a BMW 5 series, lovely car, automatic and effortless.
But......but.......I'm not the kind of person who 'feels' right in a big exec car......sure I had the jobs and stuff but deep down I'm a Strat playing Surfer who always- ALWAYS - wanted a Delorean or a Chevy Blazer from 1985 haha.
I used to see myself getting out of the Bimmer and inside just laughed at the idiocy of 'me' driving such a corporate beast....I felt like a fraud.
So this May sees me being made redundant after nine years and very quickly needing to 'buy'.....yes BUY my own car to allow me to get to interviews and stuff, y'know, regular driving requirements.
So off I went in search of the usual suspects for a respectable 53 year old....Audi A4, BMW3, Mondeos, etc..basically straight back to corporate responsibility, saloon exec stuff, appropriate for a job seeker in middle mgt.
Then whilst at a 2nd hand dealer near my house, this little car was giving me the come on. I ignored it and perused the row of 5 door sensible cars and focused on well, Focuses.......but this silver fox juuuuuust kept coming into my peripheral and eventually, I thought, what the hell, sure, I can walk the corp walk, talk the corp talk, but do I want to drive the corp drive? on my own dollar? Aw Hell No! so I slapped my money down and drove home in a car that until that day I had never dreamed of owning.
Two months on and I can safely say that I have not stopped grinning when I fall into the drivers seat, drop the top and wield that heavy steering wheel into submission and take it out for an interview or round to the supermarket for no real reason.
It's fun, its funky, it's cool, it's a great antidepressant, it's not very common and above all, I feel like myself in it.
Sure I like the big freeway bullets and admire a nice BMW or Audi but do I miss them? Nope. Because the weren't 'me' and they weren't really mine.
This great car is both.
Never had a Merc before but this 06 plate roadster may well be the beginning of a new love affair.