Dagger Europe Car

Alas, my Dagger Europe car (I bet you can't guess which of these images it is) is no longer. It was MOT time and sadly, since some thieves tried to steal it (don't think it would have given them much street cred to drive around in a beaten up Nissan Micra!!) the windscreen washer lever was snapped off and temporarily (for 6 months) fixed with a screw and the passenger door didn't open any more. The lights also had major wiring problems and (as you can see from the picture) a fair amount of rust was gathering. The engine was still going strong though - after 17 years and 130,000+ miles, but unfortunately the niggling problems above, which would have failed it on its MOT, weren't worth fixing.

Quite surprisingly a man from a scrap yard gave me £100 cash for it (and towed it away for me).
I have had the car for as long as I've been paddling at Hurley (about 10 years) and its taken me on hundreds of trips there. The £25 Paddy Hopkirk roofracks, which I put on temporarily to last me the first summer until I bought some more expensive Thule ones, were still there (the rust ensured they stayed put, although I didn't dare use them over the last couple of years, I also didn't dare take them off in case that was all that was holding the roof in one piece!). It also had its own rare varieties of moss growing along the top of the bonnet and the roof.

Over the years I have spent almost no money on it - just a few consumerables: exhaust, tyres, brakes, one battery - and it only broke down once (which was easily fixable by the nice man from the AA - cleaning the carburettor). Amazingly I never once topped up the oil - the oil was pretty black and gloopy though as it hadn't had many oil changes either!

When I first got the car I could do a journey to Nottingham (2 and 1/2 hr journey) and back for £20, the last time I went there it cost well over £35, it is now getting very expensive to go paddling anywhere other than locally. Unfortunately though a car is a necessity when paddling so I'm hoping I will be able to find another reliable vehicle soon - if anyone could provide me with one like that in the top right-hand picture, I would be most grateful!