APRIL 2019 33ME AND MY CAR
life’s too short to drive boring cars,” he
reasons, “and I’d always fancied the BMW
2002 Touring.” So, there you are – even
the most critical eyes in automotive design
can appreciate this fabulously pleasing
model growing, as it is, in stature alongside
its traditionally more popular saloon sibling.
“I’ve always owned unusual cars,” he
continued. “I had a modifi ed Singer
Chamois as my fi rst car, which my dad
helped me restore. It had 6x13in Weller
wheels, a twin-choke carb, bucket seats
and a Janspeed exhaust. It was ace! Then,
when that got written-off by an idiot driving
into it, I took the engine out and put it in
a Ginetta G15, again with the help of my
dad. I’ve recently bought another one that
needs completely restoring, so I’m hoping
to do that one myself.”AUTOMOTIVE ADVENTURES
“Having sold that fi rst G15, I had a Mk1
MX-5 for about six months, before selling
that to pay for my master’s degree.”
Paul’s automotive adventures were really
building a head of steam by this point. His
then-girlfriend (now wife) handed over
her Audi A3 but, after a few months hegot bored and chopped it in for an Alfa
Romeo GTV 3.0 V6. However, the colossal
running costs and slightly disappointing
driving experience soon saw the Alfa being
replaced by a Peugeot 106 Rallye.
This, in turn, made way for a Fiat Panda
100HP, before Paul again decided to
change tack and sit himself in something
a bit more classic – this time a car rather
closer to our hearts, an E28 5 Series BMW.
“I bought myself a beautiful one-owner
E28 525e,” he beamed. “I owned that car
for a year, before buying a Porsche 944
as I’d always wanted one for its big archesPaul Howse may well be
surrounded by McLarens
every day, but there’s
nowhere he’d rather be than
in his classic 2002 Touring.