This was when I moved away from the VW badge, but stayed within the “family”. Lee and I were driving through Westerham one day and I suggested we should visit a garage, which had been well-known to us for decades. This was a former Volkswagen dealership, Wolfe Garage which had undergone a change of identity and was now Westerham Garage. This establishment now displayed the stylised ‘S’ of the Spanish manufacturer SEAT.
Since coming under the corporate umbrella of the Volkswagen group, SEAT has made tremendous progress in design and quality of their products. I had been considering this move to SEAT for some time and so it was that we came to be looking around the forecourt at this dealership. Before long Lee called to me, “Dad, I think I’ve found your next car!” I went to see what he had come up with. It turned out to be a 1997 SEAT Toledo. I was utterly smitten! This car was finished in VWs gorgeous Tornado Red, and had covered only 9,841 miles from new. It had a 2 litre engine with Bosch Digifant multi-point fuel injection and 4-speed, automatic transmission, which I was looking for. It was also fitted with a long list of desirable features. Half-leather interior, height adjustment to both front seats, split-folding rear seat with a folding arm-rest, air-conditioning, electric windows, electric sunroof, electric adjustment and heating of rear-view mirrors, adjustable headlamps, twin airbags, self-tensioning seat-belts, bi-directional steering wheel adjustment, boot spoiler, side-skirts, front and rear fog-lights, alloy wheels, ABS, traction control, electronic differential lock, remote central-locking, immobiliser and engine undertray. The boot was cavernous, which is why the diesel version of this model was so popular as a taxi.
Needless to say, I sought out the salesman, Bill Foreman, and we came to a very amicable agreement. A few days after getting the Toledo home I discovered that it had been supplied as new, by SEAT Special Operations Centre at Dover. I rang the number and was told that this unit takes new cars and prepares them for inspection and review by the press. This explained the full list of “goodies”, which I had inherited!
I had owned this one for just seven months and 4,000 miles, when a clown in a Landrover Freelander ploughed into the driver’s side and it was written off!
I was driving up an incline in Tonbridge at 30 mph, with my daughter, Sarah, in the front passenger’s seat. This is a wide road, which bears right before going over a wide, flat bridge. Approaching this gentle right hand bend the centre of the road is cross-hatched to separate the opposing lanes of traffic. When I first saw the approaching Landrover it was apparent that it was not following the contour of the bend, i.e. bearing to the left, but was coming straight at me, over the “no go” area! I had no time to take evasive action and indeed, I had nowhere to go! (It has just crossed my mind, as I write this, that it happened two years ago yesterday!) I was driving only a foot from my nearside kerb, but I squeezed over to my left and hoped I could avoid him. This was, unfortunately, not to be and this unwieldy, tank-like vehicle struck my Toledo just ahead of the offside rear wheel. I remember the noise of the impact and then the gyration as we were spun through 180 degrees and finished up in roughly the same spot but facing the way we had come.
It took Sarah and me several seconds to regain our orientation and we then realised that the car was full of smoke and fine dust. Both airbags had deployed, dispersing the talc with which they are coated and both pyrotechnic seat belt tensioners had fired, and these accounted for the smoke and the acrid smell of cordite. We were neither of us badly injured and we made a hurried exit from the car. About sixty yards back down the road we could see the back of the offending vehicle, which was stationary on its wrong side of the road. I looked around my SEAT and could see that the damage was quite severe.
Sarah and I were both shaken and somewhat distressed that no-one had come to our assistance, save for a passing motorist going in the other direction, who stopped his car and shouted across to ask if we were OK. I answered that we seemed to be as well as could be expected and he went on his way. As we walked down towards the Landrover we could see that several people were clustered around it. When we drew level with it we realised that it had collided head-on with another car and the lady driver of that car, a Vauxhall Corsa was injured, though not seriously.
No-one in the crowd that had gathered had realised that he had smashed into us first. People then began to rally round and we were given assistance, and the use of a telephone, from which we summoned Susan from work and Lee from his home. An ambulance then arrived and the crew attended to the Corsa driver and prepared to leave. I went to the driver and told him that Sarah and I had been involved in the first collision. He was most apologetic, but he was in no way at fault because he could not have known. When he caught sight of Sarah with her obvious short stature, he became quite concerned about her well-being. She was quick to put his mind at rest and so the ambulance left.
The car was taken away and eventually, after the usual fight with the insurance company I received a pay-out. It did not come up to what I considered the value to be, but was better than they first offered.
Some time after this accident I found myself, one afternoon, alone in a room with a woman of about forty years old. I was lying on a couch, flat on my back, wearing nothing but my underpants! This lady then approached, carrying a long leather belt! I was instructed to bring my knees up and keep my feet flat on the couch. When I complied with this order she proceeded to climb up on the couch, at the foot end and facing me. Kneeling in this position she passed the leather strap behind my bent knees and around her own waist, buckling it at what she judged to be the correct length! She then leaned back, the strap pulling on my knees and indirectly stretching my spine! Having previously had experience of National Health physiotherapy I was surprised, to say the least, at this “hands on” approach to the treatment by a “Private” practitioner and began to wonder what might happen next! Maybe I should explain.
Along with my comprehensive insurance I had taken out a legal cover policy. This covered me for legal costs in the event of my making a claim for personal injury and suchlike. After the accident I noticed that my lower back was quite painful, so the other man’s insurance company agreed to pay for a consultation and treatment with a private physiotherapist. This, I hope, explains why I found myself in this somewhat compromising situation.
To return to the subject of “Wheels”. Needless to say I was pretty pissed off at the loss of my red Toledo, but had to set about the business of finding a replacement.
Lee found the next one, advertised on the internet, by a garage in Guildford, Surrey. The car is a 1999 SEAT Toledo SE 20V automatic, a totally redesigned model. The colour is a deep, metallic blue, designated Imperial Blue by the manufacturers. Under the bonnet is the ubiquitous VW 1.8 litre 4-cylinder “lump” with five valves per cylinder. I am now quite committed to SEAT, and find this a really comfortable and refined vehicle. It has almost everything “on-board” that the red one had, plus a six-CD changer, climate control in place of standard air-conditioning and cruise control. This last feature has been something of a revelation to me. Never having used this before I assumed that I would set it at about 70 on the motorway and leave it to get on with it. Whilst this is so, I have found the cruise control to be much more useful in looking after speed limits, from 30mph upwards! It may not please “white van man” behind, but I intend keeping my clean licence!
D.I.Y. servicing these days is confined almost entirely to checking engine oil and topping up the washer bottle. On opening the bonnet one is faced with a baffling array of components, which do nothing to encourage the keen owner to delve. The mileometer has a secondary function, which is to display the word “service” when the car decides it requires attention! What is the world coming to?
The most recent acquisition in the family is Susan’s Passat. I persuaded her to buy a newer car in order that she could benefit from modern safety features. She drives to work each day throughout the year and ABS and airbags I consider to be very worthwhile advances in motoring. This car is a 1998 Passat Saloon with the same 1.8 20V engine as my Toledo. In this instance though, it drives through a 5-speed manual gearbox. The bodywork is finished in gleaming Tornado Red, the same colour as my first SEAT. The interior has dark grey cloth upholstery and some quite tasteful polished wood trim, bi-directional steering wheel adjustment and climate control. We are fortunate enough to now own two very smart, reliable and comfortable cars.
Back in 1967 I made a decision to buy a Volkswagen and I often smile at what has flowed from that decision over the intervening years. Susan bought her Beetle at my suggestion and several other people also followed my advice back in the 70s.
Lee changed his Beetle for an Audi Coupé, and then had a string of company cars before buying an Audi 80 V6. He now has another company car, coincidentally a Passat Estate.
John has had so many cars that I am hard-pressed to remember them all. First of all he had our 1984 Passat, then a Polo G.T. and a Scirocco. Returning from university he had company cars for a while, before setting out in business with two friends. Needing a car, he bought a 1991 Passat, but his love has always been the Polo. He next bought the car he had wanted for some time, a Polo G40. To the uninitiated, and to all outward appearance, this is an ordinary Mark 3 Polo. Under the bonnet however, there resides a supercharger which imparts to this 1300cc engine, performance which is nothing short of phenomenal! This is the original pocket-rocket, which will see off pretty well anything in its class. After having enormous fun with this, John went on to own what must be every young man’s dream. A Porsche 911! Well, what can I say about this thoroughbred, which has not already been said. Just fantastic!
To return to the theme on which I set out in this section. John’s friend, David, has a Passat and his business partner, Fernie, having run a Passat for some time, now has an Audi S2. Finally John’s girlfriend has a Polo and her parents have just bought a Passat, their first VW. This might be coincidence, but with John around to lend a little persuasion, what do you think?