This was the first private car that my Dad had owned since the 1970's as we always had company cars. This Kadett had belonged to my Grandad, and was his first ever brand new car. When he scored a nearly new Peugeot 309 from someone he knew at the Rowleys Green Social Club (now demolished), we bought it from him.

The 309 he replaced the Opel with had been standing in the Peugeot factory car park at Ryton for quite some time. Although it was less than two years old, it had been resprayed (red) yet had some silver panels too (at the front and the rear). Dodgy, that's all I'm saying. Even I wouldn't buy a car from a bloke down the pub.

For some reason he decided to go for the Opel version rather than the Vauxhall Astra route. I always thought that this was cool. It was also a quite shocking Pistachio Green colour (the photo doesn't do it justice) with tartan orange interior. Maybe he got a discount. We certainly never lost it in a car park that's for sure.

We only ever saw one other car in this colour (another Kadett as it happened), and that was in the Rhine Valley, Germany. We were shocked that someone else had chosen this colour. I wonder how many Pistachio Opels were sold? I really liked this car, although it seemed to need a new exhaust every 18 months or so.

It wasn't in too bad a nick when we eventually sold it to my cousin Jean. I think she crashed it, but i'm not sure. I know she eventually sold it and I remember seeing some baseball hatted types driving it. It was in a right old state then, all dented panels and rusty. Maybe they'd nicked it. These Astra / Kadetts used to be everywhere but when was the last time you saw one? I don't care what anyone says - they're proper classics now.