Another of my Dads' many company cars. This was one of the first Mark 4 Escorts, and although it had tinted windows and a 1.4 litre engine (an improvement on the previous Escort B547YMJ) it was decidedly tinnier and had developed quite a few rust bubbles when it left us barely a year and a half later.

Thinner, cheaper metal has seen most of these cars either dissolved and / or scrapped. I see more Mark 3's than 4's on the roads today, although a few of the last of the line G / H reg (1989 - 1991) Eclipse special editions are still buzzing around (either Blue or Maroon in colour). Maybe the paint and rust proofing was better?

I can remember the day that D186 OKP arrived in our lives. It was always a big occasion for me going to school in the morning, then coming back home in the afternoon to find a new car on the driveway - I loved that new car smell.

I was 10 years old and still at primary school -the picture shows my Mum, Brother and me at the local park with our own dog combo, Bob and Sally, (Bob was the grandson and Sally was his grandmother). Tracksuits were the height of fashion back then you know - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

My dad could do upwards of 1000 miles a week in his company cars, and 60,000 plus miles was not uncommon when the cars went back after a year and a half or so. That was big mileage for a car that was less than 2 years old, and frankly, I'm surprised that this one made it as far as 11 years old.

I wonder where the car spent the rest of its days and who owned it? You can find this information out from the DVLA but it costs money and time and I don't have a lot of either.