My first car … Joe McFadden

Published on 01/09/2012 16:43

SOMEHOW I managed to pass my driving test at 17, having rushed my lessons due to the dread of the imminent, reportedly impossible theory test that was about to be introduced in the UK.

Unbeknownst to me it would take a further five years for it to be implemented and 15 years later I would have to sit it anyway in order to gain my motorbike licence for the TV show Heartbeat.

My dad and I trundled off to the car auction at the Gallowgate in Glasgow and I bought a mint green Peugeot 205 for £1,800. Whoever said green cars were unlucky was right on the money where this banger was concerned. I had to fork out the same again just to make it roadworthy. At that age I naively assumed that dad’s bonnet-bouncing and tyre-kicking must have meant he knew a thing or two about cars – an illusion soon shattered. On the plus side, I got to know all the various parts of a car from the drive shaft to a fuel gasket as they all had to be replaced on this jalopy.

Being a fair bit older and arguably wiser I now know that there’s a lot to be said for going to a dealer and getting a warranty. After the hassle of constant repairs I vowed, when I could afford it, I’d buy a new car and was over the moon when I fulfilled this wish with a convertible VW Golf which I purchased with my paycheck from the Iain Banks drama The Crow Road. «

Joe McFadden stars in Haunting Julia at The King’s Theatre, Edinburgh, Tuesday 9 to Saturday 13 October, 7.30pm. www.edtheatres.com