I bought my first car in 1965, at 18 — a white sporty Triumph Spitfire that I was extremely happy and proud to own. I loved cars, so I saved my money from my apprenticeship in Switzerland, but of course, my mother helped me a little bit. In it, I was a little king—a very young king!
I passed my driving test the first time, and then drove my car to Rome, where I went to work at my first job. This was risky, because the Romans in those days were driving like mad! No respect for anybody else, especially not for foreigners.
At 18, with a new car, I was very worried about driving into Rome, but I made it, and stayed there for 8 months, and touch wood, nothing happened, so I felt quite lucky! I was lucky and disciplined, so never got a speeding ticket.
I had quite a few girlfriends because the girls loved the car and it was fantastic, because in Rome there are lots of lovely young girls and I was a young man! I walked a lot, because it was difficult with traffic and parking, but I would go to Ostia, the seaside outside Rome, to swim and have a good day out and eat good food.
Back in Switzerland, I still owned the car, but a year later I was offered a job in Montreal, in Canada. What was I to do? Keep the car or sell it?
I decided to sell the car. It broke my heart, but in hindsight it was a good decision. It would have been in storage for 3 years, which is a long time. I always had happy experiences with the car—happy driving, happy girlfriends.
Today, I drive a Mercedes 500 SL—it’s sporty, ’86 vintage, very fast—red (it has to be red). I love red cars. I also own a Jaguar E-Type, which is also very nice.
As told to Sunalini Mathew
