IN THIS COLUMN The wonder years "There's a hole in my muffler!" Car cum home Memories with Mavis

Anyway, a couple of weeks go by and we get the call that our maroon two-door Galaxie is in. We all go down to get it. Dad gets in the car, turns the key and says, "Aaargh. Jeeeez. What's that?" He starts screaming at the salesmen. "There's a hole in the muffler. There's a goddamn hole in the muffler!"

The salesman says, "But you ordered the muffler delete package." Then my dad says, "But why would I order that?" The salesman brings over the order form with the muffler delete pack ticked. So my dad turns and gives me this glaring look and says, "What the hell else did you order?"

The Lenos' Galaxie had a 7-litre police interceptor V8

"Er, nothing dad, nothing," I said. "Let's get the hell out of here," he says, and puts his foot down and its eeeaaaaaaarh as he fishtails out of the dealership in this car.

Anyway, as much as my dad complained, I think he really loved that car. A few weeks later I was in my parents' bedroom looking for something. I opened a drawer and found a speeding ticket my dad had received for doing 110mph in this 7-litre Ford.

When I came out to California in 1972 I was just getting started in show business. I knew that the most important thing I had to have was a car to drive to gigs in. At that time I didn't even have a place to live, so I knew the car I bought had to be big enough to sleep in!