A car enthusiast has been reunited with his first car nearly 50 years after he sold it thanks to his brother, who incredibly tracked down the vehicle.
David Meakin, 67, was just 19 when his father bought his mother the 1934 Austin 10 Clifton in 1965. But she didn't like the vehicle and handed the keys to her son.
He learned to drive in the two-seater, and used it as a runabout to take trips with friends and woo his early girlfriends.
First love: David Meakin, with the 1934 Austin 10 Clifton he's managed to buy back nearly 50 years after selling it. It was his first car, which he learned to drive in and used to woo his earliest girlfriends
Proud: The rare two-seater, which has a top speed of less than 50mph, is one of only 42 such models left anywhere in the world. Mr Meakin says all it needs now is a little work on the starter motor
After enjoying a string of dates in the dark green classic car, Mr Meakin succumbed to practicalities and traded it in for robust mini van.
But he was disappointed when the functional new vehicle failed to live up to the Austin's seductive draw and he bought a restored Austin 12 taxi to try and recapture the vintage charm.
Returning to the classic British marque seemed to do the trick and in 1974 Mr Meakin drove the car to his own wedding ceremony.
Now he has incredibly been reunited with his first love - the very same Austin Clifton 10 he learned to drive in - after his brother tracked it down as a surprise.
'Passion wagon': Mr Meakin and the car it as a runabout to take trips with friends and woo his early girlfriends, one of whom is pictured alongside the vehicle in this photo taken sometime in 1961
Mr Meakin, from Somersham, Cambridgeshire, now plans to woo his wife Glenda, 66, anew in the motor, which he says first helped him learn to be a romantic.
'It was the vehicle I owned when I was about 19 or 20 and now I have the car back in my possession after 50 years,' he said. 'It used to be my passion wagon.
'I remember driving it to Scotland with a friend. It was a fabulous trip and we were looking to pull birds and we found a couple.
'It was just a piece of kit that you started up and went somewhere in. You didn't think about doing it in those days, you just did it and it was perfectly fine for the job.'
He added: 'I was looking for something to do and my brother Chris found the old car up in Stockport.
'I bought it as a non-runner, but it is in very good shape indeed and I have taken it up and down the road, although it needs some work on the starter motor, so there is hope for it yet.'
The two-seater Clifton owned by Mr Meakin is believed to be one of only 42 known models left in the world.
He used to park the car outside the Unicom telecommunications building where he worked but was told to move it by the managing director, who found it ugly.
Despite not even being able to reach 50mph on the open road the car still holds happy memories for the grandfather-of-two.
The original sales brochure for Mr Meakin's Austin 10 Clifton Tourer: Mr Meakin, from Somersham, Cambridgeshire, now plans to woo his wife Glenda anew in the car, which first helped him learn to be a romantic.
Other cars in the range: Launched in 1932 it was Austin's best-selling car in the Thirties and continued in production, with upgrades, until 1947
History: The logbook which shows that it's the very same vehicle that Mr Meakin owned nearly 50 years ago
His wife of nearly 30 years, Glenda, said that she has played second fiddle to her husband's love of cars throughout their marriage.
'We met after he got the car and he did mention his Austin to me quite a bit,' she said. 'He is a big car enthusiast and the last car he had was another vintage Austin that he had for nearly 40 years.
'That is the one that he had for the longest and he had that when we first got together.
'He is always talking about his cars and he is particularly fond of this one because it his first car.'
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