h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well I can't let this chance to show off pass me by. I have just bought the perfect car, a Mercedes SLK, and just in case you didn't know it has the coolest roof in the universe. Just touch a red flashing button and its cute hard top folds itself in the most incredibly Germanic fashion into its own boot, tidying everything up behind it so you never knew it was there. It is, of course, compulsory to do this at each set of traffic lights, which prevents me from joining in the revving white vans next to me, but hey ho!

As for favourite cars in my past, nothing can ever beat the first one, I suppose, and for me that was an orange Fiat 500 - and that had a pretty cool roof too. It was a floppy bit of black plastic which was held in place by large press-studs, and you could pretty much stick you head through whilst driving along. Oh, and that's where I learned to double de-clutch too - a lost art probably.

When I look for a car, I look for these things:

A motor that will make my hair stand on end.

Lots of interior room, so that my hair has enough clearance when it stands on end.

The second qualification disqualifies European penalty-box-on-wheels models, so I am forced to turn to the States, and the Chevy Monte Carlo is tops on these. I drove an old friend's 86 Monte Carlo for some time, and it was such a comfortable and fun ride, I fell instantly in love. And this was an 86, which was supposed to be when US cars sucked, but at 7 years old it still ran like a champ. The model was discontinued in the 80's, but it has recently been renewed, so hope exists yet. Now, if only I could fit one into my budget.