Car buyer dizzy at prospect of pristine 1988 car.

Alright, straitened times.

So I had to sell the blue whale. (Warning: don't take heavy-handed irony in that story literally, I'm prone to exaggeration.)

Before buying it, the new owner, a retired car fancier, walked around it about a hundred and fifty times, which must be a world record. I thought he was going to turn into melted butter. But he didn’t, and bought the car, and drove away in a fairly straight line.

I know he will enjoy owning it because he told me the car would be joining, in his garage, an old Mitsubishi Magna and a 1970s Fiat 130. The latter model's engine was reputed to have come from the Ferrari drawing board. More likely, someone at Ferrari sent the Fiat designer a black pen to sketch it with. Fiat 130s are not seen on the roads any more as they cost a fortune to run, and then turn to rust. So in terms of initial and future outlay, buying my 760GLE would have felt like popping down to the shops for a litre of milk.

The 940 remains. It has recently ticked over 300,000 kilometres, assisted by Lui Lana of Austostrada Sportiva, who does nothing but change its oil every 5,000 kilometres.