Sub Zero Second Summer of Love

1987 The second summer of love, there I was, an Absolute Beginner, in My Triumph Vitesse 2.0 V6 Convertible, roof down, driving around Camden Town. One fella actually chased me down Chalk Farm Road from one end to the other, catching me at two sets of lights to offer me even more money for the car each time. He was either a drug dealer or a 'trustafarian', and the car itself possessed more then spattering of rust, but I knew then I had something a bit special.

This ice cold white 60s classic had literally fallen into my hands. I lived opposite West Hampstead Mews at the time, which was populated by small auto workshops, I got to know one of the grease monkeys over a long period of time and one day he offered me the Vitesse as a straight swap for a lovely old 60s MkII Ford Consul which I had been smokin' around. The Vitesse was a rather rusty and generally abused example that really needed a ground-up kiss and cuddle, but I managed to get one more go on the merry-go-round out of it that year.

I wanted a change, what the heck, it was early April and Summer was coming. It turned out to be the sub zero cool car to have for a fella of anoty age, but at 32, I was living the dream. My lodger at the time, Ian, was a young musician/radio deej/stud/cycle courier from Norwich who borrowed the car for an Arena Magazine photoshoot (that's him in the photo with his then girlfriend Claudia parked on the Chelsea Embankment).

That summer didn't disappoint in any way, being a drop head, I seemed to be able to talk any sweet young thing into jumping in for a ride, which, most times, was all it was (and thinking about it they were not always that young, on more than one occasion I had pulled up at a bus stop and invited granny grunt with her shopping, to a lift home. There is a lot about that time which will stay on tour, forever, and so it should, but thank you for the days.

Listen to Second Summer Of Love by Danny Wilson, on my Spotify Playlist Bad Scooter - Sixth Summer of Love

Photo: The only picture I have of the actual car, a double page spread in Arena Magazine Summer 1985.