Nev Sanderson's family toured the UK in his Vauxhall with a small caravan – it never let them down but the rusting body was like camouflage.

My first car was a Vauxhall saloon – a complete rust bucket but very good mechanically.

It was the same model as the one pictured, the only difference being that mine was green.

I cannot remember the name of it – it was probably one of the last ones Vauxhall built before the second world war.

My late wife and I, together with baby daughter, toured in it, towing a small four-berth caravan.

It had a 2,000cc engine so it coped with a small caravan quite well. It took us all over the UK, mainly North Wales, so it had plenty of steep hills around Snowdon to pull the van over.

The bodywork was very poor with glass fibre patches and lots of rust – it was almost a camouflage job.

Mechanically, it was very reliable and never once let me down. That's how cars were built in those days – mechanically very good, bodywork total rubbish, you could almost see the rust forming.

I paid £125 for it and sold it 18 months to two years later for £150.

Happy days. They don't build 'em like that anymore – a good job they don't.

Tell us about your first car, no matter how long ago it was, by emailing your memories with a picture of the car to motoring@archant.co.uk or post it to Andy Russell, motoring editor, Prospect House, Rouen Road, Norwich, NR1 1RE.