I've just purchased a film scanner to scan my old negatives, and while looking for something colourful to test it with, I came across this old photo, taken with my Lomo, a cheap & cheerful Russian 35mm compact that has since become something of a cult item.

This is the Austin Princess that my Dad acquired for me when I was a student in the '80s, I think for about £40. It's pictured here in Hartlepool, in early 1987.

I used it for commuting between Hartlepool and Teesside University, and for travelling to York University to spend weekends with my girlfriend at the time, Sara.

It's fair to say that I hated this car. It managed about 14 miles for every gallon of petrol and had to be topped up with oil every week. It was grotesquely disfigured by rust and unpainted body filler. And most aggravating of all - if it had been left idle for more than a day or so, the battery would usually be dead, and I'd have to use jump leads or a clutch start to get it going.

Fortunately, the car park where it spent weekends at York was at the top of a hill. Quite often on a Monday morning, I'd have to push it down the hill, steering with my left hand until it was rolling downward under its own gravity, jump into the driving seat, put it in first gear and carefully lift the clutch to start the engine.

It finally died while crossing a hump-back bridge near York, when its suspension completely collapsed. I did manage to drive it back to Hartlepool somehow, though.