A car?
Obviously the first thing would be a car. An Alpine A110 would be perfect – don’t go mad, just the base model would be fine… It’s like a forgotten design from the 1960s was accidentally put into production in the 21st century. We’ve got a few in store and they seem like the perfect daily runaround, assuming you don’t need room for dogs, children or too much shopping.
But if you’re looking more for a stocking filler than a garage filler we’ve got a few ideas of what to buy the car lover in your life, or yourself of course.
Where’s my phone?
It is one of life’s mysteries why so few cars have a decent place to stick your phone. Equally many of the phone holder options are hopeless unless you want to see your expensive handset flying around the cabin when you go round a corner.
We love the Yosh magnetic holder. If your car has air vents in the cabin this is simply the best way to deal with your mobile phone – whether you use it for navigation, music or even, heaven forfend making phone calls. The normal packs contain a couple of the magnetic jobbies so you can have them in a couple of cars too. You do need a small sticker on your phone, or its case – but again you get a couple in the pack so you and partner can both use them.
They stay stuck with no fuss but can be easily moved to another vehicle if needed. We’ve even taken them on holiday to stick in a rental car – they take almost no room in your luggage.
Cleanup
Lambswool mitts are another staff favourite. They’re not expensive and remain an excellent way to gently clean your paintwork. Always good to have in the boot to keep the shine up.
We’d also suggest a microfibre cloth in the cabin to quickly deal with spills. No-one can have enough microfibre clothes. Otherwise we’re not big ones for having tons of kit in the car. Basic tools for older vehicles are useful of course. My father-in-law won’t leave home without a ‘get-me-home bit of rope’ – which can be very handy. After a recent high-speed disagreement with a fox we were glad to have rope on hand to lash the front bumper back on as a temporary repair.
Day trip to London
If F1 is your thing then get yourself along to the ExCel exhibition centre before 2nd March to see the Formula1 exhibition. It’s got a history of the sport as well as cars and exhibits about the personalities behind the history like Enzo Ferrari and Ayrton Senna.
If you don’t fancy a trip to London and you’re looking for something to fill an evening at home over Christmas we’d really recommend looking up Brawn: The Impossible F1 Story on BBC iPlayer. It’s a brilliantly produced telling of an incredible period in F1 history. To add to the cognitive dissonance Keanu Reeves, of all people, does a great job of interviewing all the main players from Jenson Button to Bernie Ecclestone.
That’s it from us in 2024. We hope you have a very happy Christmas whatever Santa does or doesn’t bring you…
