A friend once warned me that admitting to your favourite cars is a bit like admitting to your favourite films or songs. They are all dead giveaways of your age. As I am no spring chicken here goes … I learned driving on my father’s new 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air when I was 16 and, like a first girlfriend, a first car always evokes very fond memories.

The 1955 Chevrolet was a real eye-catcher of its era with distinct styling of its prominent bonnet and square back end before the latter got ruined by the flashy tail fins in the models after 1957.

The ‘Chevvy’ was a big car with such generous inner space that it used to be said that half the population of America had been conceived on its back seats. Our beige coloured beauty had a big 3000cc six cylinder petrol engine mated to a three speed gearbox while the gear shift lever was on the steering column. Today few cars offer less than five speed gearboxes but that is because the engines have also got much smaller to offer the fuel efficiency that people want. But then, small engines do not have too much torque and need more gears.

Back then when petrol used to cost about one (Indian) rupee a gallon (4.75 litres), no one bothered about the size of an engine. Big engines were however very addictive as they had so much torque that they pulled strongly at almost any road speed.

My love affair with big engines ended when I began working and could not afford a new car, let alone a big car. My choice was a battered 800cc Morris 8 Convertible that gave me enormous fun, especially as the open top could accommodate 10 or more people for a noisy picnic to the beach or the many mountain resorts near Mumbai. We had an adventurous Siamese cat who loved these outings and would even swim in the sea.

The ubiquitous Hindustan Ambassador, or Amby, was my car for the next 20 years in a career of marketing tractors and motorcycles all around India. It was spacious, noisy and heavy but easily made to work with parts and service available almost everywhere.

When I began a career as an auto journalist, I had a chance to drive almost all the cars of the world. Honda used to offer the most exciting driving experiences at their fabulous ‘Twin Ring Motegi’ race track north of Tokyo that was an automotive playground spread over about 20,000 acres. It catered to children and to adults who wanted to improve their driving skills.

I had a great thrill driving the iconic Mazda MS- 8 sports car. Later I examined a printout of my performance as compared to a professional driver and was quite pleased to have managed the curves quite well.

Later I did some high speed driver training with BMW, Mercedes and Porsche at Amby Valley near Mumbai, and at the Buddh Formula One race track, near Delhi. It was sobering to learn how difficult it was to become a really good driver.

I was also lucky to go on many test drives all over the world but I most enjoyed a 700 km drive in a small 182 HP Mini Cooper S that I drove from Goa to Hampi and back. Big cars can go fast but they do not give you the thrill of speed that a good small car can give, and the Mini was very fast and nimble.

The author is the region’s most celebrated automobile columnist