The dream is always to be given a big wad of cash and to go out and buy whatever cars you can with it. When tasked with what I would spend £50,000, however, my childish vigour to go out and splash it all on one car was dampened by a bit of age-old experience and practical thinking about what I would need.

I’m not a ‘car collector’ per se, so went with my head and thought: how can this money stretch to allow me to get one of the car’s I’ve always lusted over, while having enough in the bank to get me something to serve the practical needs the first car wouldn’t be able to deliver on. Let’s dive in:

Car Number 1:

Ford Mustang, 5.0 GT 2DR – Est £30,000 second-hand with around 25,000 miles on.

I have always been in love with the Mustang. Ever since I first laid eyes on the iconic models of the 60s and 70s, I have been obsessed with the Mustang. There was the 1967 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500 which would always take my breath away but I will save that for my ‘dream garage’. For now, I am going to setting for a 2017 Ford Mustang 5.0 GT, in red of course! And it must include those black go-faster stripes.

I’ve gone for the 2017, 5-litre V8, model as I know they improved on their initial terrible safety ratings – and I am glossing over the running costs.

Car Number 2:

Land Rover Defender 110. 2.5L, Country Double – Est £15-20,000 second hand with around 100,000 miles on.

This is where my newfound love for exploration and the countryside kicks in. Over the past few years, my wife and I have added two dalmatians to our pack and have found us exploring the countryside more and more, chasing those incredible shots with our cameras. Our Dalmatians are quite big dogs so they need a lot of boot space to make their trips comfortable. Django in particular loves to watch the world go by out the back window and I feel the Defender gives him all that space and more.

As my wife is originally from Hereford, where I think there is a Defender every 10 square miles, seeing them so much during my short stint living there planted the initial seed of wanting to eventually own one.

I would try and get the price down when haggling away for this, so I can put some of that left-over cash in the bank to help fix the issues that will undoubtedly raise their heads with this car! Experience, see?

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