"Wow. Did you win?" my wife asked as I came back from last weekend's Classic and Vintage Motor Show brandishing a plate depicting the previous year's winner, an Aston Martin DB2 (Very nice it is too. Hand-painted gold-leaf, if you don't mind. The plate, not the car). I was tempted to lie. It would, if nothing else, justify all the time and expense I'd put into my classic, a 1975 BMW 2002.
But I couldn't. Loath as I am to admit it, The Duchess, with her bubbling paintwork and tatty chrome, was as out of her depth as a giraffe in the middle of the Pacific. She was no match for some of the magnificent machines on display to the thousands of paying punters in Terenure.
Truth is, every owner who entered got a plate. Which is a lot of crockery. At a rough guestimate, some 1,500 cars showed up. The show started inauspiciously, with a downpour. Rain and classic cars do not mix. Listen hard enough and you could hear them rusting.
But, lo and behold, the rain abated, the clouds parted and the sun zeroed in on my car of the show - an outrageous 1969 Maserati Ghiblia Ghia. With a 4.7 litre engine, it goes from zero to 60 in under six seconds, and on to a top speed of 170 mph. Did I mention it was made in 1969?
Add to that the fact it's so sexy it's probably illegal to drive one in public in many countries, and it's a thing you'd happily sell a kidney to own. Problem is, you'd then have to sell the other one to pay for the petrol. Still, I'd gladly settle for a Lancia Fulvia, quite possibly the prettiest car ever made. One can but dream.