‘You Feel Like A Movie Star'

Darrin Alker loves how precisely his Lotus Esprit drives – so why on earth did he ask us to put him in a Ford Mustang for the day?

- Ross Alkureishi

The Ford Mustang 289 we’ll be using today sits proudly outside Essex-based Affordable Classics. Proprietor Roger Chinery is busy showing me around his workshop, an eclectic shrine to all things Blue Oval, when another white car pulls up next to it and Classic Cars reader Darrin Alker steps out. His Pearlescent White Lotus Esprit Turbo is futuristic looking, hand built, turbocharged – everything the everyman, mass-produced Ford isn’t.

Intrigued, I immediately ask him why the Mustang is on his List. ‘The Lotus has always been my dream car and I’m lucky enough to have one in my garage,’ he explains. ‘I always seem to end up with four-cylinder turbocharged engines and although I’ve driven a few V8s – Jaguar XKR, V8 Esprit and a Range Rover Ambulance – I’ve never had the pleasure of owning one. American ones in particular have a lovely sound to them and when you combine that with the looks, that’s the reason it’s on my List.

Fair play, a nice concise explanation; time to get this North American show on the road. We climb aboard, fix our lap belts and Darrin’s eyebrows rise as he clocks the transmission tunnel.

‘Wow, a manual gearbox, I wasn’t expecting that. Americans don’t usually do stick shifts, I thought all their early cars were autos.’ It’s a dogleg box too, just to add another factor to the pot and ensure he’ll need to keep his wits about him. The small-block V8 fires with that definitive breathy thrum, he disengages the twist-release handbrake and we’re off.