The first vehicle I owned back in the 80s was a Ford Escort MkII van and it took me on four holidays to family friends in Whitland.

On the first occasion, the gearstick came out of the gearbox at Cross Hands and my brother had to change gear for me while looking down inside the gearbox to see what he was doing.

On the second visit, late at night, both dipped beams went out around Llanelli forcing me to drive the rest of the way on sidelights.

On the thrid trip, in rain just outside Swindon, the widnscreen wipers caught each other and stopped in the middle of the windscreen at 70mph in the outside lane.
That was a little scary.

The fourth time I went late-ish on a Friday and just outside Swindon (again!) the throttle pedal went 'limp' as the return spring broke and pinged off. I knew nothing about cars at the time and £35 for a rescue truck driver to fit a spring at 11:30pm seemed a little steep at the time... it was half my weekly wage.

The next time I went, I had a Cavalier, and no problems (nor on any subsequent trips), so it wasn't fate trying to deny my Welsh roots, just a shit Ford.