As cars go, Mercedes are fairly flash. A Mercedes 500 SEL is one at the top end of the range. A Mercedes 500 SEL upgraded by top German Company, Lorinser to their ultimate specification for Michael Caine has got to be one of the best. Quite simply it is the dog's bollocks. This is the story of how we came to buy it.

On 27th February 2001, I received an e-mail from a guy called Tim Scott. He had been looking at my Michael Caine web site

This was a chance to add to my collection of Michael Caine memorabilia what would surely be THE ultimate memorabilia - his car! Now all I had to do was raise the money and talk the wife into letting me have it.

First setback. The wife was having none of it. I knew it would be hard to talk her round and she would not accept that this was the chance of a lifetime, but she more or less told me that if I bought the car she'd pack her bags and go (I love incentives, don't you?). We couldn't afford it and that was that. Besides, there were other problems. Where would we keep it? We have a three-bedroom semi with one drive and a garage. We already have two cars (both Astras) and we have to play musical cars to get one in the garage and park one on the drive. What would we do with a third? We couldn't really park it on the road. How much would the running costs be? If Mercedes were expensive cars then they would have expensive maintenance bills and running costs. We certainly couldn't afford to run three cars and if we sold one of ours, we'd have to use the Mercedes on a daily basis and add to the costs and, of course, the dangers of vandalism and theft increase when you use a car all the time.

It was the chance of a lifetime, but I was going to have to pass! I could not believe it.

On 1st March 2001, I had to attend a work related evening meeting. I got chatting to a couple of friends and colleagues. One was a Mercedes owner and I was telling them the story so far. The Mercedes owner was telling me all about his Mercedes, how reliable it was and what a good car it was. The other friend and colleague was a big fan of Michael Caine. He suggested we spoke about it after the meeting. We did and he offered to put the money up to buy the car!! The car could be kept at his place (storage problem solved!) as he would love to have Michael Caine's car being a genuine fan as well. My friend then said a prophetic thing. Although the car was being offered to us at the price it was, we'd better budget for 50% more. He said he thought the price would go up. I disagreed, how could it? I was sure it was a genuine offer to sell it to us for the price quoted.

On the evening of Sunday 4th March 2001, I went around to my friend's house to thrash out the details of our joint venture. We would be joint owners of the car. We would keep and cherish the car, but if in the future, we ever did sell the car, he would be repaid what he had spent on the car up to then. If there were to be anything left over, we would split it in half. Obviously, for me, this was an excellent deal, as I didn't have to stump up anything up front. My friend was doing me a big favour but he said that we both needed each other on the deal. In order to buy Michael Caine's Mercedes you needed two things. One, the money to buy it and two, the chance to buy it. Between us, we had both of those things. He had the money and I had the chance. We agreed a deal on a handshake. It was really going to happen! I couldn't believe it! I was elated. It was too good to be true.

Second setback. It was too good to be true.

Whilst negotiating with Tim Scott about the car and asking whether we could actually receive the keys off Sir Michael Caine himself, he delivered a hammer blow. He e-mailed me to say that he had undervalued the car and was no longer willing to sell it for the figure originally quoted. He had received advice that in view of its history and specification it was worth at least twice that. I couldn't believe it. I thought we had a deal. I was gutted. It was all off as far as I was concerned. I anticipated that maybe he would auction the car in London and we would never have the chance to buy it. To be so close to a dream and then have it snatched away! I was shattered.

Oh well, you live and learn. At least I would have an anecdote for my web site. How I almost bought Michael Caine's Mercedes. But it wasn't yet over. I discussed the situation with my friend and he was willing to pay more to get the car. As a big fan of the Cainer he really wanted to have his car. I e-mailed Tim Scott again to recommence negotiations and said that we were prepared to pay more for the car. To be fair to Tim, he really wanted to sell the car to Michael Caine fans rather than speculators and investors and he agree to sell the car for less than it was worth - but much more than the figure that had initially been suggested. My friend was prepared to put up the money and the deal was back on again.

We made arrangements to meet in Chelsea at 12.00 noon on Sunday 18th March 2001 - although the time was later set back to a mutually convenient 3.00 p.m. My friend arranged the necessary car insurance and we drove down to London, with a banker's draft and cash. We arrived at 2.30 p.m. and found somewhere to park and had a quick drink at the Conrad International Hotel. At 3.00 p.m. we went to the meeting place. At 3.10 p.m., Tim Scott and his wife Natasha arrived. They couldn't have been nicer - although Tim was in a bit of a hurry. I got a chance to chat to Natasha while my friend went through the file of paperwork they had on the car. Old bills, etc. - even the original insurance cover note - insuring M. Caine, S. Caine and a third person (the name of the chauffeur, presumably). The registration document was what it was all about though. One registered owner from new - Michael Caine - registered in his home address. Unfortunately, they didn't have the test certificate or full service history - something we particularly wanted, (although Tim found them within a week and posted them on to us). Tim had already explained to me via e-mail that Sir Michael used to be chauffeured in the car. I asked Natasha where he sat - back or front? She said he sat in the front but that he also drove the car as well.

I had bought down two hardback copies of 'Arise Sir Michael Caine' by William Hall and Natasha signed and dedicated them for us. "To Roger, Hope you enjoy the car, Best Wishes, Natasha Caine - Sunday 18th March 2001" she wrote in mine. It is small mementos like these that really add to the occasion. I asked if it was correct that 'The Man That Would Be King' was her father's favourite film. She said it was, along with Hannah and Her Sisters and a couple of others such as Alfie.

I asked her what her own favourite Michael Caine film was and she told me 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels". She was very nice and friendly. Tall as well. Her accent was slightly unusual, almost American, but not quite.

We then went to look at the car and it looked lovely. It did have some minor bodywork damage. A dent below the Mercedes badge on the front grill and slight damage above the nearside rear wheel arch. Natasha said the colour was "Coca-Cola". Tim and Natasha were kind enough to pose for some photographs with the car. They were chatty and friendly. I asked Natasha if it was true that Michael Caine had only done the recording for the Michael Caine "Madness" single because she was a fan and she said it was true. We then went somewhere else, to complete the paperwork and hand over the readies. We shook hands and parted company and that was it.

I then had to retrieve my friend's car from the car park. I didn't fancy driving the Mercedes out of London. I knew the way, so I took the lead in my friend's car and he followed in the Mercedes. We got to the M4 and we stopped at the Services to get a meal and look through our documentation again. Oh no! We didn't seem to have the registration document - where was it?! Had we lost it? Had it accidentally not been given to us? For a couple of minutes we were having a heart attack until it was found safe in an envelope in a side pocket. As we ate our meal we wondered what we would do if the Mercedes were stolen from the car park while we were eating. Funny how having a nice car makes you paranoid.

We drove up the M4 to Swindon and my friend rang me on his mobile phone (his car has a car phone in) and he asked me if I wanted to drive the Mercedes. I had asked him to drive it all the way home as it was massive and I was only used to driving a small car. I didn't really want to drive it until I had a chance to have a go on some quite roads - but what the hell! - Lets do it!

I pulled in at a lay-by and the Mercedes pulled in behind me. We got out and swapped cars. This road was just off the M4 and the traffic whizzed past. There were no gaps in the traffic to pull out - especially if you had never driven the car before. The Mercedes was an automatic - so no clutch. Until that day, I had never driven an automatic car in my life, but my friend's car was an automatic and I had driven on the journey down to London to get a bit of practice. I put the car into 'D' for drive and waited an eternity for a suitable gap to appear in the traffic. Eventually, I pulled out and settled back into the comfortable soft leather seat. Wow, this was great. Driving down a duel carriageway could not have been easier. I immediately thought, Wow!, Michael Caine has driven this car ...................... It was one hell of a fantastic feeling. I fumbled for a cassette tape that I had with me and tried to insert it into the car's cassette player. Not being familiar with it, I had to try it different ways until I realised that the tape went in open end first. "My name is Michael Caine" blared out of the speakers. I had recorded the Madness single 'Michael Caine' over and over again on a 30 minutes cassette to play in the car, for my own amusement.

With the Mercedes badge on the end of the long bonnet, I kept thinking that I was flying a Spitfire with a gun sight directly in front of me. Strange that. And we all know what happened to Michael Caine in the Battle of Britain. (Well, you do if you've seen it). I came up to my first roundabout and just eased off and braked. Then pulled away again - Hey, this car was a piece of piss to drive. I carefully watched my Speedo and didn't go over 60. I kept thinking that the car was registered in Michael Caine's name and if I committed a speeding offence, a notice would be sent to the registered keeper so he would get it. Now that would have been funny, as well as embarrassing.

Darkness fell and we started to cut across country. When it was pitch dark, I could almost have been in my own car, because I couldn't see the luxury of the interior. It was only the fact that I didn't have to change gear and the Mercedes badge on the end of the bonnet was silhouetted in the oncoming lights that reminded me. That was until some of the roads got narrower and then I was conscious of the size of the Mercedes. I was frightened that oncoming traffic would scrap down the side of me. However, by the time we got back on the main roads, I had reached the stage of being fully confident driving the Merc. We went to my friend's house to park it up and then in for a cup of tea.

We had chatted about the possibility of getting a personal number for the car. I had read that Sir Michael didn't want a personal number for security reasons and that was probably why the car had its original registration number. I quite liked that. My friend was keen to get a personal registration number to hide the age of the car and we talked about suitable numbers. He liked the idea of SMC as in 'S'ir 'M'ichael 'C'aine. I had previously checked with various dealers and you could get 5 MC if you had £50,000 to spare. The cheaper the price of a personal plate, the less attractive it was and all the good ones were really expensive.

I said it was a pity the car wasn't a 'C' reg. rather than a 'B' reg., as I was aware that the DVLA was going to auction the registration number "C41NES" on 5th April 2001. That would have been the icing on the cake. Apparently you can't put a C plate on a B registered car as it makes it look newer than it is. What a bloody shame! Just imagine driving Michael Caine's car with that number on!

I have a key to the car and a key to the garage it is kept in so I can go and get it anytime I want it. However, it is not really appropriate for a trip to the Supermarket. We are insured for up to 3000 miles per year and we are going to use it for special occasions. There is no point having it if we don't use it!

Anyway, then it was home to tell the wife about the day's adventures. A day not to be forgotten. Here's a pic of me in the car.

Anyway, the story doesn't end here. We then paid to have the car done up. All damage to the bodywork was repaired and the car professionally repolished. The original alloy wheels had oxidised over the years so we had them ground down and re-chromed. This was done by professional Mercedes experts and took over three weeks. Cost? Don't ask! Big bucks!

The original front grill had a dent in, which turned out to be very hard to repair, and eventually we had to throw the towel in and buy a brand new Mercedes front grill. The old grill is now a memento on my wall!

The only thing that ruins its appearance is the registration number. The B registration shows that it is a 1985 car and we need to lose that and get a dateless registration number. I spent hours on the computer checking out all of the dealers that sell personal registration numbers and eventually we found a fantastic number being auctioned by the UK Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) - "2ULU" - Zulu!

On Friday 8th June 2001, we went down to Ascot Racecourse where the auction was taking place and forked out thousands of pounds to buy it. Now it is all finished. A fantastic car, fully done up with one of the most distinctive numberplates that I have ever seen.

Dreams do come true ............................

Thank you Natasha and thank you Tim for giving us the chance to buy the car!