HOW many bikers does it take to change a lightbulb?That's not only not a joke, but something I genuinely don't know the answer to. But if you want to find out, chances are the best place to find out would be a pub in Lydiate on a Wednesday night.
So popular is The Scotch Piper with fans of anything two-wheeled that it's where Merseyside Police take their own motorbikes when they want to chat to riders, and politicians popped there during the general election campaign in their efforts to canvass “the biker vote”. I love it, but it's definitely a biker thing, with cars playing for a distant second place.
But last week was different, because I decided to forgo the driving and arrive shotgun in a car so iconic that even hardened bikers stop to stare at it. The Ford Capri 280 Brooklands.
I've never been a fan of Capris - and the car's owner knows it - because I'm a child of the Nineties, a time when the swoopy coupe wasn't a cherished classic but an unwanted banger on a council estate, more Boycie and Del than Bodie and Doyle. It doesn't matter how many reruns of The Professionals I watch, I just don't get the Ford Capri.
But the Brooklands wowed everyone. In the half-light of a spring sunset it looked gorgeous, and bikers kept leaving their Kawasakis behind to pore over the fast Ford. It's a sports car sensation. It's a motor that makes you feel good about motoring.
It's also an absolute giggle when you get it going, as the car's owner decided to prove when pulling away from the pub. You can't do a wheelie in a car, but in a Ford Capri you can give it a bootful of throttle and get a glorious kick of oversteer from the smoking rear tyres. We also got the chance to find out whether it's faster down a winding country road than a Mini Cooper, but for legal reasons I couldn't possibly comment!
Would I buy one? No, but I'm glad I know plenty of people who do.
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