Every niggle that is solved just sees the total cost of the car rising and rising, to the point where I’ve started spending the imaginary sum on other cars in Bullseye ‘look at what you could have won’ fashion.

At the moment I’m right on the edge of having to make the hard decision, staring down the barrel of a £500 repair bill. Do I fix it and keep it? Fix it and sell it? Just sell it?

At the moment I’m not fixing it or selling it, it’s just languishing in the work’s car park, pretty and useless.

I’m wary of falling into the same trap as a friend of mine, who is currently embarking on a restoration of his MG Midget that is costing enough to finance the purchase of an altogether better car.

The car has sentimental value to him, so he’s gritted his teeth and pulled out his pocket book. But I don’t know if I could do the same in his situation.

For now, I fear the sword of Damocles is hanging perilously above my little red Bimmer.

GREG MACLEMAN