A colleague of mine recently proudly proclaimed that he can still remember the registration of his first ever car – a very retro Austin A40 that wouldn’t look out of place in Heartbeat – yet he couldn’t tell me the registration of his current automobile.

He even remembered how much he’d paid for his first set of wheels over 30 years ago.

It seems everyone has a soft spot for that very first car which gave them a sense of freedom and independence, in the days when the likes of the Ford Anglia, Morris Minor and Vauxhall Viva ruled the roads of Britain.

“Few things in life trip us into the nostalgia mode more than that first hunk of metal we acquired, which years later, can still inflame the emotions and send us racing back to a milestone in our lives,” says Christopher Crew, author of charity book My First Car, which is published on Monday.

Long-time dyslexia sufferer Christopher was born in 1949 in a decade that didn’t recognise his disorder and he wasn’t diagnosed until 1998, when it was discovered that he has seventeen counts of dyslexia.

It was a flashback of Chris’s anxieties that provided the inspiration to create My First Car, in which 65 celebrities – including regular visitors to Bournemouth over the years, Bruce Forsyth, Brian Conley and Joe Pasquale, as well as Chris Tarrant and Sir Patrick Moore – tell of their first cars.

Dame Judy Dench talks of her cherished 1938 MG, saying: “It was a convertible sports car and I never learned how to put the roof on.”

It would appear that Chris’s sentiments do ring true, as within minutes of asking one colleague about his first automobile, everyone in the office is chipping in with stories of their beloved first set of wheels.

Deputy features editor Nick Churchill was three years younger than his first car.

“It was a 1963 Singer Gazelle that I bought for £120. I was 17 and it was 20 years old. It had a bench front seat so your passenger would slide into your lap whenever you went round a corner – it was a great car for courting.”

Women’s editor Nicky Findley was the proud owner of a Mini Clubman while she was at university.

“It had a wooden barrel frame at the back and the boot was two doors that opened outwards like a van; I even remember we called it UGY because of the number plate.

“I once lost it for an hour after a night out with friends in Kingston but we found it eventually after much looking and arguing.”

Daily Echo editor-in-chief Neal Butterworth has fond memories of his first set of wheels – a 1960s Triumph Herald.

“It was a red-and-white C-reg with leather seats and I remember pushing it up motorways very often.

“I once drove it from Manchester to Cornwall for a holiday and it broke down at a service station, but it made it there and back... eventually. It was a frustratingly brilliant car.

“I bought it for £150 from a neighbour back in 1977 when I was 19 and until I got my current car it was the best car I ever owned.

“You have so many clear memories of your first car – it’s your pride and joy. It’s up there with buying your first single and the birth of your children.”

All proceeds from the sale of My First Car will go to Dyslexia Action.