My First Car: Jaguar 3.4 litre, Ian Wright, Nevada, USA

“IN October 1964, The Northern Echo editor, Harold Evans signed my NCTJ certificate for successfully passing the first ever Press Photographer's three-year Proficiency Test.

I began work at the "Echo' in December 1960 aged just 15 years and three months, as a darkroom boy. My first wage was 19 shillings and 11 pence. I signed my indentures in early 1961 and was elevated to the position of a junior photographer, combined with my darkroom duties.

Evans was a futurist, a modernist and a designer. His first change was to replace the old script titled banner with a more modern one which is still in use today. Secretly he was the world's most frustrated picture editor.

He changed every newspaper's standard lifetime policy on page layout by placing the photographs on every page first, then building everything around them.

Ian in the USA with his Chrysler

In October 1962, he invited me to become the photographer for his first editorial supplement 'The Teenage Special', only because at the ripe old age of 16 I was the only one who knew who the up and coming beat groups and singers were.

Too young to drive I had to take the bus or more conveniently use my old school bike, strapping my plate camera and a flash the size of a Bentley headlight to the frame.

He referred to me as the youngest celebrity photographer.

My first portrait of The Beatles in Sunderland was taken before they were famous, at The Empire Theatre, Sunderland, February 9, 1963. My first celebrity portrait was taken the previous year - it was Miss Ella Fitzgerald.

My Jaguar 3.4 in British Racing Green, registered in Hartlepool, was a present from my parents and grandparents for passing my Proficiency Test. I recall my family buying it at Motor Delivery, on Grange Road, Darlington - a 1960 MK2, six cylinder with wire wheels.

My boss, chief photographer RSM Charlie Westberg was British Racing Green with envy. He only had the firm's famous 'Ford Pop' 1552 HN.

Begrudgingly he said: "If I could afford it, that's the car I would have."

Blimey was he upset, a junior with a luxury sports car and radio.

In May 1965 a young singer with looks that knocked out every male in the country, Marianne Faithfull, arrived at the Imperial Hotel in Grange Road.

For that next week she was the cabaret act at the town's La Bamba nightclub.

To get to work each night she literally walked over the road.

Evans decided on full coverage of this 'cracker' of a lass who had a massive one hit wonder with the Mick Jagger and Keith Richard song ‘As Tears Go By’.

As the Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham said: "I don't care if she can sing or not, her looks will make her a hit."

I was given the job, the location a country house - Whorlton Grange near Barnard Castle.

I took my Jag rather than one of the company’s Ford Populars. I arrived at the hotel, dressed in my handmade slate gray silk and mohair suit, by Jackson the tailor of Team Valley.

My Chelsea boots, and shirt and tie from Marcus Price in Newcastle.

First things first, she went to the registration desk and requested a hundred quid advance to be added to her bill.

Today, this would be the equivalent of £1,500.

We both went to Williams Record shop in Houndgate where she spent the lot on LPs in ten minutes.

Taking the long route to Barnie to show off the speed of the Jag, we went on the A1M to Scotch Corner then up the A66, turning right at Rokeby Hall over the River Tees at Whorlton Bridge to our location.

The weather on that May day was perfect, she played her part, not one complaint about the time it was taking, occasionally titivating the Marianne fringe hairdo and makeup, having copious cigarettes and always hiding her bitten and nicotine fingers from the camera.

We were walking back to the car parked by the stables when she simply said: "Oh Ian you have taken so many wonderful photographs of me, may I take one of you".

My reaction was ‘wow, now I've cracked it, wait till I tell the lads about this in the Red Lion pub’.

She took this shot of me with my 3.4 Jag, using my twin lens reflex Autocord camera.

When I finally returned to the office and developed and printed up my images, including the one she had taken of me, there were lots of mutterings from the reporters and the subs even Evans the editor was lusting over the folio.

Evans now wanted a bit of colour to go with the photographs. He asked reporter Billy Allen, whose dad was landlord at The Lord Nelson at Gainford, to interview me.

First thing he asked: "Are you seeing her again? Is there anything going on between you two?"

I wished, alas I never saw her again. The next day there was a mock-up headline on my desk "Mari-Ian".

Over the course of my career I chauffeured many others stars in 'HEF' including Lulu, Engelbert Humperdinck, The Barron Knights, Millie Small, Tommy Cooper, Michael Crawford and Roy Orbison. Once I took Jayne Mansfield from the La Bamba to the Scotch Corner Hotel after her drunken manager forgot to collect her.

Being on the same train as him arriving at Bank Top Station I gave Liberal Leader Jo Grimond a lift to his digs at the Kings Head.

The publisher of my book of portraits, S.P. Turner of Beverly Hills, wanted to invite Miss Faithfull to write the intro, rather inappropriate I thought after Sir Harold Evans had already overseen the layout and had written the most appropriate introduction.

Our current car is a 2014 Chrysler Sebring 200.

It is highly-rated and is selling for more today than when we bought it new last year.

It has a V6 engine and its mileage in Las Vegas is an average of 15.5mpg.

We have been on a location shoot this weekend to Utah and got 24.5mpg on the freeway. She cruised like a dream at 80mph.

Naturally, it has all today's mod cons - GPS, rear camera, Sirius everything and a dashboard that speaks even if one tyre pressure is off by one pound.

What it does not have is the Jaguar 'aroma' - the leather seats, the beeswax polish on the dashboards, walnut fascia and the intake smell of the 3.4 engine.