A friend of Mico Alvo in his first car

A friend of Mico Alvo in his first car

This is a picture of my first car, a jeep. Inside it is an officer-nurse with whom I used to hang around. She wanted a picture of her taken as if she is driving. I was introduced to her by Jacques Saltiel.

Before Mari, I had some affairs. The girls that we would go out with would come with us at the Sailing Club. I had a small cutter that we used to take with my friend Freddy Assael and sail.

I also had a second degree cousin of mine, Saltiel, whom I knew from school too. Our fathers were first degree cousins. He had gone to the Athens University to study as a doctor and he served in the army too.

At that time the first academy for female officers, nurses etc., was established in Chalkida. From the first lot that graduated, they had sent here three girls at the 424 Military Hospital. He knew them, so he brought them for company on the cutter.

We would go around on the boat. On Sundays we would leave in the morning and go to Peraia. We would have difficulties sailing out, but on our way back, the air would be on our side.

I had the jeep too, and we would really enjoy the company. The three nurses and the two of us. The three girls were Christian, so things were a bit more difficult.

All three of them were really nice girls. I didn't flirt with any of them, it just didn't happen. It was pure friendship, nothing more. Sometimes we would go out at nights dancing etc., but nothing more we were just friends. I think they came mostly for the ride.

I learned how to drive after the war from a taxi driver. There weren't any driving schools yet. We went together with some friends and asked him, "will you teach us how to drive?" "All right", he replies, "I will teach you".

I decided to learn how to drive, because I really liked driving. And at that time, there weren't many people that knew how to drive. After I learned, I bought a jeep from DYSI. It was a real disaster, but they didn't sell any cars at the time.

The car trade was not allowed. The only thing that you could do, was to buy from DYSI whatever was regarded as useless and beyond repair. So, I had bought an army jeep. I put side doors and a tent on top of it and seats inside.

I turned it to a limousine. We remade the engine, we completely reconditioned the cylinders, we put new pistons, etc. So it turned into a nice car.

I was one of the first people that owned a car. From my friends, only one other had a car, a utility van which was actually owned by the factory.

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