In the absence of better ideas, I did a quick run round the high street and asked every estate agency for advice, one by one. That elicited responses in three categories:

• "Nah, mate... I can try for you though?"

• "I had one 6 months ago, but not right now..."

• "We don't touch them, mate..."

The most credible of those that I met were, worryingly, those in the third group. A bit more questioning established that the prices they went for meant that there wasn't any scope for margin, and anyone who said otherwise was stringing me along. "So, where should I look?" "Try the auction sites, Rightmove, or Gumtree. You might get lucky."

Not knowing which route might be the most productive, there was little option but to do everything. A few hours of work yielded automated searches on every auction site I could Google, Rightmove, Zoopla and Gumtree. I also put up a want-ad on Gumtree, just in case anyone had a garage that could be made available, but hadn't thought about selling it.

Not knowing how frequently these things came up, it was hard to judge whether I'd got things right, or what the right price might be, or what the tactics should be once the searches had returned a hit.

At the time, there was one ... just one ... in my search zone. That was a couple of stops south on the train, but then right by the station. It didn't feel like a bargain. So I left that and waited to see what else came up.

A month passed and nothing happened. At Christmas the one I'd seen was still listed, so I swallowed my pride and contacted the Estate Agent. "Oh yeah, that went months ago. Is it still online?" Right. I'm expecting delivery in less than four months and I don't have a viable plan. Excellent. But what else can I do? So, I kept waiting.

It was another month before an alert went off. Decent location, off street, close to public transport, close enough to home. Fine, no messing around. I phoned the vendor and asked to see the place. With hindsight, I don't know if their response was real or a delaying tactic, but viewing would take a few days because of "work commitments". So I did a bit of Googling round, worked out the precise location and went anyway. Decent nick, the surroundings were clean, maintained and secure. I wanted it. I texted an asking-price offer and said that the money was in the bank waiting for them. That'll work, right?

The response was that there was another person who contacted first and was viewing the next day (and hour before the slot I'd agreed). "To be fair to them....," the vendor would see what they said first. The following day, the other person put in an asking price offer, cash in the bank. To solve this (and get even more money out of us) the vendor decided to move to sealed bids, highest offer wins. I added 10%, and another couple of hundred, and my birth date, and submitted that ... and lost.

A couple of weeks later, another hit. Not quite as good nick, location not perfect but liveable, wanting more money than I put into the sealed bid. I phone that morning with an asking-price offer ready, only to be told that it had sold within a couple of hours of the ad going live.

March 2020 might be remembered as the time the world changed. Pandemics stopped being science fiction.

You only had to read a newspaper, or turn on the TV, to see what the next few weeks were going to be like. On a Monday morning in the second half of March I got a phone call from Caterham. Being entirely honest, my attention was more on transitioning the little work I had left to online-only delivery. I was surprised that they were open for business. But no, not only were they open for business but they wanted to arrange delivery. We may, at that time, have only been allowed out for one hour's exercise out of doors each day, but they hadn't been told to close so it was business as usual for Caterham.

I had always had in mind that the Plan B was to rent somewhere, do the build, and then move the completed car to somewhere that I'd bought during the extra time that this afforded. But, in a time when we were being told to actively avoid any contact with strangers, the rental market had dried up too. So, I had to stall. "When is the first date for delivery?" "I'm not absolutely sure yet. I'm calling to arrange payment, and see what options for delivery are good for you?" "Okay, there's no sense me booking something now when you can't give me a firm date. When you know that, I'll book a rental for a couple of days before." The next thing I heard was a form email from Caterham, who'd finally realised that they had to shut until further notice. Phew.

The problem hadn't gone away though. At some point, lockdown would end, Caterham would open and the problem would return.

A week later, an email alert went ping. Same location as the first one, even more money; though, being fair, there was more garage to it too. I was straight on the phone, straight to asking price, cash in the bank. "Don't you want to view it first?" "There's no need, you've done plenty of photos. Besides ... lockdown, eh." "If you're quite sure?" "Yes, take my money." I didn't actually say that last bit, but it was firmly what I thought.

12 weeks later, I had possession. Structurally it was fine, but the door was on its last legs. The original locking mechanism had long-since gone. Two padlocked bolts kept it secure, despite the gap down the side that offered a clear view of the contents if you knew where to look.

This next bit will be slightly coy, because this site isn't called "Stealing my Caterham"...

I ran through some options for changing the door. If the work needed to be done anyway then it may as well be done right, and every garage door I found was (a) thin (b) aluminium and (c) had a lock that gave the impression could be opened with a screwdriver. I'd been talking to an industrial fittings company about some interior storage and after a couple of quotes, realised that for the same money, if I forgot the fittings that I was originally talking to them about, I could have them supply the door instead. Their idea of a door involved reinforced steel plate. Much more reassuring. I have reasonable confidence that, were one to try and break in, you'd wake the entire block with the noise and do permanent damage to the structure of the flats above. So long as one of the residents has the presence of mind to call the police, all should be fine.

Whilst waiting for the door to be fabricated, I had time to fit a PVC tiled floor. Given the amount of time that I'll be spending lying on my back trying to fit something, doing so on a clean, flat, non dusty surface seemed sensible, rather than the bare concrete.