Douggie Reece was a member of the band who backed up Dusty in her heyday. The Echoes were certainly having fun with Dusty's car in this picture.

I drove the Buick a lot; there is one of the pictures of me doing so. Dusty didn't mind just sitting back and enjoying the ride. I probably drove it more than anybody. The Echoes would often use it to go to some of their gigs, even gigs that weren't with Dusty; it was one of Dusty's treats for the band. Our equipment went in the van, and we went in the Buick to the job. As it was so comfortable, you would arrive at the job very relaxed and ready to play. It was a great time. It was a beautiful car, silver with a nice shade of blue upholstery. Of cos' it was an American car, and as such was much larger than most British cars, and we the British drove on the other side of the road, which had its drawbacks driving an American left-hand drive vehicle. Dusty's Buick was left-hand drive, but above the dash they had put in a couple of mirrors. One of the mirrors was placed on the far right of the dash facing more or less forward and positioned to reflect into another mirror just to the left of the driver on top of the dash, in this way you were able to see what may have been coming if you wanted to overtake another vehicle. I think the reason that I drove it so much for Dusty was that I became very good at using these mirrors and she felt safe with me. In 1964 it was a very stylish car, almost European in design, and I think that because of its style and looks made it very appealing to Dusty. It had a lot of features that were not available in most of the British vehicles at the time. I really liked the front seats; you were able to adjust them how you liked them and all done by the magic of electronics. Which, as I said, was not around for most of the cars made in Britain.

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This page was last updated: 8-8-2005