It's a job most James Bond fans would dream of.
As a project manager for Aston Martin, Liz Dixon enjoyed the rare perk of being able to borrow the luxury cars at the weekend.
It has meant that the Midland mum has driven everything from the DB7 to the Vanquish.
鈥淏eing a high end company, there were nice little perks,鈥 says Liz, who drove a Ford Fiesta as her own car.
鈥淲hen we had prototypes, they wanted to put mileage on them so if you were going somewhere overnight or for the weekend, they would lend you a car.
鈥淚t meant I got to drive them all, except, of course, for the One-77, the 拢1m supercar we made!
鈥淥ver the years, I drove everything from the Vanquish, the DB7 and the DB9 to the city car, the Cygnet.
鈥淚 was very lucky.
鈥淢y friends loved it. All the neighbours became best friends when I had an Aston Martin on loan because I could take them out in it.鈥
Liz began her career in the defence industry on the South coast, working as the only female in 100 apprentices for Marconi Under Water Systems.
鈥淚n the beginning I鈥檇 wanted a career in music,鈥 recalls Liz, who now lives in Upper Boddington, near Daventry.
鈥淏ut because I had lots of interests outside of music, I came to the conclusion by the time I finished school that if I wanted a music career, I鈥檇 have to give up all my other interests.
鈥淎t the time I wasn鈥檛 prepared to do that.
鈥淚鈥檇 always enjoyed physics, maths, graphic communications and technical drawing.
鈥淲hen I started my apprenticeship, I spent the first five months on drawing but I decided I liked engineering, manufacturing and mechanics instead. I was doing the grass roots, practical side of things, all the oily stuff!
鈥淚t was very male-dominated 鈥 I learnt very quickly how to hold my own.
鈥淚鈥檇 been quite shy when I was at school but by the end of the first year I could give as good as I got, basically because I had to.
鈥淚t was basic survival.鈥
Recognising her talent, Marconi sponsored Liz to do a manufacturing systems degree at the University of Hertfordshire then she returned to Portsmouth to work again.
Later, Liz moved to the Midlands to work for Husky Computers in Coventry before turning to the automotive industry, working on the silver trims for the Rover 75 and the Mini.
Then she moved to Aston Martin in Gaydon, Warwickshire, as a project engineer.
鈥淚 started in research and development, working on the chrome trim,鈥 she explains.
鈥淭hen I progressed through the company, becoming project manager working on design ideas with the design team through to full production.
鈥淚t was fascinating.鈥
Aston Martin鈥檚 specialist vehicle operations (SVO) team got involved with some of the James Bond films.
鈥淚t was all fairly cool,鈥 says Liz, 43, who is married to Graham, 50, who works for Jaguar Land Rover as a manufacturing controller.
鈥淭he SVO team did get involved in prepping some of the James Bond cars with gadgets and bits and pieces.鈥
Then, in May 2011, Liz and Graham adopted a four-year-old girl.
Liz took a year adoption leave off work, vowing to return as soon as the year was over.
But she found motherhood changed her view on life.
鈥淚 was adamant I鈥檇 go back to Aston Martin but as the time grew closer, I realised it wasn鈥檛 going to work. My job entailed long hours, often coming back and switching on the computer again to prepare presentations in the evenings.
鈥淚 wondered: 鈥榠s that going to be right for our daughter?鈥.
鈥淚鈥檇 always worked since the age of 16 and I knew come September she鈥檇 be starting school and that I couldn鈥檛 be at home all day.
鈥淚 had to do something for my own benefit, even if I wasn鈥檛 making the same money as I was before.鈥
Having always been interested in craft and textiles as a hobby, Liz began making cushions and scented candles and selling them at craft fairs using the name Comfy Frog, due to the fact she lives in Frog Lane.
But this didn鈥檛 give her the work/life balance she wanted.
鈥淲ithin six months, I realised I was losing my weekends at craft fairs which were the family time I鈥檇 given up work to have.
鈥淎lso due to the economic climate, no-one was selling much at craft fairs. You could say I was a busy fool really, working hard but not getting any gain.鈥
This time last year, Liz met a woman at a craft fair who was making fairy houses sculptured out of fabric.
鈥淚 learnt there was a resin which sets fabric hard and makes it weatherproof.
鈥淚 realised I could use my textiles to make sculptures to go outside.
鈥淪o I bought a little pack and had a go.鈥
That very first piece ended up in a gallery in Penzance and Liz realised she was onto something special.
鈥淧eople have been really positive,鈥 says Liz, who works in a converted attic.
鈥淭hey say has that really been made from T-shirt fabric? 鈥淚 trawl charity shops to recycle materials as much as I can.
鈥淎 lot of the ceramic vases I make are charity shop finds I鈥檝e brought to life.鈥
It takes Liz between five and 12 hours to make a sculpture plus the drying time then an hour afterwards to overbrush and finish the piece.
鈥淚 made a horse which was a real labour of love. It took around 30 hours to make and used a lot of fabric and chicken wire. It鈥檚 about 2ft tall.
鈥淢y inspiration comes from a piece of fabric or a stone, that was what inspired the 2ft mermaid on my website.
鈥淪ometimes I just dream up new ideas overnight. I still have lots of ideas that I haven鈥檛 made yet.鈥
Several galleries now stock Liz鈥檚 work and it available online. Sculptures cost between 拢45 and 拢525, vases cost around 拢18 and napkin rings around 拢12.
鈥淢y background has definitely helped with the business management, logistics and finance side of things,鈥 says Liz, who still plays the flute and is planning to start teaching her daughter to play piano soon.
鈥淭he engineering side has been useful too, especially when I鈥檓 working on larger sculptures which require chicken wire. I鈥檓 still using handtools to join bits together.鈥
Not surprisingly, Liz鈥檚 biggest fan is her daughter.
鈥淪he loves them,鈥 says Liz, who cannot name her daughter, now six, for privacy reasons.
鈥淪he comes home from school and says what have you made today, mummy?
鈥淚鈥檒l definitely let her have a go when she鈥檚 older. Although the resin is non-toxic, if it gets on anything other than plastic it sticks 鈥 I think if she had a go at the moment, I鈥檇 have a whole room wrecked!鈥
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