Driving passion, Iran style

Young Iranians are speed-dating in cars to find love - and escape the militia, reports Nargess Shahmanesh-Banks

Cars are one of the few ways to get a date in Tehran. In true speed-dating style, young boys and girls packed in single-sex cars, cruise specially selected streets in up-town Tehran in search of a desirable soulmate - or a one-night stand. On the first lap potential candidates are spotted, on the second verified, on the third business cards handed out.

The concept is similar to our own version of speed dating, the general idea being to score as many potential dates as possible. Knowing where to go is a tricky one and, in a style reminiscent of the Nineties rave scene, locations are forever changing to keep the law guessing, the only source of information being word of mouth.

Leila, 23, and a speed dating expert, informed me on my recent 48-hour stop in Tehran that one particular street is back on the scene. The first and original location for speed dating, it has in recent years been ditched for more discreet streets to avoid government crackdowns (under the current regime, informal dating is considered illegal and severely punishable).

With its broad, tree-lined pavement and prime location, it's the ideal place for the young and restless to surreptitiously meet.

However, with over 70 per cent of the population hovering below 30, competition (and potential opportunities) is high. Leila boasts once scoring as many as 10 cards in just one lap. An innocent child of the pre-speed-dating era, I was curious to find out how.

Good looks are essential and even beneath the compulsory Islamic headscarf, Irani boys, I am told, have become experts at spotting the ones with the looks. Los Angeles (nicknamed Tehrangeles given its vast Iranian population who fled there after the 1979 revolution) is the beauty benchmark. So figures are toned and super slim, hair blond and faces, particularly noses (with a little help from the scalpel), perfectly sculpted - for both sexes. It all makes a refreshing contrast to the stereotypical vision of women veiled in black.

Music trends also follow LA's lead. Thanks to the semi-illegal satellite dishes that decorate the city's skyline, the young are bang up-to-date with what's happening across the Pacific. Be it Tehrangeles rap, Persian hip hop or the more avant-garde neo-classic (think Persian sitar), it is essential to have the right tune blaring out on the street.

Leila warned that although good looks and hip music are essential, the make of car is even more so. The locally built Peykan, she insisted, will get you no dates. Foreign imports are good, but best avoid French cars because there are far too many about, particularly Peugeot 206s. She confided that a German brand would be the safest bet - a BMW or Mercedes.

A flash car can also act as a better getaway in case of police raids. But then much of the fun (and rebellion) is in the risk taking.

The Peykan, then, based on the the Hillman Hunter, won't get you a date, nor will it get you out of trouble if a black Toyota SUV, piled high with government militia accessorised with sub-machines, appears

So it's not surprising that the new generation have no respect for their home brand. I have always associated the city with the car, so it was with dismay that I heard the national car had ceased production. It was like losing a beloved, albeit eccentric, old uncle.

Bearing out Leila's suggestion, I did spot a few new BMW 5 and 6-series. BMW is keen to expand exports to Iran, which may explain its huge advertising billboards on main highways. Despite much perceived political turmoil, and thanks to its young population, Iran is predicted to become one of the fastest-growing economies in the next 10 years or so. Pity the Americans are missing out.

I even drove side-by-side with a luxury niche Mercedes-Benz CLS - my head lowered in a beige beat-up Peykan cab. Behind the wheel sat a young man in his 20s, long hair swept back with excessive gel, beaming with self-admiration, probably from the hundreds of cards he must have scored earlier on the street of love.