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Over to Geoff for the update:
This cool little car was found in a shed after 25 years and the reason she was found; the roof fell in, so the garage (Kinghams of Croydon) called in the builders to fix the roof. They pulled the chassis with all her running gear out though scrapped the body that was stacked up to the side. This won't be a problem as plans are a foot for the new one to be made.
This Reliant (35 as she is known at the moment until her registration number is found) came up on e-bay and did not sell which - was lucky for me as I did not know about it until after the bidding had closed. So after a quick call to the garage and then to my brother it was off to Croydon to collect this time piece of Reliant’s history.
Once there we were greeted by Andrew and shown round the corner to 35. Here was problem one. The little cars back brakes were locked on solid and she was at the end of a very narrow drive.
This is when Elvis came up with the idea of tying a rope to the back of his Jaguar and then pulling the van free from the overgrowth and down the drive. This worked well and after shortening the rope for the fourth pull she was now out in the street. All to do then was put her on the trailer, problem 2. She had been pulled out the drive back wards and as the road was so busy it was not possible to turn her around so all we did was place the trailer in front of her and then couple the winch up and with Elvis and Andrew acting as guides winch her on to the trailer. Because the back wheels were not going round this left two nice black lines on Elvis’ lovely clean trailer floor, oppps.
All loaded all that needed to be done was strap her down for the long trip back home to Tamworth where she was made.
After a couple of stops to check the straps and some odd questions we arrived home where Pete met us so we could unload 35 into what would be her new home. This was easier as all we did was me pick up the back end and Elvis and Pete lower the front to the ground and there she sat taking in her new surrounds. Pete was the first to want to sit on her and after making a quick make do seat jumped aboard - so Elvis and I not to be out done took turns and photos as well.
Go to Part 2
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