Wheel meet again: Couple buy back and restore their first family car after selling it 25 YEARS ago

Wheel meet again: Couple buy back and restore their first family car after selling it 25 YEARS ago

Mangalore Today News Network

A couple’s first car is often linked to many fondly-remembered experiences from the early stages of their romance.

But when Ian Stringer parted ways with his beloved red Vauxhall Chevette 25 years ago, he was unable to let go of his cherished memories.

So when the car became available to buy again, nostalgic Mr Stringer wasted no time in turning back the clock and snapping up the vehicle for a second time.

Reunited: Mr Stringer bought back his beloved red Vauxhall Chevette after selling it 25 years ago and has spent four years getting it back on the road

 

Former glory: The couple pose next to the same car after getting married in 1982

Two decades on from the trusty red runaround helping the couple out on their wedding day and when his wife Jayne gave birth, Mr Stringer has fully restored the Chevette to its former glory.

Mr Stringer, 51, from Boston, Lincs, spent two years and £3,000 getting the car roadworthy and the last four years restoring it to near original condition.

He had bought the car originally for just £2,500 in Grimsby in 1981 as a 22-year-old, back when the Vauxhall Chevette was the UK’s best-selling hatchback.

Mr Stringer admits now that owning the same car again was ’like a time warp back to the 1980s’.

Back when Mr Stringer owned the car the first time, he had used to car to go on dates with wife Jayne, also 51, before the couple married in 1982.

Then three years later the Chevette came to the rescue again when Mr Stringer used it to rush Jayne to hospital for the birth of their son Richard, now 26.

Mr Stringer said: ’The Chevette was a great car and it was a real shame when I had to sell it. I thought I’d never see it again.

’It was absolutely amazing to get it back again as it was like a member of the family.

’My writing was still in the car’s service book and the straps for my son’s baby seat were still in the car. It was like a time warp back to the 1980’s.’

Describing the day he married Jayne with the help of the Chevette, Mr Stringer added: ’We went in a Rolls Royce and my dad drove the Chevette with the two bridesmaids inside.

’It was decorated with ribbons and after the reception it ferried us to the train station for our honeymoon and someone wrote just married on the back.’

Mr Stringer eventually sold the car at a local garage after five years when it became too small for his family.

But he was stunned when years later the car’s new owner tracked Mr Stringer down from the car’s log book and introduced himself.

Then in 2005, the man’s daughter phoned to say he had died, and that the couple could buy their beloved Chevette back for just £200.

Mr Stringer added: ’It had served us well, but after five years we needed a newer car.
’I thought that would be the last we’d see of the Chevette.’

’I was absolutely shocked, but very excited. The car was in a very dilapidated state and clearly hadn’t been driven for a long time. There was corrosion on the panel work.

’No one else would have wanted it but for me there was sentiment attached so I bought it.’

The car had to be completely stripped down to its shell and Mr Stringer spent the next two years and £3,000 re-building it and making it roadworthy with some help from a friend and mechanic Toni Sykes.

’Finding replacement parts was really hard and I spent hours on the Internet,’ Mr Stringer said.

’I drove all over the country collecting different parts and some of the smaller items even had to be shipped from abroad.

’It took a lot of time and effort but it was definitely worth it, I have re-built it back to factory specifications.’

The car passed its MOT and Ian has spent the last four years bringing it back to its pristine newly-built condition.

’It is very surreal driving it again after all those years,’ said Ian.

’It has no power steering, but it feels like I was driving it only yesterday.

’We now use it for special trips out and it does about 1000 miles a year.

’I’m really pleased we got the car back. I’d never have forgiven myself if it had been scrapped. I’m not usually a car fanatic but this one is like part of the family.’