Country and cool, a garage with a potbelly stove and hunting trophys on the wall

found on http://bumpsteer.blogspot.com/

Southport mechanics restore couple's classic Morris Minor wedding car

Pictures by Martyn Snape, Champion Newspapers

A COUPLE who used their beloved classic car as their wedding transport have just had it lovingly restored to its former glory by a West Lancashire firm.

John and Jean Fagan, of Snape Green in Scarisbrick, told The Champion this week they were delighted that Molly, their 1963 Morris Minor Convertible, had been restored by mechanics working at the Southport branch of West Lancashire car repair specialists Karl Vella.

The car holds a special significance for the couple because John originally bought it for Jean in 2008 as a wedding present, and the couple used it as their wedding car at a ceremony at Briars Hall in Lathom.

Jean told Life On Cars: "She made an excellent wedding car - the little car has given us so much pleasure and happiness. Wherever we go in her, people wave and smile and want to know her story.

"Molly was in good condition when we bought her but more recently we noticed a bit of rust and some of her paint was starting to crack. We made the decision to have her paintwork completely renewed, and some of the metalwork has been replaced. She looks absolutely magnificent now thanks to the work of John, Peter, Darren and Kieran at Karl Vella in Southport."

Jean, a lifelong Minor enthusiast, added that although she didn't drive at the time she learned and passed her test just so that she could use Molly as her own car after the wedding. The couple brought the car into the company's site on Cemetery Road last December, and during quieter periods at the garage the car has been brought back to its former glory using new paintwork, improvements to the metalwork and a restoration of the interior.

Karl Vella MBE, Managing Director of the Karl Vella Group, said: "I'm delighted John and Jean are happy with our work. The lads have done a cracking job - I was really impressed at how they pulled out all the stops to ensure the car was restored to its former glory."

 Do you have a story you'd like to share with Life On Cars? Get in touch by sending an email to david.simister@hotmail.co.uk or leave a comment below...

Integrated Public Transport

Contributor "R" writes to us

Dear Bristol Traffic

These flats on Cotham Road South opposite the junction of Kingsdown Parade and Horfield Hill were built only a few years ago with the car in mind. The ground floor level includes garages with access across the pavement to the road. However, I wonder if the developers failed to realise just how useful garages are for keeping other things in apart from cars ?

Perhaps they did as their clever design hints at the existence of a driveway in front of the garages. This hint has not been overlooked by this tax-payer who is presumably pleased that the bus stop outside the garages gives pedestrians the satisfaction of making good use of what we all regard as an underused part of the road network.

Indeed we should applaud this as an example of "integrated public transport". I was unable to stay for long and determine the effect on pedestrians of an approaching bus.

Yours dearly,
"R"

This is a fine example of integrated transport. We also suspect that as this is in the Kingsdown RPZ, such imaginative parking will allow the resident to avoid needing to pay extra anti-motorist tax on their vehicle.