A man has spent 15-years transforming a rusty wreck into the vintage car of his dreams. Terrence Cleife, a retired motor engineer, bought the wreck of a 1916 American LaFrance saloon car in 1998. The pre-war vehicle had been dismantled and was lying as a pile of scrap on the floor of a barn. The car’s missing parts were welded by Terry out of bronze and cast iron to match the vehicles original chassis and the engine completely re-assembled. Now 71, Terry has the car of his dreams and has completed the painstaking piece-by-piece restoration.
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MotorTranscript
00:00Hi, my name is JV-N4N9.
00:10Hi, my name is JV-N4N5.
00:19I'm also a弟sman-B spirit that makes me think about.
00:24I think this is a family name.
00:29So it was completely dismantled, it was basically a heap of scrap metal on a barn floor when
00:44I first saw it and then I came into the garage for the winter and started on the engine and
00:48other bits and pieces that were missing.
00:58Well on the top here we've got the priming taps, you have to prime the cylinders with fuel
01:04before it will go.
01:07Ignition on, neutral, retard, hand throttle and that stuntman hasn't turned up yet has he?
01:20It's a 4 cylinder 10 litre T head design, the valves are exposed, you can see them going
01:25up and down when it's running.
01:30Looking at the dash we've got the speedometer, here is the ignition switch for the coil and
01:35distributor, operated by foot when driving.
01:40Then we've got the ammeter, the horn.
01:44Here is the magneto switch, oil pressure gauge, it reads very low actually because they didn't
01:50use very much oil pressure in those days.
01:59When I'm out on the road a lot of modern car drivers flash their lights and a few wave.
02:05It's actually very pleasant, it's a bit like riding a motorbike or flying a plane.
02:09I don't normally go more than 60 miles an hour which is fairly uncomfortable for the passenger.
02:15I'm ok because I've got the monocle screen.
02:26Would I ever sell it?
02:27Well I'm getting on a bit now so one day I will but I'm not ready yet, not ready to put
02:31my feet up yet and put the slippers on.