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00:01This time on Car SOS.
00:04Oh man, I didn't expect it to be so easy to drive.
00:08The happiest looking British sports car on the planet.
00:11And everybody says this, they put smiles on the faces of everyone who sees them.
00:15Is making Fuzz very, very sad.
00:18So we've got much more rot, much more corrosion than we ever thought was going to be the case on
00:24this car.
00:25And Tim lose the plot.
00:27I can hear you question, what is he doing?
00:29So, can the boys save this precious family heirloom?
00:33He's so emotional.
00:34It's going to take some help from Fuzz's first celebrity crush.
00:38You promised that you were going to get Joanna Lumley.
00:41Do you know what effect a woman like that can have on a teenage boy?
00:44To make its owner's automotive dream come true.
00:48How did that feel?
00:49Absolutely fabulous.
01:10Where's this Fuzz, Bob?
01:11This is Hampton.
01:14Is it? What, South Hampton?
01:15No.
01:16North Hampton?
01:16No.
01:17Is it the original Hampton?
01:19Yeah, this is it.
01:20Today we are picking up a splendid little sports car.
01:25Yes.
01:25Because today we are picking up an Austin Healey frog-eyed sprite!
01:32Yes, it may wear the expression of someone who's just caught sight of Fuzz stepping out of the shower,
01:37but behind that wide-eyed grin lies one of the most driver-focused British sports cars ever built.
01:45Barely bigger than a Mini and about as basic as a car gets before it becomes a lawnmower.
01:51There's no boot, little more than a cocktail umbrella's worth of weather protection,
01:55and a stripped back dashboard with only the essential dials.
01:59Not even a clock, radio or heater came as standard.
02:02Which is why, back in the late 50s, one would set you back just £669,
02:08around £14,000 in today's money, making it the Mazda MX-5 of its day.
02:15Under the bonnet, there's a tiny 948cc four-cylinder engine, making a modest 43 horsepower.
02:22But power isn't everything.
02:24Thanks to its innovative unibody design, there's no separate chassis,
02:29just a lightweight, single, solid shell, meaning it corners like a terrier on roller skates.
02:35And those iconic headlights. They were originally designed to pop up.
02:39But when the budget ran dry, they simply bolted them on top.
02:43They might be small, they might be impractical.
02:46But get behind the wheel and you'll discover a personality as big as that grin.
02:53We're going to meet the daughters of John. John is the car's owner.
02:57Now, here's the thing for us. The reason I'm mega-excited about this is because it's a complete first for
03:02us.
03:02We've never managed to get our hands on a car that has sat in a garage for north untouched of
03:0850 years.
03:10No way.
03:11We need to treat this like an archaeological dig, Fuzzball.
03:13Oh, wait a minute. You do mean a car-chaeological dig.
03:16Oh, yeah, baby.
03:17Hey!
03:21Come on, then. I can't wait to get in there.
03:26Hi.
03:26Hi.
03:27Hello.
03:27How are you doing? How are you doing?
03:28Hello.
03:29Nice to meet you.
03:30First and foremost, where's your dad?
03:33He's in Bournemouth.
03:34He's coming back later on this afternoon.
03:36So the car is here?
03:38Yes.
03:38It hasn't moved and it's got a lot of stuff on it and it's been slightly decaying.
03:43Dust.
03:43Where is it?
03:45It's in the garage.
03:46Can we see it?
03:47Where it's been for 15 years.
03:48OK.
03:48OK.
03:49Can we have a look?
03:52Here we go.
03:57Now, that is absolutely beautiful.
04:03When you look at that, that's a part of your dad.
04:07It's a massive part of my dad.
04:08Is it emotional?
04:09Yeah, really emotional.
04:11Let's go and have a chat.
04:12You're going to need these, right?
04:13Yeah, there's lots of emotion.
04:14Come on, let's go and have a chat about the car.
04:15Come on.
04:19It's like finding treasure this moment.
04:22So let's see what we've got.
04:30This box contains the front lights of the frog-eyed sprite.
04:34Do not throw away.
04:36I think we're about to discover something here.
04:42There we go.
04:43We've got a huge dent here.
04:47I think we'd better get this out into the daylight for the first time in a very long time.
04:57When did your dad first get that lovely little peach of a car?
04:59So, it would be about 1962, 63, around his 21st birthday.
05:06Do you know why he wanted that particular car?
05:08He liked sports cars.
05:10Okay.
05:10Obviously, the number plate was AHB21.
05:13Yeah.
05:14Hang on.
05:14Austin Healey, birthday 21.
05:16Mm.
05:17Did this car have any involvement in how he met your mum?
05:20Yes.
05:20He went to a party and they met at this party.
05:23He asked her if she wanted a ride in his car.
05:27And...
05:27Oh, yeah.
05:28She said yes.
05:29Yeah, the old classic.
05:30And...
05:31So the car actually kind of played a pivotal part.
05:34And I've been here.
05:35You could argue that.
05:39Oh, look at these things.
05:41Look.
05:41I love these Dymo stickers here.
05:44All the switches have been notated.
05:46So we've got Spotlight.
05:48Then we've got indicators.
05:50And do you know what this switch does?
05:54Well, it says it here.
05:56Nothing.
05:57It's great.
05:59It's a really wonderful little time capsule.
06:03But let's have a look and see what's underneath this little froggy face.
06:07Right.
06:08Up we go.
06:11Looking from the oily, oozy exterior of this engine, I would say it's probably close to the
06:17end of its working life.
06:19So I need to get in there.
06:21Whatever happens, this engine and the gearbox and all the running units are going to have
06:25to come out of this car so that we can really work on it properly.
06:32What happened in your dad's life to mean the car got put into the garage and hasn't come
06:35out for such a long time?
06:38So, up to the age of when I was four, I was in the back of the car.
06:41And then when I was four, my sister came along.
06:43So there was two children and there was no more room for two children in the back.
06:47The thought that Penny was in the side or the back or wherever you can fit cots.
06:52Yeah.
06:52That might have worked in the early 60s.
06:55But once you've got two and as time progresses, they're not going to allow that kind of thing
06:59to happen.
06:59No seat belts.
07:00Yeah, exactly.
07:00It's the way it was back then.
07:01It wasn't going to happen.
07:02So he drove it into the garage and it's stayed there ever since.
07:05That's it.
07:06That's it.
07:06No space.
07:07You know, weekends for family or for him to look after the kids.
07:10And that's what he wanted to do.
07:12You've been lucky girls by the sounds of these.
07:14Oh, we've been really.
07:14It sounds like he's been a wonderful dad.
07:16Yeah.
07:16He's been very lucky.
07:18He's great fun.
07:18He is great fun.
07:20And there was lots of times when my mum would say, you know, maybe we ought to get rid of
07:24it.
07:24We're not going to be able to use it again.
07:25And he, that's the one thing he wanted to keep.
07:27He wanted, no, I'm going to do it one day.
07:29I'm going to do it one day.
07:30And how old is he now?
07:3282.
07:3382.
07:34So for 61 years, 61 years.
07:38Yeah.
07:39That cat's been in his life.
07:41Yeah.
07:42He won't believe it.
07:43No, I can't.
07:44I can't imagine.
07:45Shall we have a look?
07:46Yeah.
07:46Definitely.
07:47Okay.
07:47Follow me through here.
07:51Oh, here we go.
07:53Oh, my God.
07:54There it is.
07:56Wow.
07:59Oh, my God.
08:01I can't help it.
08:02Sorry.
08:03That's cool.
08:04Is this the first time you've seen this car on the drive?
08:06Yeah.
08:07It's everything.
08:08Honestly, my whole life has been around this car.
08:13It's so emotional.
08:14So, before we load it up, there's a big empty space in that garage now.
08:19So, is your dad going to go in there and just go, my car has gone?
08:25We've got a plan.
08:26We've got a plan.
08:26The plan is to lose the key.
08:28Yeah.
08:28The old classic.
08:29The reality of this is, Fuzz, we've been here before.
08:32The clock is ticking.
08:33Right.
08:33We've just got to get this done ASAP.
08:35Yes, keeping their dad out of his garage is going to be a challenge.
08:40Go.
08:40Go on.
08:41Good run up.
08:42Ugh.
08:45But that's nothing compared to what Tim and Fuzz are up against.
08:50Saving a crumbling heirloom that holds more sentimental value than the family dog.
08:55And somehow doing it without stripping away its originality.
08:59There she is.
09:01The eye of the frog.
09:02There we go.
09:05So, look at the interior.
09:07What I found interesting about this is you've got rust in areas you'd never normally get.
09:10Look at the rust on the dashboard.
09:12Right round here.
09:13Yeah.
09:13Where the clocks have been put in.
09:15Shall I take the interior on this car?
09:17Er, I think you should, yeah.
09:18Look at the rear end here.
09:20We've got a massive elephant-sized dent in the rear here.
09:23That's a big butt, isn't it?
09:24Well, yeah.
09:25Everything in here is at least 50-something years old.
09:28Yes.
09:29It's everything.
09:30That's right.
09:30Yeah, absolutely.
09:31Harsh to say, but scrap the lot and go again.
09:34Replace it.
09:34No, no, no.
09:35We can't do that because that's part of the character of this car.
09:38Oh, okay.
09:38So we've got to repair, restore, refurbish wherever we can.
09:42Shall we get it up?
09:43Come on, let's get it up in the air.
09:45Right, going up.
09:52On the extremities of the car, there's a lot of grot.
09:56I mean, look at it.
09:58Yeah.
09:59All the way.
09:59We've got the outer sills, we've got the inners, we've got the floors, everything.
10:05We've got to go all the way in here to find out what's going on.
10:07I wonder how much oil has leaked out of that gearbox because it's still dripping.
10:13This car is in big trouble.
10:15I mean, who would have guessed that putting a car in a nice garage to look after it would
10:19end up with something like this.
10:24Tim and Fuzz are up to their elbows in the ultimate bomb find, a 1958 Austin Healey Sprite.
10:33I found some carburettors if anyone wants any.
10:36Surprisingly, rusty.
10:39That incredibly hasn't moved from the garage in over half a century.
10:44Right, I'm going to take my shopping basket and my interiors and go get you some parts, dude.
10:49It's safe to say we're going to need a bigger basket.
10:54Because if the boys stand any chance at rejuvenating John's car into something that makes him feel 21 again,
11:00they're going to need to pull off the impossible.
11:03Top of the list, the body work.
11:05There's the elephant's bottom-sized imprint in the rear and a seemingly endless mountain of rust,
11:11which isn't just surface, it's structural.
11:14Which means every inch the team failed to save brings the entire thing a step closer to the scrap eave.
11:20Next is the super rare rotten interior.
11:24Will they be able to save the original seats, dash and rusting dials on top of sorting a steering wheel
11:30with more cracks in it than a builder's trouser convention?
11:34Finally, there's the ominous oil leak coming from the gearbox.
11:38As it's old enough to draw its state pension and has spent the last half a century sat statue still,
11:44it's going to need a thorough investigation before files will know if it can be saved.
11:48On top of that, it'll need a full respray in period-correct red paint.
11:55And don't forget, John could get back into his garage at any second and blow the surprise wide open.
12:01So, with the clock ticking, the team is tearing down what's left of the car so Fuzz can get to
12:06the bottom of what condition the gearbox is in.
12:12OK, so we'll take the cover off here and see if we can see anything inside.
12:21Now for the moment of truth.
12:23Or disaster.
12:25The Sprite's gearbox is a no-frills four-speeder that was light, tough and primitive enough to keep costs rock
12:33bottom.
12:33But as John's hasn't been touched in half a century, can it be saved?
12:38I can't see any obvious signs of massive damage inside here.
12:44So, it could be that we're being a little over-cautious.
12:47But I think what we really ought to do is take this gearbox apart.
12:52Because we're going to rebuild this engine anyway.
12:54So, let's do the same with the gearbox and make sure that it's in tip-top condition for John.
13:01So, as Fuzz is already facing a ticking clock and a mountain of bodywork,
13:06the engine is off to MJA Automotive Engineering.
13:10The Sprite Gurus, where it will be stripped to its last bolt and made to feel young again.
13:16And for now, the gearbox will have to wait.
13:19Because before the shell can be sent to be blasted, Fuzz needs to deal with the elephant-sized problem in
13:25the room.
13:26So, what I want to do is have a go at knocking it out.
13:30Then we use less filler to actually achieve a nice smooth finish on the rear of the tub here.
13:38Now, where are we? Somewhere around here.
13:45Okay, that has gone a bit.
13:49Let's just get this bit now.
13:52So, while Fuzz keeps up the hammering, Tim's proving once and for all that he still has no idea how
13:59to make a decent cup of tea.
14:01I can hear you question, what is he doing?
14:04Well, this has all got to do with whether or not it was the right thing to do to leave
14:08the car in the garage because he loved it so much or to use it and park it in the
14:13garage.
14:13And I'm going to prove the point here with this.
14:17Yes, Fuzz's cuppa will have to wait because Tim's out to prove that while John may have had nothing but
14:23good intentions by locking his pride and joy away for the past half century, it turns out he may have
14:30actually sped up its demise by doing so.
14:32Last final bits.
14:35And we have no more water left in the pan.
14:40But where's it gone?
14:42And has it in fact gone?
14:44Well, the truth is no, it's still in here with us.
14:48All that pan of water, we're in a sealed room here, it's still in here.
14:51And that's the amazing thing about air.
14:53So what's that water doing in its gas form at the moment?
14:58Well, it's on a mission.
14:59It's currently hunting out for the coldest objects in here so it can get out of the air and turn
15:06back into a liquid.
15:07In fact, I can show you something here.
15:11A cold car sitting in the garage in the morning.
15:16And let's see what happens to that car of fuzz right there.
15:20You can see it already, look at it.
15:22It's actually happening right in front of your eyes.
15:26Look, if I rub my finger over the car, look at that, can you see that water?
15:30And for anyone who's forgotten their GCSE science, when this combination of moisture and oxygen interacts with bare metal, it
15:39kicks off a process that forms iron oxide, better known as rust.
15:44So why does using a car make any difference?
15:46Well, it doesn't stop this.
15:48Your car's still going to get wet in your garage, assuming air can get in and out.
15:52But driving it through the air is no different to drying, wet washing on a fairly cold day.
16:00It still comes in dry, doesn't it?
16:01Because the wind takes the water away, the continual passage of air over something eventually takes the water away.
16:08And it's exactly the same with a classic car.
16:10Good to know, Tim. Shame it's about 50 years too late.
16:14Good to know, Tim.
16:21Whee!
16:23Fabulous.
16:25So we have now achieved convexity from a point of concavity.
16:30so like a pack of hungry locusts the team devours what's left of john's sprite before the shell
16:37heads off to be blasted back to bare metal and if it does make it back as more than a
16:44bag of dust
16:44it's going to need some new seats so tim's not resting on his backside he's off to meet sarah
16:50at the head for heelies one of the country's biggest sprite restoration experts to find out
16:56if anything original can be saved so what's the plan with these then because as far as i'm concerned
17:01first wants to go original and just repair whatever we can as far as i'm concerned we're
17:05against the clock i don't think you're going to be repairing it will take a lot to repair
17:08right come on then where do we start then we've got the new metals yes what else we got so
17:15these
17:15are the backs as well so new new base new backs okay so we need to the foams right and
17:21we need to
17:21make covers yes on this occasion tim's right with the clock ticking there's just not enough time to
17:28try and save john's original ones but the good news is sarah's a seat savant and once she's finished
17:34building two fresh ones from scratch they'll look every bit as good as the real thing right so this
17:40is the bad boy we're going to be using it is yes this polyvinyl chloride is a very bright is
17:46it i mean
17:46would it have been the same it would have been this bright seriously yes i mean the 60s was all
17:50about
17:50bright colors making a statement yes it was just faded over the years so wow to get the shape of
17:55the seat's cushions sarah starts by cutting around a pre-made template specific to the year of john's
18:02sprite next she folds the material to create the seat's iconic ribbed design then identical width ribs
18:11are made in the foam material that's going to sit inside the new covers right so we need to stitch
18:17that
18:17old now so we're going to join the back to the front with a sandwich of foam in between yep
18:24and
18:26this is where the magic happens and it's not as straightforward as you might think right so hang
18:32on let me have a look at this because i think most people would assume that to get the lines
18:36you just
18:36sew straight down the white line making sure you sandwich the foam between the red and the white on the
18:42back right yeah but you're not you're actually folding the red back on itself so you're going to
18:48create a seam of two layers of the red one layer of foam and then the backing which is just
18:54a calico
18:54calico right that's interesting so why do you do that because it hides all the stitches you don't see
19:01any of them then of course because if you just sewed straight down the line you'd see all the stitch
19:05yeah but you're hiding the stitch on the inside of the fold yes
19:11yeah sarah certainly knows her stuff because when it comes to the final product
19:15the results speak for themselves they're a snug fitting thing aren't they they've got to be
19:20absolutely precise let me just hold this in place just to see what that's going to look like
19:25that's wonderful isn't it yeah they're nice shall we build another one yeah yes they look like they
19:31could have just rolled off the production line in 1958 which means john will be none the wiser
19:41but the body shell that's another matter entirely because it's doing everything it can to stop this
19:47restoration in its tracks underneath here i can see well it looks like a projection in a nightclub
19:58it's absolutely rotten as a pear so we've got much more rot much more corrosion than we ever thought
20:07was going to be the case on this car so i'm going to first of all take a look at
20:13the rear quarter
20:15over on the passenger side because i don't like the look of that job but in the meantime well just
20:22wish
20:22me luck because this has turned out to be a mighty mighty task
20:31most of the meat's coming off because there may still be a lot more corrosion waiting for us
20:53here comes the exciting bit
20:58there we go so now we can really see where we need to get to and also
21:08we've exposed some more areas in here that are going to need repairs
21:18tim and fuzz have their hands full restoring this 1958 austin healey sprite that's been slowly
21:25rusting away in the garage for more than half a century
21:31it was bought by a 21 year old man about town john way back in 1963 but after the arrival
21:38of his
21:39second daughter he no longer had time to care for his beloved little sports car so it was pushed into
21:45the garage for something more practical with every intention of one day getting back behind the wheel of
21:51this much-loved member of the family but 54 years and two more children later that dreams never come true
22:01dad had to sacrifice the car eventually i think for me it had to be done because it it's not
22:07conducive to bringing up a family and it's hard to make those sacrifices sometimes as a parent
22:12he sounds like he's been a wonderful dad yeah he's been very lucky he is great fun
22:20since taking it on the boys have been at full throttle scrambling to rescue every piece of this
22:26cherished member of the family before john can get into his garage and blow the surprise so far it's
22:33been an epic battle because this little sprite's condition is far worse than anyone dared imagine
22:39john's original engine the beating heart of his car has been hauled off to the specialists for working
22:46day and night to try and save it the body shell is totally rust ridden and as fragile as your
22:52nan's
22:53best china every panel that's cut away only reveals more corrosion hiding beneath
23:01so while the team continues to cut grind and sand their way through what remains of the shell
23:08the boys are heading the road to find out what's possessed john to hold on to this basic tiny and
23:15frankly strange looking little car for over 60 years oh man i didn't expect it to be so easy to
23:24drive
23:25you've got that raspy exhaust as well yeah which says yeah i'm a sports car
23:33do you know what to compare the experience of driving this car to driving a modern car a modern car
23:39is like taking the escalator whereas this is like taking the stairs it's far more involved you have
23:45to do more but there's a sense of achievement and reward and like ah you all took the late of
23:50the
23:50escalator you lazy yeah i know what you mean yeah pair everything down yeah this is the essence of a
23:57motor
23:57car absolutely yeah and now we're rocking along it feels like we're really motoring around but we're
24:03doing 40 miles per hour when i'm driving a modern car i'm so distracted by all the technologies and
24:09screens with this thing there's none of that you've just got the steering wheel three pedals a gear stick
24:17and the indicator you've just got like six things and that's it i'm still looking down there okay now
24:23how did you get those links i have no idea
24:31the thing that i love about these is that everybody says this they put smiles on the
24:36faces of everyone who sees them but that's priceless like feeling good about yourself and having a good
24:41day it's what life's about and this car delivers that that's it
24:47honestly i'm telling you it's a dodger that has broken out the fairground that's what this car is just
24:53ignore that ignore that oh it's penny look it's funny pull over it's penny is it yeah hang on i'll
25:00pull in here hi penny how you doing hi i'm good how are you boys doing yeah it's good guess
25:08what
25:09we're driving oh yes recognize those headlights anyway what's up what's going on um just a heads up
25:16my dad's getting a little bit stressed with this excuse of losing the garage key right
25:21and he's talking about locksmith how long can you hold him off for
25:26i'm not sure the car's got to get done sooner yeah so the next question is then the plan that
25:31i had
25:31for giving the car back to your dad who's your dad into name somebody for me go on david attenborough
25:37david attenborough david attenborough he's a bit old anyone else what yeah okay okay he he likes
25:43joanna lumley it's not gonna happen joanna lumley dame joanna hold on wait a minute i'm sure she'd do
25:48it it's no it's not gonna happen she said she's got a better chance than david attenborough royalty
25:53mate i know i know leave the car to me you get on with getting a celebrity it's not gonna
25:58be possible
25:59right we're gonna have to go okay thank you see you later bye bye right okay there's the switch
26:06starter ready go right
26:18yes things were already at boiling point and john's just cranked up the heat with the threat of a
26:24locksmith so the boys have set themselves the ambitious deadline of finishing the car in just
26:30three days but it's going to be a brutal challenge thankfully the team have already been working day
26:36and night to repair the sprites body shell and finally there's a chink of light at the end of this
26:43very rusty tunnel we've got the original bonnet but we're matching it up with new filler strip and a
26:50new outer wing here we've done repairs to the bulkhead here so that is all done now and then we've
26:58got
26:58that rear quarter that i cut off here we have the new quarter in place this shows just how important
27:06it was to cut the whole thing out because now we've got the whole shape of the panel come around
27:12we've
27:13got new floor panels we've got new chassis rails these internal chassis rails new sills so there's
27:20a lot of new metal gone into this car but the basis of the car is still that same one
27:27manufactured in 1958
27:29this is a lucky survivor what a beautiful little motor
27:37and that's not the only good news john's original engine has been re-bought had new end bearings
27:43pistons and rings fitted so it should run exactly like it did over half a century ago but this
27:49restoration is far from over and it'll all be for nothing if the experts at hardy engineering can't
27:55help fuzz resurrect the gearbox to go along with it so what have you brought us today right it's a
28:01gearbox out of a very early austin healey froggerd sprite so 1958 when was this last on the road
28:08uh quite recently it was uh 1971. okay well and you had a look in here already have you it
28:16looked
28:17okay it was all turning and everything shall we start by just taking that off again okay the sprite's
28:23four-speed gearbox is so rudimentary that it features a relic of a bygone era most modern drivers will
28:30never know the pain of having to deal with so we've got something that we can see here before
28:35we check the wear and this is a synchromesh apart from on the first gear it's a synchromesh gearbox
28:41today if you drive a manual it almost certainly uses a synchromesh box which works by matching the
28:47speed of the gear you're in with the one you're shifting to so that starts to move at the same
28:52speed
28:52as the input and that then allows this hub to slip over these teeth here because both this speed and
29:02this speed have been synchronized but to save cost and size the sprite didn't get synchromesh on its
29:09first gear which means down shifting into it whilst on the move requires the lost art of double declatching
29:16the driver would have to do the job of the synchro rings by flicking into neutral to match the engine
29:21and gearbox speeds before delicately slotting the gear home getting it even slightly wrong and he risked
29:29the chorus of grinding teeth there we go the internals of a gearbox right what's good and what's bad
29:38but to me to my eye this looks like this has got damp yeah okay so that could that happen
29:46because
29:47the car has sat around for over 50 years condensation's gone into it and just eaten away at the steel
29:54there
29:54yeah so that means we won't use it again even if the case hardening was good on it even if
29:59you polish
30:00that up it's still compromised okay so that goes to show that a car that's not doing anything can
30:07still get damaged yes so are there any of these internals that are going to be used again
30:13i'm afraid not so we're going to take a whole set of components yeah from something later
30:20yeah we'll make them fit that original case yes so from the outside it'll look no different to
30:25anything you've had before okay ratios will be the same and it will just be a sweeter gearbox yes
30:31after bill works his magic the gearbox will be snappier than a teenage crocodile that's been on the
30:37energy drinks and those more modern internals mean double declatching will be a thing of the past
30:44and back at the car sos nerve center tim's uncovered another old part from the past that's crying out
30:51for salvation would you like to see my crack you would okay eyes down there it is look at that
30:59that
30:59is one of many cracks around the perimeter of this actually very rare steering wheel for a frog-eyed
31:05sprite anyone who has a frog-eyed sprite like no way that's the holy grail you've got to repair that
31:10and that's precisely what we're doing here today original mark one sprite steering wheels are hard to
31:15come by so where do we start we start with cleaning decades of open top motoring damp garages and upgrades
31:23by owners for something sportier have left very few surviving to tell the tale so to save this family
31:30heirloom it's starting off with a shower in the vapor blaster
31:38which uses fine glass beads and high pressure water to gently strip away the decades of grind
31:45without damaging the metal underneath
31:51right the big reveal the grand reveal i need to wash this thing off actually you can actually you
31:58can see it's still got the glass beads on it so let me just give that a quick clean in
32:02the toilet
32:03hang on a second oh god sorry well that's awkward and here was tim thinking he'd already reached his
32:14daily crack limit
32:18right so those holes have stopped the cracks growing but there's still the problem of the crack
32:23and if you think about the way cracks going to look if you had a look at a cross section
32:26of that it
32:26would be like like that super steep basically two cliffs meeting each other so i'm going to actually
32:34taper them off by removing all this material here with a blade and whilst these might look like surface
32:42cracks if the car ends up back in john's garage for a long period of time it could develop into
32:47something
32:47much worse right where's the epoxy now i'm happy with that because it's proud of the right profile so
32:55it can get sanded back and it'll look right but there is a staggering amount of work to do here
33:00so while tim cracks on the big reveal is approaching faster than a jet-powered lewis
33:06hamilton thankfully after more than 700 painstaking hours of work the body shell is stripped repaired and
33:13ready to bounce into action like a 21 year old john at a house party the rust and rot's been
33:19cut away and
33:20new metal let in only where completely necessary now it's in the final stages of filling sanding and
33:28flattening before it's into the spray booth for a coat of original red paint and that's not the only
33:36bit of originality fuzz is desperate to recreate when we first picked up the frog eye i really wanted to
33:43save this dash because i thought it's really charming all these little bits of tape on here and
33:52unfortunately it does have this rip across here so what we're going to do is use a new dash but
34:00we've
34:00kept as many of the clocks and dials as we can from this dash so those are in the new
34:05one so we've got
34:06some originality there but also i have just been getting these original little bits of printed tape
34:15off this dash and it's my intention to stick them on the new one
34:21but before that can happen the team is in a race to refit the original engine and gearbox back into
34:26place there's still a long way to go i'm dealing with the wiring at the moment but it's taken a
34:34long
34:34time and that's something the boys could do with more of because with just 24 hours before they need
34:40to hand john's car back things aren't running smoothly nothing quite fits where it's supposed to
34:47and i don't know where half the parts are tim has gone off to sort out the reveal and get
34:52a celebrity
34:54leaving the job in hand and this is the important bit really and with the sun going down on our
35:01froggy
35:02friend still far from finished will fuzz and the team be able to return its wide-eyed grin in time
35:13when the boys first got hold of john's sprite there was nothing sprightly about it over half a century
35:21in the garage had reduced it to little more than a rusty bag of bolts but after working through the
35:27night and clocking up more than 1500 hours of replacing repairing and renovating
35:34the grin has finally returned wow exactly that is absolute perfection
35:45but the question is has tim managed to bag an absolutely fabulous star to go with it
35:51it is stunning and i've got to say this location denby's wine estate yes utterly amazing the car
35:59looks wonderful the background is fantastic we've both delivered then right so the plan
36:04today wait wait a minute what wait we've delivered you've partially delivered there's one person missing
36:10from this picture no joanna lumley you said you would try your best to get joanna lumley i was a
36:16child of
36:16the 60s and 70s so joanna lumley meant an awful lot to a boy like me i had her picture
36:22on my wall
36:23i had posters of her on my wall you don't understand she was my first no buzz no hi
36:29buzz i was your first crush you were my first crush yes you were my first crush yes you were
36:36my first
36:36crush crush yeah you talked about it all the time first crush joanna lumley posted on the wall
36:41have you been there for very long yes just long enough to look at this car isn't she divine oh
36:45yeah
36:45beautifully quick change of subject thank you very much right would you like to know the plan
36:51here oh we'd love to do i do some talking you can't at the moment okay here's the plan john
36:56is
36:57coming here today you are here filming a make-believe made-up tv show about the vineyards of england
37:03so he'll be just observing i'm the director you bring it down the hill you both come down in this
37:07in
37:08this that's all he's going to look at it's just going to see this heavenly girl drifting back into
37:13his life again absolutely and the car as well i thought that was me absolutely it's going to be
37:20good isn't it yeah it's exciting actually yeah so while the real film crew pretend to get set up for
37:27the opening shot of joanna's imaginary new series so here are the dates these vines were planted in 1990
37:34yeah uh denby was established in 1986 yeah john's been brought to the estate for what he thinks is
37:41just a nice day out with his family little does he know he's about to get the shock of his
37:46life
37:47and they're almost they're a week away from harvest now well okay yeah time for the crew to move in
37:53and
37:53get him into the perfect position we're about to go into our first shot if you want to come over
37:57and
37:58do you want everyone to come and have a look at what we're doing come on man so far so
38:02good he's
38:03taken the bait we are making a television show this is dangerous i'm joanna what's your name john hi john
38:14this man looks like he's just fallen in love sorry sorry so what a pleasure how nice to see you
38:20oh bless it
38:22well we're just hoping fingers crossed about the weather because we're just doing this bit about um
38:27vineyards and wines and stuff like that this is why i'm loving to do this i'm so sorry sorry
38:31sorry to interrupt okay do you want to do you want to watch this opening yeah oh come and see
38:36it
38:36come and sit over here come and sit behind the screen over here i'm going to be coming down here
38:40in a car getting out and going across and looking at this so the first this is sort of opening
38:45shots
38:45going to the the vineyard you know to the vines and looking at them
38:50right the stage is set okay guys enjoy time bring the car down john is in position and still none
38:58the
38:58wiser we are in running joanna and fuzz have retreated to the top of the hill and are ready
39:05behind the wheel this is the moment i know this is thrilling look here's john okay this is it this
39:12is our
39:19well i never did well joellen and lovely sat in my sprite john have you any idea what's going on
39:28here
39:28no right come up here come with come on come up here a little bit there's a little bit more
39:33come
39:34around this way here do you recognize her i do but it's not my car okay right john i've got
39:44some
39:44explaining to do we do a television show called car sos where we secretly restore deserving people's
39:49classic cars and the reality of what you're looking at here is that is your car when was the last
39:58time
39:58you sat on her john 40 years ago no stop well all right i can't believe it john there are
40:06also a few
40:07people here that you might recognize can we bring out john's family please come on out guys
40:15come all around the back that's it can you explain to us why you wrote to car us for us
40:21i've always
40:22known it's very special for my dad and it's very special for us as a family and i knew he
40:27wouldn't
40:28get around to doing it because he's always so busy doing stuff for the family this is part of the
40:33family it is part of the family definitely i'm thinking this is one of the most astonishing days of my
40:40life round of applause guys yes it's no wonder john barely recognized this long-lost relative because the
40:49last time he saw it it was a dented rusty collection of parts that hadn't left the garage in more
40:55than
40:55half a century but now it's been reborn under the bonnet the engine and gearbox have been fully rebuilt and
41:04fitted out with brand new components ready to power on for the next 50 years the body shell has been
41:11stripped to bare metal lovingly repaired and reshaped back into that unmistakable frog eye silhouette
41:19inside there's fresh seats in period correct red fabric a new dashboard importantly fitted with
41:25john's refurbished clocks and gauges and those all-important dymo labels have been restored
41:31the finishing touch a paint job so clean and sharp it's got more sparkle than a glass of champagne
41:40john how does it feel to to finally be sitting in your car it makes me feel young again
41:47i would like to think that this car and i have a symbiotic relationship so we're both grateful for
42:00your guys restoration to uh re-establish an old friendship did you think this day would ever
42:08happen in the heart in your heart of ours i did dream of restoration um and what it looked like
42:15originally but to have it presented in this uh glorious way uh no i never i didn't think it would
42:24be like this as you sit in it now how does it feel well it feels like a home really
42:30well john there's
42:32only one thing left to do now and that is to give you the keys to the car and tell
42:36you that you have
42:37officially been car sos so thank you very much you're probably itching to start it up aren't you
42:48how did that feel absolutely fabulous
42:53now john you've got a choice here would you rather drive the car with fuzz beside you penny beside you
43:00or
43:04i really much as i like joanna love me uh i really think i ought to go with the family
43:11wouldn't i i'm sure you'll forgive me i do forgive you
43:16that's completely understandable right should we make that happen then one more round of applause
43:20for john and his frog eyes brights
43:28dad this is awesome
43:33it's totally mad i feel like i'm in a dream do you feel like you're in a dream yeah
43:39i've done for the last four hours you thought you were in a dream
43:42you're so close to the road oh that was fantastic well done it was wonderful yeah there
43:51was only one thing that was really wrong about it that was like there we go that's better
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