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."

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My far more tempting scrappage idea

THOU shalt not be led into temptation.

I appreciate the authors of that particular statement didn't have the scrappage scheme in mind when they came up with it, but it's a temptation all the same, and one I'm going to resist.

In what other world is a banger you bought for less than £500 suddenly worth four times that? It's mighty tempting to take the bait and get a cool two grand off at whichever dealership's nearest to your house, but chances are you'll be killing off a future classic with years of life left in it.

For those of you who haven't been living in a cave since the scrappage scheme started and later got extended, some background. In a bid to bring new car sales back to pre-credit-crunch levels, Generous Gordon can give you £2,000 off your next new car, but only if you give him a decade-old one to get rid off. Worryingly, it doesn't matter whether it's a Mondeo or a Maserati - anything given in gets the crusher treatment.

I actually thought about taking my motor around some showrooms for a laugh, just to see how many salesman I could get to salivate at the prospect of chopping it in to boost their sales figures. Yes, I know I've got too much spare time on my hands.

The only problem is that I'd be led into the exotic world of cars that actually work properly, where Fiat 500s and Ford Kas would stare seductively at me with their promises of three-year warranties and NCAP safety ratings. Before I know it, I'd be £8,000 and a classic car down, and all because some smug salesman offered me a free cup of coffee.

What especially annoyed me was Hyundai's proclamation this week that they've saved a Morris Minor Traveller from the scheme to help raise funds for Children In Need, but it's drop-in-the-ocean stuff.

The way I see car makers getting their sales up is by actually making things people want to buy, and giving us poor petrolheads some money to help keep bits of our heritage from disappearing altogether.

£2,000 for anyone who keeps a cherished classic going? It's a tempting offer.

It's scrap, if you ask me

COULD you condemn a classic like this to the crusher?

It's a question which has got that little bit harder since the Government's scrappage scheme swung into action earlier this year, and - while it's done of sterling job of shedding the number of Nissan Sunnys out there - it's led to all sorts of glorious machines going to their grave.

Since the scheme was introduced in May I've heard tales of dozens of perfectly good cars being towed into the sunset, with the one of the most depressing being an ugly but practically unused Ford Scorpio which could have given a credit-crunched motorist years of joy.

But the worst case has this to be this 1958 Morris Minor with just 36,000 miles on the clock - that's an average of less than 800 miles a year - which the DVLA dealt an earlier death earlier this week.

Even the car's current owners (a certain Hyundai UK) couldn't bring themselves to kill a classic. As the car's already been issued a death certificate, it can never be legally driven on the road again, so they're searching frantically for a museum to save it. The trade-in, in case you're interested, was a Hyundai Coupe.

I know the scrappage scheme's got its plus points in a world ravaged by recession, but could you buy a knockdown Kia if you knew it would kill off an Austin-Healey for good?

I know I couldn't...