It’s been a good few years since I updated on this forum, but I thought it about time I shared an update on my Z, starting off with a summary of the back story.
It is a low owner UK car having covered just over 60k miles in 49 years. Between 1990 and 1992 a gentleman I am now proud to call a good friend stripped it to a bare shell and fully restored every detail to a very high standard. A good few years later he made the mistake of selling it, and it soon found itself gathering dust in a private collection on Guernsey for a good proportion of its life.
Roll forward to 2014 and I was lucky enough to buy the car and fell in love straight away. This is the day I brought it back to the mainland.
About a year into my ownership I decided to have a thorough sort through the history and it quickly became clear than one man, Mr Ken Bartlett was responsible for the condition I found it in today. The same landline number kept on appearing on receipts, so I decided to try it. It was early December and when I got through, and told the gentleman that answered, that his once pride and joy was still in great condition, it made his Christmas.
For the next year I enjoyed the car, and Ken and I stayed in touch. The following summer we met in person at a classic car show in Bath, and he got to experience the car again; it was such an amazing moment.
Between then and now I periodically asked him if he was willing to take the car back and give it a quick once over to ensure it stands up to the next 30 years as well as it has done for the last 30, never really expecting it to happen. Then in October 2021 I got the call I never expected, but always hoped would come, “bring it down!”. I didn’t need to be asked twice, and within a few weeks, I had dropped it down, spent the afternoon with Ken and made my way back to Wales.
Ken ended up having the car for about eight months. I was more than happy for him to have it as long as he needed, as I really wanted him to enjoy the process and not see it as a job with a deadline.
…and this is how it looks now.
When we collected the car, we spent the whole weekend on the south coast with Ken and his wife and we had an excellent time. I was absolutely over the moon, and my wife fell in love with the car all over again on the long amazing drive home, with her at the wheel.
I hope you enjoyed the read as much as did reminiscing.
It is a low owner UK car having covered just over 60k miles in 49 years. Between 1990 and 1992 a gentleman I am now proud to call a good friend stripped it to a bare shell and fully restored every detail to a very high standard. A good few years later he made the mistake of selling it, and it soon found itself gathering dust in a private collection on Guernsey for a good proportion of its life.
Roll forward to 2014 and I was lucky enough to buy the car and fell in love straight away. This is the day I brought it back to the mainland.
About a year into my ownership I decided to have a thorough sort through the history and it quickly became clear than one man, Mr Ken Bartlett was responsible for the condition I found it in today. The same landline number kept on appearing on receipts, so I decided to try it. It was early December and when I got through, and told the gentleman that answered, that his once pride and joy was still in great condition, it made his Christmas.
For the next year I enjoyed the car, and Ken and I stayed in touch. The following summer we met in person at a classic car show in Bath, and he got to experience the car again; it was such an amazing moment.
Between then and now I periodically asked him if he was willing to take the car back and give it a quick once over to ensure it stands up to the next 30 years as well as it has done for the last 30, never really expecting it to happen. Then in October 2021 I got the call I never expected, but always hoped would come, “bring it down!”. I didn’t need to be asked twice, and within a few weeks, I had dropped it down, spent the afternoon with Ken and made my way back to Wales.
Ken ended up having the car for about eight months. I was more than happy for him to have it as long as he needed, as I really wanted him to enjoy the process and not see it as a job with a deadline.
…and this is how it looks now.
When we collected the car, we spent the whole weekend on the south coast with Ken and his wife and we had an excellent time. I was absolutely over the moon, and my wife fell in love with the car all over again on the long amazing drive home, with her at the wheel.
I hope you enjoyed the read as much as did reminiscing.
