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When I sold Lucie 9 months ago it was a tough decision to make though she was not running correctly and even when she was, my wife and son would have to follow in another car with the van only being a 2 seater. Therefore the decision was made and she appeared on e-bay and was then purchased by James Tennant at Movecorp. Little did I realise at the time though I probably could not have wished for a better person to win and buy Lucie. When James came to view the van before she was then collected he mentioned that Lucie would be restored and would be used for shows and advertising the company. Lucie was then collected and a few months went by...
Then one day as I sat at my laptop, an email popped up from James featuring a number of images of the van. The transformation is quite remarkable as Lucie has been fully restored and completely transformed inside and out. Once Lucie was collected she was taken to a specialist classic car restorer who spent several weeks stripping down the van and then restoring it in Movecorp's corporate colours. The dashboard and seats were also restored in the corporate colours and the engine has been rebuilt. Movecorp plan to use the van for local fund raising events that it sponsors and will also be exhibiting the van at promotional events and classic car shows. Indeed, it has already enjoyed its first trip abroad when in December 2013 the van was shipped to Vancouver, Canada for the Annual Meeting of the International Association of Movers. The van, as I would have expected, was a great hit with many folks apparently wanting their photos taken with it.
I haven't seen the van in the flesh but knew that when I saw her fully restored I'd feel a pang or regret, and indeed I do. That said, selling her was perhaps the best thing to do. In my ownership she would have remained untouched in the garage since her last outing with me in July 2013 as I just would not have found the time to take the engine out and address the misfiring issue she had. As it happens she now looks fantastic and is now back on the road where she belongs and where she can be seen. I guess for such a rare van that is the best possible thing.
My thanks go to James Tennant at MoveCorp for the images on this page along with additional information from the December 2013 issue of Removals & Storage magazine.
Elvis Payne.
April 2014
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