A classic car collector has taken an extraordinary road trip to reunite his 90-year-old vintage Austin motor with all its previous owners, dead and alive.
Carl Slater, 53, bought the black 1933 Austin 10/4 saloon last February and became interested in the history of the classic motor, which appeared in the 2016 film “Dad’s Army,” starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Bill Nighy.
“It was on set quite a lot apparently,” Mr. Slater said. “It was in quite a few scenes and you can see the car when you’re watching the film.”
Using the car’s logbook, Mr. Slater managed to track down the previous owners of the motor on Facebook and started organizing a road trip to visit them all.
After a year of planning, he left his home in Radcliffe, Greater Manchester, northwest England, to visit the spot in Oswestry, Shropshire, West Midlands, where Elizabeth Morris bought the car in 1933.
While he was there, Mr. Slater and his wife, Seeta, 47, met with Brian Denny, who worked at E. J. Gittins garage and had worked on the car in 1953. Mr. Slater then visited Pen-y-cae cottage, which is near the garage, where Elizabeth lived before she passed away at the age of 69 in 1943.
“I managed to find out so much information,” Mr. Slater said. “It just kind of spiraled with people telling me information like where they lived before or where they were buried or what occupation they had.
“It’s mad, so I just decided to go down and meet everyone. We met the current residents of Pen-y-cae cottage, Jill and Roger Newman and they made us so very welcome.”
The dad-of-five then traveled to the nearby Ty-Draw farm, from which brothers Frederick Wright and John Wright would travel to their local market to sell eggs every Wednesday.
Mr. Slater even did the same route the brothers would have taken when they were traveling home from the market. But he said he nearly didn’t get up the hill, and, at one point, thought the car had “deja vu” of the journey.
“After a couple of hours, we headed off to Ty-Draw farm, a 45-minute drive into the hills,” he said. "We wondered if the car was getting deja vu as we slogged our way up and down.
“It had been at least 80 years since it last made this journey. We tackled the hills at a slow and steady pace and only needed first gear once and I did think if the car had thoughts she would be saying, ‘Oh no, not again.’”
Mr. Slater then visited Rupert Bevan, who owned the car in 1968 after passing his test.
Mr. Bevan said he was driving down to London and the car broke down on the A5 and that had been the last time he saw the car after he left it on the side of the road. He was now able to reunite with the vehicle and told Mr. Slater different stories about “mechanical mishaps” the car got into.
Mr. Slater said: “Rupert was reunited with his old car. He told us stories of mechanical mishaps and his tangle with a cattle truck while running an errand for his mother, who we then went to meet.
“I’ll never forget the look of surprise and joy on her face at seeing the old car again.”
