Day one of the build

In many ways the project began on Monday the 20.06.2005 in Liverpool when I brought the rusting carcass back to Wigan. Five years previously I had generously given the vehicle to my daughter Gemma and her then boyfriend Paul. Recently Paul’s father, Peter had retired from Ford Motors of Speke with time on his hands he foolishly agreed to resurrect the Burlington. But having realised the extent of the work required had put the restoration on hold until a more appropriate occasion. There was never going to be an ‘appropriate occasion’ as the wreck was terminal requiring serious surgery if it could ever be resuscitated. I cannot recall why I had decided that it was my place to rescue the car but I had arranged to travel to Liverpool using a decrepit VW transporter once the beating ‘heart’ of the Chris Ball Motors empire, who at the time was my present employer. My once precious Burlington needed to dragged from the garage, the seized brakes only reluctantly freeing under the strain of the mechanical winch. By the time Chris and I were leaving Gateacre the sun was setting on a pleasant summers evening. This tranquil suburb of Liverpool was still very much an alien unpredictable urban sprawl to Chris who even as a young man had always been very distrustful of this region of the northwest, associating Liverpool as this foreign locale, liberally inhabited by thieves, sprinkled generously with rogues and vagabonds. Scousers, having the reputation of naturally jovial chancers was not the image that Chris wished to acknowledge; he preferred ‘opportunist’ robbers to be a more accurate description. So every road junction, sets of traffic lights frequent delay in the traffic flow was a potential circumstance where the wheels of the transporter would be calmly stolen, we would be mercilessly mugged, both vehicles ruthlessly torched. Trying to compare the areas that we were passing through to more familiar territory was, for Chris, not at all reassuring, it was only when we entered the Wigan town boundaries that we ceased to be in mortal danger. By now it had become completely dark so sensibly the preferred option was to leave both vehicles at David Higham’s` farm to discuss the next stage of the venture in the secure comfort our ‘local’.

The following morning on Tuesday 21.06.05 we trundled down the farm track travelling the short distance to my lock up in Marlebone where the car remained until Thursday 30.06.05 when the first serious examination took place. Chris expressed his surprise at the natural flowing contours of the wings and how, even after fifteen years of neglect, the car stood fairly straight without sagging or listing badly. I managed to fill in most of the historical details regarding the ‘driven’ qualities, but principally how the vehicle ran during the ‘Beaujolais run’ back in 1981. “You know, with a little bit of help this could make quite a decent little car; but I know someone who could offer a better evaluation of whether or not it’s a runner, if you are interested?”
One week later on Wednesday 06.07.05 Colin Brockbank accompanied by his young son visited the lockup. It had been previously explained to me that Colin had a reputation of working on high performance cars, his knowledge of anything that has four wheels, an internal combustion engine and smells of Duckhams, Castrol, Leather, Walnut and Octane was second to none. The chassis and body tub were not perfectly aligned so this became the crux of his assessment then recommendations. “The only way to prove either way was to strip the vehicle down totally, criss-crossing the tub at regular intervals measuring the discrepancies as well as the significant tolerances ensuring that the entire vehicle could be made square”.
With that advice both Chris and Colin made their excuses quietly leaving they wished me all the luck in the world.