Mario Camilleri

From: Malta Van: Thames E494C “The story of this Thames restoration started when Mario was walking his dog and noticed a rusty shell half buried in mud in a field,” says Mario’s friend, Frank Cauchi. “He managed to find the owner, which turned out to be his friend that had bought the Thames years before, had stripped most of the paint off then given up and dumped it in the field and left it there to rot. Mario’s friend offered him the Thames for free but only if he could dig it out himself, so after a lot of hard work, cursing and nearly tipping the tow truck over, the Thames came home for a long restoration. This took more then eight years — the body is built up of sheet metal and no fibreglass was involved, and all of the panels were fabricated in Mario’s two-car garage. The front inner panels were widened to make space for the Viva front axle, while the rear end is Mk2 Escort. The engine is a 1300 Kent with a 244 cam, and a set of 40IDF Webers with a homebuilt inlet manifold because of the narrow clearance.

“The photos of the finished van were taken a few feet away from where it was found half buried!”

Hard to believe Mario pulled this out of a field as a wreck just eight years ago!

Mario had to remake many of the panels.

Inner wings were widened to house Viva front suspension.

Interior features one-off touches.

The finished van returns to the spot where it was rescued.

Panels were prepped and painted in Mario’s garage.

The Thames needed a total rebuild.