‘Ello, ‘ello, ‘ello! Son finds dad’s 40-year-old police car online
A MAN bought his late father’s police car after spotting it on eBay – and even found his dad’s expenses sheet behind the dashboard.
Retired policeman Greg Barnett, 47, chanced upon the 1978 Vauxhall VX90 while browsing the internet, and realised it could be the same car he rode in as a child.
His father, Barrie, was a driver training instructor for Durham Constabulary and used the vehicle to teach hundreds of officers on the ‘skid pan’.
The car, also known as a Vauxhall Victor, was last seen by Mr Barnett years ago. He eventually followed in his father’s footsteps and joined the same force.
The car found its way into the hands of car restorer Nathan Willmot, who discovered it in an old council garage in Birmingham.
Mr Willmot then listed it online where Mr Barnett spotted it and snapped it up for £9,000.
His father passed away in 2007, at the age of 65, but an old oil ‘chit’ found behind the dashboard proved it was his car.
“I found it on eBay,” says Mr Barnett, from Chester-le-Street, in County Durham. I looked at it and said, ‘That looks like Dad’s car.’ “Among the photographs was one of the oil and fuel chits. You could have picked me up off the floor after that. I was gobsmacked when I saw the receipts with my father’s signature on them. It brought a lot of memories flooding back. It’s as if the car has come back home.”
Mr Barnett plans to showcase the car at classic shows.
The restoration took garage owner Mr Willmot, 41, six months – and he left in a few dents for posterity.
“The car goes back to 1978. It turns out it’s the only British police car of its kind in existence,” he said. “It was a non-runner before. I found it in a council garage in Birmingham.
“I put it on the internet to see what the interest was, and Greg found it. It’s fate. He recognised the car.
“His dad was the main instructor in the 1970s and 1980s. I found the scrap paper behind the dashboard, and it turned out to be the fuel chitty signed by Barrie Barnett.”