Wood You Look At That!
Jackie’s bloke had a brainwave when he found a disused log flume car on ebay...
As I heard a gasp from the lounge, I knew my madcap man was up to something. A maintenance engineer by day, my partner, Mark Harper, 43, has always loved tinkering with cars in his spare time.
And then there’s the mound of odds and ends cluttering up our garden – including two rusting dodgem cars he’d picked up from a reclamation yard and was forever threatening to renovate. What now? Wandering in, he glanced up at me from his laptop. ‘Look!’ he said. He’d found a 3.15 metre fairground log flume car on ebay, originally from Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
‘Wouldn’t it be great to stick some wheels on it?’ Mark rambled on. Had he lost his wheels? Once he has an idea, though, Mark won’t let it go.
So, before I could stop him, he’d bought the flume for £266.
His sons, Andrew, 23, Craig, 18, and Daniel, 16, who live with us, all agreed with me. Dad’s gone mad. And, three days on, on 11 March last year, when Mark brought it home, I still thought it’d join the pile of junk out back.
At loggerheads, I just let him get on with it...
But, over the next four months, Mark threw himself into fixing up his fairground ride. And on 3 July... ‘Ta dah!’ he cried, revealing the refurbished flume.
With a fibre-glass chassis, LED lights and two high-powered mobility scooter engines under the bonnet, it was an impressive feat.
‘You could light up flipping Blackpool Pier with all those lights,’ I joked.
But I had to admit, it looked flum-ing fantastic!
‘Fancy a ride?’ Mark asked.
Officially classed as a mobility scooter, the two-seater is fully roadworthy. And it can reach a whopping 8mph! Va-va-flume! But, out and about, I loved it. I giggled away, doing a Mexican wave behind Mark as if I was on the actual white-knuckle ride.
And it was a hit with the locals, too.
Reversing into a spot, people were queuing to have their photo taken behind the wheel. Wood you believe it! Mark’s even been asked to bring it to promotions and events.
Days later, we took it to the Polesworth Carnival. Our friends, Barry, 60, and Virginia, 58, dressed up as Fred and Wilma Flintstone, while we were Barney and Betty Rubble!
‘Yabba dabba fluuuuuuume!’ Mark joked.
Some friends have even asked if they can tie cans and ribbons to it for their wedding!
Mark’s fairground car has even appeared at the prestigious Blackpool Illuminations festival.
Spurred on by his success, he’s finally fixed up one dodgem to look like a police car, and is working on the other.
But the log flume will always take pride of place.
After all, it is tree-mendous!
Before I could stop him, he’d bought the flume for £266