The Collectors

Anne and Richard Bryant have amassed no fewer than 11 classics. Here’s how.

Ibought the Duchess, our 1965 Rover 3 Litre saloon, in 1976. That is now 44 years ago, and at the time it had only 22,000 miles on the clock. Although I gave the car to Anne as a wedding present, I have somehow still ended up paying all the bills on it. Over the years, apart from routine maintenance, Duchess has had a professional bodywork overhaul with many new panels and a respray. The interior is mainly original, but the front seat bases had to have new leather installed by a local specialist a few years ago.

In 1978, Anne sold the 1965 Vauxhall Viva HA she'd had since new and bought Sausage (from the registration number Sizzling Hot Chipolatas

864 Sausages) a brand new four- door Viva 1300L, as her elderly parents could no longer manage getting in and out of the back of a two- door car. Sausage has now had one lady owner for 42 years. Whisper it quietly, but Sausage was not actually very well made and had to have warranty work when new, including correction of defective paintwork and a new speedometer at 7000 miles. She developed an unhealthy appetite for oil too, which a professional partial engine rebuild did not cure.

In the early 1990s Sausage was beginning to look a bit shabby and becoming unreliable. Rather than get rid of her, Anne decided to give the car a professional overhaul including bodywork repairs involving some new panels and paint, replacing part of the seat upholstery and the carpets and a replacement engine. All of this cost £2600, which is ironically what Sausage cost when brand new.

In 1979 I was able to buy Agatha, our 1946 Rover 16 Sports Saloon as a running car but in need of improvement. In due course she had a comprehensive rebuild, which was spread over about 10 years and included new and repaired panels plus a bare metal respray. To save costs we stripped the paint off it ourselves in an unheated garage in the winter before handing over to the professionals. All the brightwork was replaced or rechromed, and I installed a new wiring loom. The interior trim was time- expired and had to be refurbished or replaced, while the engine was swapped for a fully reconditioned unit.

When Anne and Richard Bryant got married in 1982, they had four cars between them which ranged from four to 36 years old. Over the years, this collection has grown to 11 vehicles, and at one time reached 13. That's because they tend to keep the vast majority of cars they acquire, resulting in some very long periods of ownership. This is the story behind each of them.

In 1980, in conjunction with moving from the Midlands to Sussex to take up a new job, I swapped Minis with my mother so that she took on my 1975 Clubman Estate automatic and I had Millie, her 1965 Morris Mini Minor Traveller. My mother had bought Millie secondhand in 1968, and I have been in charge of the maintenance ever since. Her bodywork has been overhauled more than once and there have been three resprays, the first of which I undertook myself. We also undertook one rear subframe replacement. The engine and gearbox have each been replaced once. We have now had Agatha and Millie for 41 and 40 years respectively.

In 1984 my 'Aunt' Helen gave us Salome, the 1963 Rover P4 95 which she had owned since new. It was this car, together with its predecessor a 1955 P4 60, which had given rise to the Rover enthusiasm that I have had since early childhood. Helen owned Salome for 21 years which is quite impressive, but we have now had the car for 36 years.

Helen was barely 5ft tall and suffered increasingly from arthritis, so the choice of a car weighing one and a half tons without power steering might

seem a bit strange, but she liked the comfort and what she referred to as 'the power in reserve.' She finally decided to give up driving at the age of 87 after backing into three lamp posts on the same morning.

I had been cleaning and then maintaining the car for the majority of its life until that time. Inevitably the bumpers were no longer in pristine condition, and various areas of the bodywork had to be repaired from time to time. After Helen kindly gave it to us, I was able to bring out the various new parts that I had acquired and stored, and have a bodywork specialist fit various new panels and carry out a full respray before I added the replacement chrome.

Next to arrive was Ivy, our 1970 Morris Minor four- door saloon which we bought from the estate of the second owner in 1989, 31 years ago. Ivy had had a Gold Seal engine fitted, but her bodywork was getting rather tired. After professional repairs to the floor, I fitted four new wings and resprayed the car. In later years there was a full professional respray, and then some further replacement panels too.

Ivy was followed by two acquisitions from a much earlier age, beginning in 1991 with Harriet, our 1926 Rover 9/ 20 two-seater with dickey seat. This car spent the majority of her life in Australia. We saw her advertised in a magazine by a dealer in Hampshire, and having had an itch to get a 1920s car, we got carried away and bought her without really thinking about what was involved in owning such an old car. The first task, with the aid of a dear friend who is a motor engineer but has since retired, was to carry out the works needed to make the car road legal in England. This included new king pins, refurbishing the rear axle, installing rear lights including a brake light and (not a legal requirement but for safety) flashing indicators incorporated in the front and rear lights. The radiator also had to be re- cored. Once this had been done and an MoT obtained, the DVLA issued a British registration and we could start learning how to drive the car with its three-speed non-synchromesh gearbox, extremely direct steering and gentle pace.

The other really old vehicle is also one of the smallest, being Marmaduke, the 1932 Morris Minor Van purchased jointly in 1993 by Anne and her sister Mary. He, like Harriet, was bought on a whim – he looked so sad standing in the back of a dealer’s showroom and they took pity on him. He was in a part-restored state, and it was obvious that he would need a lot of work both mechanically and bodily. In fact, he had to have new wiring and lights, a comprehensive brake overhaul, a new exhaust and radiator

core and his seats had to be re-upholstered. The rear doors had no glass in the windows and the various locks had to be refurbished or replaced. The petrol tank was also professionally rebuilt.

After he got his MoT, there was the challenge of driving him as, like many vehicles of that time, he has his accelerator pedal in the middle and the brake on the right, not to mention a three-speed gearbox with reverse where first would be on most cars. Subsequently he had a respray, and was sign written to commemorate the sisters’ maiden name of Rushin.

In 1997 we acquired Butch, our 1988 Range Rover Vogue automatic who for many years towed a trailer to carry the oldest vehicles to long distance events. Having had him for a mere 23 years, we tend to think of Butch as a relatively young car, but he is in fact now 32. He has had to have considerable body and mechanical work over the years, including recently when extensive concealed underbody rot came to light after he went into the garage for what was thought to be a small mechanical job. Nevertheless, he is a faithful and very useful servant.

From 1987 onwards, we had a new or young car partly for business and partly to undertake frequent long journeys to visit elderly and infirm relatives in the Midlands and the north. These were changed quite frequently, and in 1998 we acquired Poppy, our 1996 Rover Sterling saloon at just 20 months old and with 20,000 miles on the clock. Even though she suffered major head gasket failure of the KV6 engine at 45,000 miles which cost a great deal of money to have repaired, when in 2004 we acquired a Rover 75 as the modern car, Poppy was retained as part of the fleet because we had become so attached to her. One of our friends describes her as 'the comfortable one.'

The most recent acquisition is Frodo, the 2012 Land Rover Freelander 2 purchased in 2015 to succeed the 75.

Despite having so many cars, they are all in use and their main function remains as

originally intended – as a means of transport. Many have been used for holidays and some have taken part in weddings for friends and family, but they are all in use and take turns for shopping, outings and trips to the tip. Such trips do sometimes take a little longer than expected because fellow customers at supermarkets and filling stations often want to chat about the cars.

We did not set out deliberately to have so many cars. However, having acquired vehicles we like, (some of which have family associations,) we have wanted to keep them. This has involved very considerable time, effort and expense, but this has been just about manageable as, in particular, the expense has been spread over almost four decades.

We have always had the firm belief that all cars should be kept garaged, and this means that as we only have a single garage at home, we have had to rent lock up garages in the area. When the chance has arisen, we have also bought individual garages. The fleet are thus spread over an area of about four miles, and we keep a cork notice board at home listing the vehicles and the garages with a coloured pin showing where each car is. Provided that we move the pin every time we move a car and check the board before setting out, the system avoids opening a garage door to find it does not contain what you want.

We try to keep the cars as clean as possible and use Autoglym products. When a car is put away clean, its dust cover is put on until it goes out next. Only one of the garages has electricity, so we are not able to trickle charge batteries on a regular basis and if one of the batteries runs low, we may have to use a jump pack to start the car and bring it home so that the battery can be taken indoors for charging.

One area where having a large fleet actually saves money is on insurance. For many years we had cover from a well-known classic car insurer who provided one policy for the two youngest vehicles and another policy for all the older ones, but some eight years ago they wrote to us unexpectedly saying that they could no longer provide cover for the two youngest cars. On the recommendation of a friend we contacted another provider who was able to offer a tailormade single policy covering the entire fleet, all with agreed values, and even better at a saving of several hundred pounds over the old policies.

We are also very lucky to have had the assistance of owners clubs, professional engineers, body repairers, upholsterers and part suppliers. We keep a file on each vehicle recording what work has been done and the cost involved. We make sure each car has an MoT every year, which provides a double check that anything needing attention has been spotted. As all the cars are in regular use, we can keep an eye on them for signs of deterioration and try to ensure that routine servicing is kept up to date. However, as we ourselves are also getting older and have some health issues, much more of the maintenance in recent years has been carried out by the professionals.

Finally, if any of your readers are looking at the opening image and thinking that Sausage looks vaguely familiar, then they can pat themselves on the back for being loyal readers with great long-term memories! That's because Sausage appeared in the May 2005 issue in a comparison with a Hillman Hunter and a MkIII Cortina.

Richard bought Duchess, the Rover P5, in 1976, but gave it to Anne as a wedding present in 1982. It has had a body resto and interior retrim.

Anne has had her 1978 Vauxhall Viva 1300L from new. Restoration costs of £2600 in the early 1990s were, ironically enough, a near perfect match for what the car had cost when brand new.

Salome, a 1963 Rover P4 95, was a gift from 'Aunt' Helen, and was also one of the cars responsible for instilling in Richard a love of Rovers.

The four-door Morris Minor saloon is called Ivy, a relative newcomer to the Bryants' classic fleet as she arrived a mere 31 years ago in 1989!

Agatha is a 1946 Rover 16 Sports Saloon. It was a running car when Richard bought it in 1979, but was subjected to a ten year rebuild. Millie is a 1965 Morris Mini Minor Traveller that belonged to Richard's mother.

Harriet was the Bryant's first foray into 1920s motoring. A 1926 Rover 9/20 two-seater with dickey seat, she spent most of her life in Australia.

Marmaduke the 1932 Morris Minor van was bought jointly by Anne and her sister Mary and sign-written with their maiden name of Rushin.

Butch is a 1988 Range Rover Vogue. The Bryants tend to think of him as a young car, but he is in fact already 32 years old and since arriving in 1997 has been the subject of extensive mechanical and body work.

Poppy, a 1996 Rover Sterling saloon, was bought originally as the modern car for regular use, but the Bryants liked it so much that when its replacement – a Rover 75 – arrived, they kept the Sterling.