‘40 years since Fawlty Towers, this car still gets invitations’
1972 Austin 1300 Mk3 Estate Fernand Pinckney and Tony Cole, north London
So, how did it all start?
‘I took this car out of a breaker’s yard in Enfield about 22 years ago and got to work doing some welding on the sills and respraying it Harvest Gold. It was built in August 1972, but not registered until March 1973. After I gave it a full restoration I ran it for four years – and then my friend Tony Cole pointed out that the theme for the NEC Classic Car Show that year was TV and Film, and said we should enter the 1300 as a lookalike of Basil Fawlty’s car from Fawlty Towers. ‘You do all the spraying and I’ll do all the mechanics,’ he said… and this was just three weeks before the show!’
No pressure, then! What needed doing? ‘Well, it could have been a lot worse. Tony is an excellent mechanic – he went through everything. He fitted a new clutch, and replaced the points and plugs, but generally it was pretty good. I gave it new wings, finished a few further bits of welding, and sprayed all the panels on the lawn – when we picked them up you could see the painted outlines of where the grass had been!
I had to take the fuel tank out because the filter inside had become completely clogged after all those years of standing out in the yard. I managed to carefully cut it out and fit an external filter instead – and it needed a mechanical fuel pump. We managed to get the car ready in time – but only just.’
You did well to do all that in three weeks… ‘Luckily, I’ve got seven of these and a shed full of parts, so I had most of the things I needed. The 1100 Club is a brilliant group of people, especially our Essex branch. We work well together – if anyone’s got a problem I can phone up and somebody will be there. So yes, it all worked out fine in the end. For the big day, I made my own dummy Basil, and another of Kurt the cook, plus a big elaborate set-up with a gourmet menu to evoke the atmosphere of the TV show. We even won a prize.’
What has the car been up to since?
‘We’ve had a lot of fun with it. In 2008, we took it to an event to mark the grand reopening of the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay. To celebrate the Fawlty Towers
connection we were invited along with Prunella Scales, who played Sybil Fawlty. We stayed for a whole week as guests of the hotel owners. They used to hold regular Fawlty Towers weekends at one stage, but sadly the hotel has been knocked down now.
I still get lots of requests for the car, many of them from the BBC. Last November it was at a special event to celebrate their most popular shows, with a 14-year-old lad dressed up as Basil Fawlty.
And when I haven’t been playing with this, I’ve been restoring an MG 1300 – a recently finished project.’