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Couple buys back first car

A family in England missed their first family car so much that they bought it back and restored it.

Ian Stringer, 51, bought a red Vauxhall Chevette in 1981, the year he met his wife Jayne.

They drove the car on their wedding day and also used it in a mad dash to get to hospital for the birth of their first child.

They sold the Chevette in 1986 as their family needed a larger vehicle.

In 2005, they received news from the daughter of the man they had sold the car to, saying that that her father had died and offered to sell them the car for R2400.

SENTIMENTAL VALUE

Stringer was excited at getting his car back but the vehicle was in disrepair and required quite a bit of fixing.

“I was absolutely shocked but very excited. No one else would have wanted it but for me there was sentiment attached so I bought it,” he said.

Two years and R35000 later, Ian got the vehicle roadworthy again and spent the last four years sprucing it up to its former glory.

Ian said even though he had not seen the car for a long time, it still felt like it belonged to him.

"My writing was still in the car's service book and the straps for my son's baby seat were still in the car. It was like a time warp back to the 1980s."

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