A man has spent 15-years transforming a rusty wreck into the vintage car of his dreams. Terrence Cleife, a retired motor engineer, bought the wreck of a 1916 American LaFrance saloon car in 1998. The pre-war vehicle had been dismantled and was lying as a pile of scrap on the floor of a barn. The car’s missing parts were welded by Terry out of bronze and cast iron to match the vehicles original chassis and the engine completely re-assembled. Now 71, Terry has the car of his dreams and has completed the painstaking piece-by-piece restoration.
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MotorTranscript
00:00 (engine revving)
00:02 (engine revving)
00:05 (engine revving)
00:09 (birds chirping)
00:12 (engine revving)
00:22 (engine revving)
00:25 - So it was completely dismantled.
00:40 It was basically a heap of scrap metal on a barn floor
00:43 when I first saw it.
00:44 And then I came into the garage for the winter
00:47 and started on the engine
00:48 and other bits and pieces that were missing.
00:50 (metal clanking)
00:53 Well, on the top here, we've got the priming taps.
01:01 You have to prime the cylinders with fuel before it'll go.
01:05 Ignition on.
01:07 Neutral.
01:10 Retard.
01:11 Hand throttle.
01:14 And that stunt man hasn't turned up yet, has he?
01:20 It's a four cylinder, 10 liter, T-head design.
01:23 The valves are exposed.
01:24 You can see them going up and down when it's running.
01:27 Looking at the dash, we've got the speedometer.
01:32 Here is the ignition switch for the coil and distributor.
01:35 Operated by foot when driving.
01:40 Then we've got the ammeter, the horn.
01:42 Here is the magneto switch.
01:45 Oil pressure gauge.
01:48 It reads very low, actually,
01:50 because they didn't use very much oil pressure
01:52 in those days.
01:52 When out on the road, a lot of modern car drivers flash
02:02 their lights and a few wave.
02:05 It's actually very pleasant.
02:06 It's a bit like riding a motorbike or flying a plane.
02:09 I don't normally go more than 60 miles an hour,
02:11 which is fairly uncomfortable for the passenger.
02:14 I'm okay because I've got the monocle screen.
02:17 (engine rumbling)
02:19 Would I ever sell it?
02:26 Well, I'm getting on a bit now, so one day I will,
02:28 but I'm not ready yet.
02:30 Not ready to put my feet up yet and put the slippers on.
02:33 [BLANK_AUDIO]