Alan Bartlett was proud to inherit his great grandfather’s Jowett Long Saloon but who would have thought he would have won a top award and a prize worth £3,500 following the loving restoration of this little classic car.
The classic car, which dates from 1934, was on display at this weekend’s Classic Motor Show at the NEC in Birmingham. Alan was no doubt thrilled to bits when the car got into the final-one of only 5 cars to do so. However, to then win the Classic Car of the Year 2012 award was a tremendous achievement.
Jowett Long Saloon wins the Classic Car of the Year award for 2012
Alan Bartlett is only 23 years of age and comes from Chard in South Somerset. He was as pleased as punch to win the coveted award. His great grandfather had bought the car when it was a year old. Alan inherited the vehicle from his father but had no idea about its history. At the time he knew nothing about restoring cars but he has now, as a result of which he got a job working for Wheelpower in Mosterton, Dorset who are MG specialists.
Although he had always known that his father had a very old car tucked away in the garage he was not aware of its full background until his father died 6 years ago that was when he inherited it.
Alan Bartlett said: “I had the choice to keep it or sell it and I decided to restore it, learning as I went, and as I researched it I realised our connection with it.
“It had been off the road for eight years. I was a media student, but working on the car has made me change direction and now I work in vehicle restoration.”
He even started up a blog about the restoration work with visitors to the site from as far afield as Australia.
Following a rebore the engine is now in working order. At one point he was driving it on a regular basis but now it is just used for classic car shows. It has actually got 400,000 miles on the clock.
He commented: “My great-grandfather and my dad would be proud.”
