When I first saw photos of my car as it looked when it was discovered, my first impression was that it may have been used as a novelty carnival car as it still displayed a wooden banner across its front proclaiming that it was the "Variety Club Special". However, a little further investigation gave a little insight into the car's past life. The first section of this page outlines the previous life of the car prior to it being put into storage.

MID 1970s

During the 1980s the Variety club on Jersey must have owned two SIVAs, my SIVA, which was blue at the time, and another SIVA, which was yellow. In any case, at different times, two different SIVAs were sited outside Caesar's Palace nightclub.

• This photo shows that the yellow car was also located outside the Caesar's Palace nightclub at Greve de Lec.
• It was also fitted with a large white charity collection box presumably for the Variety club.
• At this point in time the yellow car was in much better condition than the blue car which had now been taken away.
• The bonnet of this car seems to sit higher than a conventional SIVA, perhaps due to an engine upgrade.
• This car appears to have a proper SIVA hood mechanism whereas the blue car had a different arrangement.
• It is interesting that both the yellow and blue SIVAs were fitted with unconventional wooden front seats. This probably indicates that the two cars came from the same source at some point.

When this car became a burden it was also rescued from being scrapped by another car enthusiast on the island who wanted the axles as spares for his Ford EO4C van. He kept it for a while, removed the axles and handed over the remainder of the car to be stored with the blue car. Here it stayed for a short while but as time passed and storage space grew limited in the barn the car was passed on to someone else who wanted to restore it.

Around a year later it was discovered that the yellow car had been taken to the scrap-yard. On hearing this news attempts were made to rescue the yellow car but it was too late. As rescuers rushed to the scrap-yard, they arrived just as the car crusher was closing down onto the yellow car. The car was crushed and completely destroyed.

• This photo shows the yellow car surrounded by debris after being crushed.
• The only parts of the yellow car that escaped were one mud guard and one wheel trim, as these parts had been overlooked and not put into the crusher.
• The sole remaining yellow wheel trim was eventually to be used by me to make a mould to cast new wheel trims - but this was to happen many years later.

• These photos show the car just prior to being shipped back to the UK in 1999.
• A custom made tow bar was made and fitted and all the loose parts were tied down with rope.
• The last photo is actually taken at the docks before departure from Jersey for the last time.

In April 2006 the Jersey Evening Post very kindly ran an article on my car restoration. The hope was that a previous owner may recognise the car or somebody may know something about other SIVAs on Jersey. Unfortunately, no further information about the car came to light as a result of the article. 
 

Great news. A hand-shaped trafficator finally turned up as one of the lots at a classic car parts auction. This wasn't a local auction but I registered as a proxy bidder and luckily won it. The hand needed some repair but after a bit of patching up and some paint it looks great.

I've decided to include my favourite bits from the various incarnations of Bessie. Some of my favourite parts from the 1970s alongside parts from the 1980s. For example, the hand-shaped trafficator, horn and wing mirrors are all windscreen mounted. This makes the driver's side of the windscreen a bit 'busy' but it looks great and its nice to have been able to track down these components.

SEPTEMBER 2007

Bessie's first job as main wedding car. I think I was as nervous as the bride that the car would behave herself, but she did a splendid job and everything went off well. A great day with some great photo opportunities... and some great hospitality too. Congratulations to Andrew and Clare and the best of luck for the future.

JULY 2008

Another landmark event. Bessie's first Dr Who convention appearance at the Invasion 2009 event at Barking. A fairly cold day but I was lucky that it kept dry as I drove in Bessie to the event and back. Quite a good day with lots of people taking an interest in Bessie. Some nice photos on the day too including some great photos with a small selection of Derek's monsters posed in and around the car. A reporter from the Daily Express was there interviewing people throughout the day and I ended up being quoted in the Sunday paper.

London to Southend classic car run. Maggie in a 1920s Charleston/Flapper dress. We gave up trying to keep up with the rest of the convoy and pulled in for a pub lunch. Consequently we arrived last on Southend seafront but to much applause.

Uh oh. A MAJOR problem.

Bessie's engine started making a horrendous thumping noise. After testing compression it seems that compression has been lost in one of the cylinders. Reluctantly, I removed that engine head and it looks like a piston ring failure. A lot of metal fragments can been seen inside the cylinder. The piston crown looks damaged too. This looks expensive.

I decide to bite the bullet and fork out on a new reconditioned fully rebuilt engine. This has several advantages over the old engine including adjustable tappets and hardened valves and valve seats. This means that the new engine will not require a fuel additive as it is able to be run on conventional unleaded fuel. Also decided to buy a new clutch and fit that at the same time. First time I've tackled anything as major as this. Old engine is removed and the new one installed. But that was the easy part.

Engine is installed but struggles to start. Once running it feels very rough and stalls as soon the throttle is touched. When jump-leads are used, first of the battery, then on the starter motor, it is apparent that there is poor earthing. New earth straps are fitted which cure the earthing problem but the car is still running poorly. Cold weather halts further progress for the winter.

Bessie just manages to start and run long enough to load herself onto a trailer to appear at the Pit Stop media event in Bayswater. Here she joins many other replica cars of film and TV. The event is organised by Bayswater Business Improvement District (BID), an organisation set up to improve the area which is funded by local businesses. Bessie sits sandwiched between the General Lee (from the Dukes of Hazard) and K.I.T.T. (from Knight Rider). A freezing cold day and to ad insult to injury at the end of the event Bessie once again fails to start and has to be embarrassingly pushed to a local side street and up onto the trailer.

I think the problem may be down to weak spark as the spark itself looks a weak yellow-orange colour instead of a healthy blue. There also seems to be excessive movement in the rotor of the distributor (this was the original distributor from my previous engine). Bought a 'new' fully rebuilt distributor, cap, leads and condenser. After wasting some time with poor ignition lead caps I finally get Bessie running again.

What a day. Took Bessie to The Daemons at Forty - Return to Devils End event at Aldbourne in Wiltshire, which was the village location used for The Daemons. It was wonderful to see Bessie in front of the iconic village church, and in and around the village green. The weather was beautiful and I spent much of the day taking people for rides in Bessie. The highlight of the day had to be taking actress Katy Manning out for a spin in Bessie (although at the time, driving off away from the crowds with Katy in the car it felt more like kidnapping). Katy played Jo Grant, one of the Third Doctor's main companions and a firm favourite with the fans.

It was quite surreal driving Bessie around Devils End with Jo Grant in the passenger seat. Riding in Bessie brought fond memories back to Katy of her time on the show, and of being in the car with Jon Pertwee, and she became quite emotional and tearful. At least, I don't think it was my driving that brought her to tears...

The only downer was Bessie conking out right at the end of the day. This might have been an ignition problem although on reflection as it was so hot that day and the car worked pretty hard it was probably fuel vapourisation, which is a notorious problem with early Fords. 

JUNE 2011

Ignition problems again. It seems that the new condenser must have got cooked at Aldbourne (after only one month). I decide the replace the condenser with a "points assisted electronic ignition system" (Boyer Bransden kit 00069). This device takes the hard work away from the contact breaker points, so that instead of being a high voltage spark circuit, the points become a simple low voltage 'switch' and the spark circuit is handled by a small electronic box-of-tricks. So not only are the points protected but the condenser now becomes redundant. There is also a nice flashing LED light on the device which blinks as the points open and close. For the first time the spark now looks a nice healthy blue colour and at last the car is running great again.

SEPTEMBER 2011

Bessie is invited to Elstree studios in London to appear in a photo-shoot alongside other Ford cars of film and television. This is part of the 2011 celebrations of Ford's centenary in Britain. The line-up included replicas and originals including; a Harry Potter 105E Anglia; Granada GT from the Sweeney, the James Bond Mondeo (which was a prototype at the time) from Casino Royale and Lady Penelope's Ford version of FAB1 from the 2007 Thunderbirds are Go movie.

The photo-shoot was arranged for The Sun newspaper's motoring correspondent Ken Gibson who dressed up in various costumes relevant to each car to pose for photos. The article appeared as a double page centre spread in the motoring section pull-out a couple of weeks later.

On the back of this photo-shoot the I.T.N. news crew turned up in the late afternoon to film a feature on the cars. This also included interviews with the owners to camera. This feature was hosted by Sangeeta Kandola and appeared that same evening as the '.. and finally' item on ITV's London tonight programme. Watched by millions of people across London and the home counties a short section of my interview was included in the feature. Fame at last.

AUGUST 2012

Ever since I got my Bessie I'd been toying with the idea of making a Super Drive prop. The Super Drive only appears in one Doctor Who story - The Time Monster. However it is such an iconic prop that I thought it would be very nice to make a replica of it for my car.

Over the years I'd always kept my eyes peeled at car shows and auctions for the panel from which it was made. I was convinced that the BBC props department must have cannibalized a piece of everyday equipment and converted it into the Super Drive. It was obvious from the outset that the central display dials must have been made from an old electricity meter but the red surround panel looked as if it was cut out of something. I found myself constantly looking at anything which contained a chrome inlay panel; car dashboards, old TV sets, juke-boxes, vintage radios and radiograms, in fact anything which had a control panel on it.

After many years of searching I had virtually given up, when one day I happened to be flicking though Steve Cambden's book The Doctor's Effects. Steve worked in the Visual Effects Department of the BBC in the late 70s and 80s and his book contains interviews with various BBC designers. Although no specific details of the Super Drive were mentioned in the book there was a very brief interview with Peter Pegrum who worked as designer on the The Time Monster. I got in contact with Steve who in turn put me in contact with Peter Pegrum. Peter had a remarkable detailed memory of his time on Doctor Who and after a few exchanges of emails I was much better informed, first hand, as to how the Super Drive was originally made.

The red surround was not made from an existing piece of equipment (as I'd always thought) but was actually made from a piece of black acrylic sheet which was covered in red fablon (sticky-backed plastic) and then sprayed. Originally the prop had a some edging made from plastic tubing, which had been cut lengthways, and was glued around the edge of the panel. However, Peter explained that this edging tended to keep coming off, so it was decided in later shots to remove it.

Interestingly, if you look closely, at the screen grabs of the Super Drive it can be seen that the edging is present in episode 3 but not in episode 1. Checking Peter's recollection against the filming dates (in the DWAS Doctor Who Production guide) I was amazed to find that the shot that appears in episode 3 was actually filmed before the shot in episode 1. I hadn't noticed this before and was amazed at such a remarkably accurate recollection from Peter.

Now I knew that the Super Drive was effectively a scratch built model, I set about making one for myself. 

The first task was to estimate the size of the Super Drive. To do this I made up a one-inch grid on a large piece of cardboard and fixed it to the underside of the passenger dashboard on my Bessie where the prop would be located. I then took a photo of the dashboard and overlaid this with a screen grab of the Super Drive from The Time Monster. As my car is made from the same mould as the original Bessie car I was able to line up the dash contours and dials and scale up the screen grab to accurately estimate the size of the control panel. I then used Photoshop to transform this overlaid image back onto the one-inch square reference scale. I could then use this as a template and cut the correct shape of the Super Drive from acrylic. I decided to use red acrylic directly rather then use black and paint it as one of the colours available was already close to the final colour that I wanted.

I opted to make the edged version of the Super Drive as I thought this version actually looked slightly better than the flat fronted version. Rather than run into the same problems as the original production team with tubular edging, I made my edging as a second layer from a duplicate piece of acrylic. This was identical in size to main panel but only retained a narrow band of material around the edge. Once completed I cemented this narrow 'ring' of acrylic onto the main front plate.

The original metallic parts were apparently from a car chrome grille but after much further searching I was unable to find exact matches for these so decided to have these made up on a milling machine. An additional adhesive chrome strip was used for the top metal bar.

It was fairly easy to find the correct type of electricity meter. There are a few variations of these but I knew the specific dial configuration that I wanted, so it was just a matter of time waiting for the correct type to turn up. Incidentally, the writing around the dials cannot really be made out in the screen grabs but once I'd obtained the meter dials it was nice to finally be able see these symbols clearly. The dials designate power in increasing orders of magnitude. The red dial denotes tenths of a kilowatt-hour. The arched writing around the bottom right dial says "10 KWh per division". I'd always wondered what that dial said.

The white lettering was fairly easy to source from self-adhesive letters. However, these are now only available in metric sizes so there is a slight difference between the original imperial letter size (3/4 inch) and the modern metric equivalent (20mm). This was added and sealed onto the panel with clear acrylic spray lacquer.

In the top left corner of the dial window there appears to be a mysterious blue/red reflective quarter disk. Nobody seems to know what this shape was or why it was included. For completeness, I added this feature to my prop by cutting a clear acrylic quarter circle and painting it blue on the reverse side to maintain its reflective surface.

I made two further custom modifications to my version of the Super Drive. Firstly, I made a clear window to protect the dials and pointers from dust and dirt. This was friction fitted into the dial window. Secondly, I modified the fixing point and added a friction hinge so that my version of the Super Drive could fold away neatly behind the dashboard. I added this feature in case the prop got in the way of any passenger's legs.

I was very pleased with the final result. The images below show a comparison between the original Super Drive and my homemade version.

The Super Drive, as it appeared on Bessie, in The Time Monster, 1972.

My Super Drive, as it appears on my Bessie, completed in August 2012.