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From: Alan Tuppen
Fromemail: Ajtuppen@aol.com
Category: Javelin
Remote Name: 192.168.2.1
Date: 12 Apr 2004
Time: 18:07:19
I bought my Javelin, KUR 264, in 1965, a 1949 standard model in sound but scruffy and neglected condition. I was a student, and over the years, gradually improved it and eventually almost completely rebuilt and resprayed it. I owned other cars but always kept it, even when I went abroad for a few years and my brother ran it for a while. I cherished it and went everywhere in it, even on a camping holiday in France with my girlfriend, later my wife, where it attracted attention. Shortly after I got married in 1982 the block cracked, and we moved into a house with a garage. I drove it in and there it “rested” for some time. I rebuilt the engine into a series 3 crankcase and slowly set about doing the bodywork. I rebuilt the front suspension, bought a stainless steel exhaust, cut a new floor and did various other jobs, but my wife’s cancer, extensive house repairs, and my father’s infirmity and decease intervened. Then, shortly before Christmas 2003 we decided we had to move house, and having found what we thought would be the perfect place, but with no garage or extra parking, I reluctantly decided to sell the car. I advertised it in the January Jowetteer, no replies, tried Loot, then the March Jowetteer. I had a late reply from the Loot ad, and the prospective purchaser came to look, and two weeks later he came to collect it. He said he collected cars, did them up and couldn’t part with them. He had done American cars before and fancied an English one now. You can imagine my distress as the trailer with my car on disappeared up the road. It had rolled out of the garage so easily, and I realized then how little work there really remained to be done. I had owned it for 39 years and I felt I had betrayed a friend. The purchaser and his friend could barely conceal their scorn that I hadn’t finished the job. I consoled myself with the thought that at least my car had a good home with someone who would care for it. Imagine my shock and anger when turning to the ads at the back of the April Jowetteer, to see the very first one listing all the parts from my car, including all the spares I had passed on with it. I feel angry because he must have planned stripping the car out before he bought it, and started work the moment he got it home, as he had barely seven days to make the deadline for ads in the April Jowetteer. On top of all this, shortly after I had sold the car, the house we wanted was taken off the market, so I had sold it needlessly. I sold the car to a Patrick Cargan of Biggin Hill for £750, under the impression he would rebuild it and love it as I had. I should have realized when he said about American cars and Ford Anglias that my Javelin was to become a custom car. Now I feel I might as well have taken my beautiful car to the scrapyard to be cannibalized. I just hope some other Jowett owners will benefit from my time and hard work. I now find myself without my Javelin and without even the knowledge it is being cared for. So, I would say that is wise to ask what a prospective buyer is genuinely planning if you are selling your car and you care for it. I would not have sold mine if I had done so.