Having put the car on the road in 2001, it had travelled only 3,000 miles by 2011. An average of 300 miles per annum and only 116 miles between its 2010 and 2011 MoTs.
That wasn't what I had in mind when I was building it. I think I had ideas of Val and I disappearing off in it to France - just setting off and seeing where we got to. For lots of reasons, that wasn't to be. The idea of going to the Le Mans 24 hour race in it never came to anything either. In practice, I drove it to a handful of car shows, had occasional runs in the Borders and sometimes I just went out in it for the satisfaction of driving something that I had built myself. That was very, very, satisfying - an absolutely wonderful feeling. But that wasn't enough - I wanted it to be practical too, and it just wasn't. Sitting in the garage, it was taking up space and costing me the price of MoTs, tax and insurance year after year.
For some time, I had thought about selling, but kept putting it off. And people kept discouraging me. Eventually, in 2011, I decided that I had had as much fun as I was going to get out of it and it was time to let go. So, exactly 10 years from the day that it was first registered, I put it on eBay. I got for it, just about what I had paid for the parts and materials - so I was pretty content with that. It looks like it has gone to a good home - with someone who is keen to develop it further. So that's gratifying too.
In taking photographs for the eBay advertisement, I took a nose-on shot. After some tinkered in Photoshop, I came up with the image below. I'm more than happy with it. And having a big print of it on the garage wall is almost as good as having the car itself - and far less responsibility.
End of an era. No regrets.
I'm happy now to look back and say "I made that". Thanks, again, to everyone who helped me.