3 etting a new lease of life from BT engineer
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Bernard Pike and his son Steve is this 1963 Ford Thames Trader. It was the first Ford model to have a sit-alongside engine and Crowborough-based Pike says it was used as a demonstration model before going to work for a greengrocer hauling fruit and veg from Southend to Covent Garden.
Later it was sold to a greengrocer in Sussex from whom the Pikes bought it 12 years ago. It was beginning to show a lifetime's wear and tear by then, Pike says. He has spent the years renovating it, although some of the cab's metalwork still needs to be fixed up.
Even after covering over 200,000 miles the original engine is still hauling the Trader to vintage motor shows. The Pikes use it to carry a vintage Fordson Major E27N tractor to shows too. Its other claim to fame is pulling floats in the load carnival procession—after being decked out first of course.