[Music]
today on car sos
died in the wall petrolhead tim shaw oh
man i love
cars a mechanical maestro fuzz townsend
[Applause]
that is really heavy are once again on
their undercover mission to rescue
classic cars for deserving owners
this time the boys take on a mystery car
a futuristic british oddball straight
out of the 1970s
that is beautiful fuzz explains how he
likes his meat
tim gets cold feet on bath night jade
odyssey
oh wow yes the stage is set to make
another automotive dream come
you were just true my terror it's
unbelievable
i really really appreciate this this
means a lot to me
[Music]
today the boys are on a magical mystery
tour because
a bit of a surprise awaits oh i love
winter in northampton shiner
do you remember that one no thank god it
doesn't exist but what does exist
is the car that we are picking up today
because today fos
we are picking up a i don't know
so this is a little trick that's being
played on us they're not telling us what
we're picking up
exactly don't tell tim and fuzz but the
car they're about to pick up
is an iconic ultra rare automotive
revolution
owl is a bomb bug which in case you
didn't know is most definitely nothing
to do with james bond
for a start it only has three wheels and
secondly
it's orange they were all orange
designed by tom caron who
also created luke skywalker's land
speeder in star wars
the bond bug was the result of a merger
between two british three-wheel car
manufacturers reliant
and bombed aimed at attracting trendy
young buyers the futuristic
some may say crazy design was as much a
head scratcher as head turner
fiberglass body shell a lift-up canopy
instead of doors and a space-age
vinyl interior launched for the 700
engine it was surprisingly nippy for the
top speed of 78 miles per hour
whether anyone was brave enough to take
it that fast was another matter
as with only three wheels they were
prone to rolling over if cornered too
fast delightfully eccentric wonderfully
british the bomb bug was a design
triumph but 100 commercial flop with
just over 2
000 sold in 1974 the company pulled the
plug and went back to making old man's
cars like the reliant robin
but if ever there was a car to bring a
smile to your face it's a bomb bug
well apart from the one the boys are off
to see which is more likely to bring a
tear to the eye
we just don't know i like this game fuzz
i do i like
not knowing i love not knowing but i
want to know
well today's mystery vehicle belongs to
69 year old former engineer ian
who always loved the idea of turning up
at a car meet in his quirky orange
three-wheeler sadly though ill health
has meant his planned retirement hobby
has remained on the drawing board
right come on get there then i can't
wait anymore okay let's go get it
it was ian's wife kathy who wrote to tim
and fuzz hoping the boys could
fast-track the bug and get a hubby
behind the wheel before it's too late
for him to enjoy it
and this is the look of two very
frustrated men what is this place
it's an older warden reservoir i was
just used in a country park
volunteer and worked part-time as a
ranger occasionally so this is where you
keep the car
where's ian he's at home okay so we're
in the bed can we see it
right now please yes yes i cannot wait
to find out
what this is uh oh ah i think i know
what that is give it a tap
i like this new way i do things can we
do this every time please bosses
this is great that is beautiful what has
more character than
a bond bug it's a black bond bug not an
orange one it was like that when he
bought it it looks like the front end
of a futuristic train for a treat for us
i'm going to let you hang around and
look at that kathy and i'm going to have
a chat about ian yeah
okay that's cool come on we've got
bonberg
brilliance i can see that the fiberglass
has come away
we've got loads of cracking and crazing
around the hinges at this point here
where the roof and everything lifts up
at the front and it's great to know that
it does
actually open up i can see crazing and
cracking
on the roof here inside all of the seats
all of the interior
look very jaded and then a steering
wheel
coming through on a great big long
harpoon-like column
the engine is pretty much in the cockpit
incredibly noisy however if you break
down
you don't need to get out of it to fix
it you can just do it inside the car
so kathy the bond bug i mean what a
treat for us to do that carl what does
that car mean to you how long has it
been in your life
it's been lurking in the back of the
shed for
ever since i've been with ian 20. does
he talk about it much has it been
something all the time yes
i hadn't known him very long because we
met through work before he was telling
me about this really rare
preston ones and oh really so it's one
of the first ones yes
so what sort of trap is he he's into old
cars he's got an old
rover p6 as well oh has he so he's a
petrol head
it's a petrol head what was the plan
with the car he bought it and
with a view to doing it up i think his
aim was to take its shows
and the big plan was this would be his
retirement project he'd have all the
time to do it then
we don't know whether the engine works i
don't even know if it rolls
seems pretty solid at the moment and the
handbrake's off that's bad
yeah i know it's going to fight us
it's not going to win this little bond
is coming back
what has happened in ian's life to mean
that the car hasn't been done when he's
got the car
of his dreams after he retired i was ill
i had done cancer
right so that put it back a little bit
and i was better and ready to get up and
going and moving about
yeah we noticed that he developed a very
slight
shake tremor instant diagnosis of
parkinson's disease
three years ago it upsets him because he
knows that there's no
cure you know there are things that you
can do to mitigate it but he's never
going
he's not going to get better it's a sad
old thing isn't it it is
it's it's it's hard to watch he has got
markedly worse
has he he's still mobile he can still
walk but
with some difficulty how is ian's
driving at the moment
he's just had his license reviewed so
he's good to go for three more years
on paper on paper we wanted to find out
more about ian and how he's coping with
his condition
so we planted hidden cameras in kathy's
car and got her to take him for a drive
had a rough time lately i try not to
think about it as
a rough time good days and lots of good
days
you know it's you're not going to come
out of hospital cured of it
you find that you're waiting for
what uh selection of pandora's magic box
you've got as a symptom what do you
think it would mean to ian to have that
car
in a road-worthy condition i think it
would give him a fantastic lift and a
great buzz color-wise car wise how would
he see that car i know his plan was to
turn it back to the
original orange i think generally he'd
like it because it came out of the
factory yeah so we'll keep it as
standard as possible and just get on
with it and get it done for you
come on should we go and see how fast
it's getting on
what have you found mate it's absolutely
terrible but brilliant
it's utterly ridiculous that thing isn't
it i love it
come on let's get it loaded up come on
come on i can't push
it's just working
we bought this size trailer how does it
feel to see it on here
yeah i love it are you looking forward
to going out in the ride one when it's
done
yeah yeah that'll do right we'll get it
out of kathy we'll see you at the
workshop soon
thank you come on hey this little bug's
making me itch to get it into the
workshop
see you later well now they know
what it is what do the boys really think
of this three-wheeled old banger
is it so
i knew it would be something quirky but
that thing
is in a terrible state it is fuzz but
you know what
we have a job to do okay right let's get
it done but i'm telling you
it's not going to be quick because that
thing is falling to pieces
to the worker come on then so tempted
but not sure
of course it's not till they get the
thing back to hq that they're going to
really know exactly
what they've been dropped into look tim
this thing
has had rats cats bats and everything
living in it it's
utterly minging i mean look at the state
of it inside
oh my word so yeah i see what you're
saying it's shocking
it's in a terrible state i mean the
fiberglass all over
is cracking and what's all this metal
work you've got down here why does that
thing exist
we've got plates in there now this was
originally an
orange car i'm gonna do that yeah orange
paint well the orange paint
is like two millimeters down let's
assume where the orange paint is
is the original size of the car yes
meaning the whole front nose cone has
got bigger with filler but the orange
paint doesn't cover
these plates so these plates are not
original the car's gone
saggy how do you mean well the lights on
the front have sort of like
drooped in and it didn't come out the
factory they were like bang level
maybe the fiberglass has just sagged a
little bit and therefore maybe just
pushed out at one side
let's get underneath and have a look
right fast but what we're looking at
here dude well i'm looking
at this shiny metal that's kind of been
capped along the whole of the chassis
rails on both sides
that doesn't look like it's original no
it doesn't at all does it
they look like aluminium but they're
tougher than that i'm pretty sure
maybe stainless steel with a high
percentage of nickel i'm assuming
i've got an idea that underneath here
there's going to be a rotten
mild steel chassis right and i'm
thinking that we need to take the body
off
because we may end up having to
completely
refabricate the chassis on this yeah
this is a weird one with a capital w
yeah tim and fuzz have taken on ian's
1970 bomb bug
a quirky british three-wheeler which in
its time was full of innovation
but which now is full of dirt dust and
decay
come on let's uh get it lifted up come
on then oh
oh there we are i've noticed something
fuzz when we do a small car they're
always the biggest problems
yes right this is what i wanted to look
at and that engine doesn't look like
it's done
anything for decades that's going to
have to come out and also
i want to take the body what's left of
it because there's not very much more of
it okay
off the chassis i'm standing in front of
something which looks like
a heap of dog [ __ ] the interior is
terrible have you seen a carpet that
looks like that before i have actually
in my living room when i was a kid but
most of it is worn out i mean but those
seat covers
they may be salvageable that's a high
frequency welding isn't it so making one
of those is a nightmare
also it's nice to keep as much of it
original as we possibly can
and all these bits of faux sticky back
plastic wood
should all be orange it's a bond bug so
you need to find out
which bit should be orange and then
start there yes the bug may only have a
few bits but every single one of them
is in a shocking state starting with the
biggest bit the fiberglass body
that will need completely stripping back
and returning to its original tangerine
the 700cc engine is an unknown but if
the rest of the car has anything to go
by
is gonna need a full nut and bolt
rebuild then there's the car chassis
which appears to have some terrible
repairs on it
that will need a detailed inspection
before the car can be pronounced safe
and last but not least that filthy
interior will need some major tlc
[Music]
so without further ado it's time for a
bit of magic
now how do you make a car disappear into
thin air
well you unleash the heavy mob and while
the shabby shell goes into prep and the
chassis is whisked off to the soda
blasters
tim is on the road right this
is mission save the bomb bug interior
should you choose to accept it and i'm
just hoping
we can salvage as much as possible
because well
nobody from what i can find is making
new interiors for bomb bugs
let the mission commence
all right i think this is the place josh
tim hello how are you doing all right
got a challenge for you yeah if you know
your cars
full interior from what car is that it's
a bum bug
how did you know that it says it there
some of it's in good condition some of
it isn't
yeah can you help me son yeah koshka now
what have we got here dude
it's all vinyl yeah the whole lot
obviously it's open top so
it's prone to getting wet which why they
probably didn't put leather in the first
place so what does leather do when it
gets wet
it will shrink let's go basics what is
vinyl
man-made fabrics pvc coated with a poly
cotton or a cotton backing
polyvinyl chloride that's it which is
basically plastic
yeah what's the plan with this dude what
can we salvage here we can save the seat
covers
and clean them up that's a great use
yeah okay the bolsters
and the brackets here these definitely
need re-trimming right you see where
it's all cracked and rotten
gone really hard as well once we clean
that up we can match it to something
that we've got in stock
so step number one is a thorough deep
clean of the seat covers
getting into all the nooks and crannies
using professional vinyl cleaner and a
bit of good old-fashioned elbow grease
you can really see the detail of the
vinyl now can't you
it's kind of brought the grain up so it
mimics leather again right thanks dude
so good news on the seat front but back
at the workshop there's an elephant in
the room
a tiny little clapped out 700cc
elephant here we have the engine out of
the bond bug
31 brake horsepower it's based on
an austin 7 engine from the 1920s it's
got an aluminium head
and it's got an aluminium block but
it's sea solid we've got a missing core
plug
and what has probably happened is that
the water left inside there has frozen
on a very cold day and pushed that core
plug out
so i'm going to start by taking off all
the ancillaries
there's the first snapped bolt
we've got steel bolts going into
aluminium castings
and that is a recipe for seized
bolts because of the electrolytic action
the bolt can
eat away at the aluminium a lot of these
engines end up getting scrapped
right off come the manifolds come on
inlet manifold and the exhaust manifold
come on let's get this filter off
yes that doesn't look like it's had much
oil in there for a very long time
a good 35 years or more
and off comes the fuel pump wonder if it
still works
no off comes the timing case
drives a bone in there apart from right
at the very bottom this engine has done
nothing for decades there
is our flywheel with signs of oil
and grease flying out i reckon the
crankshaft seal's gone
it's probably been leaking all over the
clutch the clutch has probably been
slipping
this car is a total nail
lucky that it's at the nail salon then
where a full rebuild is now on the cards
back with tim and the seat covers may
have been salvaged but what about the
rest of the trim
so this is the vinyl and adrian that's
the stuff we're using what's the plan
for re-trimming these then
well first of all we'll strip them off
we'll check the condition of the foam
okay
these are fiberglasses yeah it's a
fiberglass panel with a foam on the
front
what can you tell from looking at that
sponge that's in very good condition i
don't think we need to do very much with
that
no imperfections in it or any damage
which will show through
into the vinyl just clean the old glue
off because all glue has literally just
gone to nothing anyway yeah
right so these are now clean we'll just
give it a priming with contact adhesive
because this vinyl has a stretch we'll
put the panel on that way so you can see
that stretches in that direction
but then if i try it this way pretty
much yeah
solid stretchable now we don't need to
be too precise because we're cutting
most of it off afterwards
[Music]
why haven't you glued the central
section here you glue and it grabs onto
it it can pick out
the sight imperfections glue's just
about dry so it's sticky sticky time now
it is this is the
moment of truth one shot of this isn't
it because this glue once is grabbed you
can't really release it again
if it doesn't go right it goes in the
bin unfortunately yeah and we'll just
use a
knife just to trim off the excess there
you go
brand new it is like new actually isn't
it it really is
the next one that's it the complex one
it's just firmly pulled over smooth down
yeah
there you go i think that is pretty much
done oh we'll tell you what we need to
do we need to compare those two
the seat covers let's have a look we put
that out here
match that with it tell you what
that's as good as it gets isn't it it is
that's spot on and the best
news is we've managed to save the
interior for the bomb bug or those
components so far can i leave you the
rest of them to trim adrian you
certainly can yeah
you're a legend thank you so much okay
no problem
well the interior may have been brought
back from the brink but that badly
repaired chassis has just arrived back
from the blasters
and it's not good news this chassis
is a right old dog's breakfast we've got
original mild steel transverse members
all the way along most of it is
stainless steel
that has been bodged over the original
chassis
and then on top of that they've bodged
the body mounts
and we've got breaches in the welds and
little cutouts here
this chassis is not safe all in all
we've got a problem do we grind off
all of this welded on stainless steel
and see what we have underneath which i
suspect will be
a completely rotten chassis or find
ourselves
another chassis if we do that we risk
putting this bomb bug onto a q
registration plate a car of
indeterminate age
well we can't have that so whatever
original steel lies underneath all that
botched work
no matter how rotten is gonna have to be
repaired starting with putting in some
bracing to make sure it keeps the right
dimensions
while the welders get welding tim and
fuzz are off to do a bit of bonding
right first bar first go in the 1972
bond bug es
700 yes yeah it's like being inside a
piece of a red leicester cheese
well i think it's like being on a sort
of fairground ride the louder we scream
the faster we're gonna go
so start screaming
[Music]
look who signed it there tom carrad
designed the rally chopper bike exactly
for transporting two people around
it's it's a perfect little place to be
look
oh yeah that's pretty cute smile
this thing is remarkably spacious inside
what it is it's two seats
with a little bit of boot space behind
there an engine inside the car i'm
having to drive this
only one boot off we've got this bar
that holds the steering column
yeah and that is the worst design
feature of this
well it looks for me like i've got my
feet it's an optical illusion or is it
actually in the headlights in fact could
you adjust the headlight just a little
bit yeah totally yeah maybe that's how
you do full beam right full beam
this is not so much a car but a
contraption
it's like a wheelbarrow tell me about
the driving experience okay
the steering's quite heavy you get this
little nagging thing in the back of your
head
but you've only got one wheel up front
you feel like
you're winging it a little bit on the
corners yeah lean with me
work with me jim
that's it that was a good call oh did
you get the jiggle
oh i think we nailed that corner what do
you mean
whatever you do you've got to lean
that's it right over but don't jiggle
about though
if you jiggle it wiggles lean lean
yeah you see that is it helping that's
that's much better it works yeah we've
mastered the art of driving a bond mug
i love this little thing fuzzbart it's a
little bit dangerous and that's
enjoyable
yeah how fast you wanna go do you wanna
go faster
this is so much fun i love this car
never before as such a small thing given
me so much fun
it's stupid yeah it's a stupid car yeah
and it suits both of us because we are
both
stupid well tim and fuzz may have caught
the bug
but back at the workshop it's the
bodywork team who are the ones feeling
sick
sick of the sight of the list of work
which for a small car
is remarkably long
i think i know what that is give it a
tap tim and fuzz have taken on a weird
and wonderful 1970 bond bug
a once futuristic car that's suffering
from a very checkered past
that is beautiful the car belongs to 69
year old former engineer ian
who just loved the idea of one day
taking to the open road in his micro
three-wheeler
unfortunately on retirement he was
discovered to be suffering from
parkinson's disease
meaning his bond bug dreams were just
never going to come true
there are things that you can do to
mitigate it but he's never going he's
not going to get better
since arriving at the workshop the bug
has been stripped down to its component
parts
virtually every single one of which has
been discovered to be in a shocking
state
and what's more every day seems to bring
a new unwanted surprise
well it's got problems major problems
it's obviously you can tell that there
have been
localized repairs done have a look at
this
of all the years that i've worked on
cars i've never found a twig
an actual twig i feel like i'm an
archaeologist the woods actually
survived because it's been encapsulated
in the fiberglass
like for real like somebody's got a bit
of a tree and gone
that needs to go in this car perhaps it
was put there to help the car
stick to the road or maybe not
whatever it's not going to be great news
for ian's wife cathy
who's popped by to take a look at what
she hopes is going to be her husband's
pride and joy
before you see it kathy how's he and
most importantly how is he not so good
at the moment
really he's been in hospital for a bit
and uh he seems to got a bit frailer
since he came out and he's had a couple
of falls at home
has it knocked his confidence a little
bit yeah it's mostly a confidence thing
i think
is he suspicious at all has he mentioned
anything about the bomb bug not at all
he hasn't got a clue
right now what are you expecting to see
underneath this cover here
remembering how it was when you last saw
it so how you think it might be
it's got to be better than it was before
i'm hoping it's
maybe orange okay we can certainly say
there's orange there i think we better
show you what's underneath here actually
here is joseph and his technical at
bonbon
right my world not what i was expecting
there is orange there there's also green
black
blue and a number of different other
colors as well
it looks almost worse than when it came
in
is that too rude no no not at all no
we've got
clearly some old accident damage around
here
and some awful repairs but they've even
used
just bits of wood just bodged into there
and then filled over to try and make it
into a bond bug shape again
goodness it's terrible it is it's a
pretty bad repair
i mean i knew it it was bad but i didn't
think it was anything like this bad i
thought it was
sound underneath i'm just so glad that
he didn't start it and try it and find
this out
yeah i mean it's pushing us to the
limits to be honest with you there's
some pretty skilled work that needs to
go into
fixing this so we're going to get this
back into absolutely pristine
order do you think you can do that well
looks
impossible do we have a choice there we
are
[Laughter]
can we talk about the day we give the
car back to ian it's got to be it's hard
to believe that this is going to be
a finished car but it is so if you've
got any suggestions
i think cyborg country park where we
pick the car up from would be perfect
what about if it just so happened that
as a film crew down there
filming things like the pump house and
what sidewall country park is up to
would that make sense would he be
suspicious of that i don't think he'd be
suspicious as long as he doesn't see
your faces
okay so if we're out the way no one's
suspicious at all
give me his car back sounds wonderful
right let's do that right kathy
we've got a lot of work to do here as
you can probably tell
come on i'll show you the door thank you
thank you
so the plan to surprise ian is now in
motion as a volunteer ranger at his
local country park he's been invited to
be
interviewed for a well-known sunday
evening nature show
of course it's just a cunning roost to
get him in front of the camera
before then though there's an awful lot
of work to be done all that wattle and
door but the front is gonna have to be
cut away
a new glass fiber put back in place
the body is gonna be sanded right down
and reshaped and as for that botched
chassis it's now all braced up
and ready for some major reconstructive
surgery
we've made a decision we're going to get
rid of these longitudinal members of the
chassis so we have formed
our own sections made from mild steel
we've
obtained some lovely and now very t
stained
drawings so that we know the exact
correct dimensions
is we've had to build a frame to hold
the transverse chassis members these
tubes in place while we cut out the
longitudinal members
and insert our new nicely strengthened
original specification to the drawings
chassis members it might be no bigger
than a shopping trolley but don't be
fooled
this is precision engineering a few
millimeters either way and it could
throw the whole car
out of whack so while fuzz opens up the
chassis
tim is on a mission bond bugs were
notorious for rolling over on corners
so what a bit of 21st century technology
help solve
the problem byron hello mate hi hello
can i give you that and say can we
salvage those things
have originality there yes or no no
they're only fit for one place either
so these are the components of the
suspension we're building for the bonbon
the internals of a coilover yes
you've got a damper spring spring
platforms the spring is the main part
which pulls away the vehicle
the damper is basically there to control
the spring
so when you're driving down the road and
you hit a bump you want the spring to
take the bump yes
and compress quickly yes but then slow
down on the return
so how does it do it basically that does
that by controlling the oil flow
inside the damper when you extend the
rods yeah the oil flow goes through the
glands
and there's a valve in there which
controls how easy the oil is to flow
from one part of the damper to the other
how soft or hard you want the rides so
we're forcing oil through a little hole
yes so does that mean then the smaller
the hole the slower will allow the
spring to return to its
natural state yeah so we want to get it
set up just right for the bond bug
well that should give the bug a bit of a
spring in its step
but back at the workshop the true extent
of the chassis rot is now becoming clear
there we have our original chassis
inside there and it looks
really badly buckled i wonder if this
has been in some sort of
massive accident all in all that's a bit
of a mess
he's really really heavy this must have
had
some effects on the bomb bugs handling
and on its performance as well
so now we can weld it and the job is
done
this car is coming back from the dead
back with tim and the bug's new
suspension is about to be put through
its paces
and this is the machine that measures
bump compression yep rebound extension
that's right yeah
spark it up and see it do its thing so
this is now set with this thing on the
most open yes softest setting so the oil
is going through the biggest hole
possible
in that particular setting your car's
most likely to bounce yeah so what's he
saying on the graph
he's measuring the resistance of the
damp power and the spring so you've got
the bump along here compression and then
the rebound on the bottom line
okay so that means there's quite a lot
of rebound so that's the setting most
likely to bounce your car off the road
yes well under what we want
right so this is damper on full whack
pull hard but now we're going to the
race track
yeah we always have gone to the
racetrack yeah the bottom figure there
again on top
and then the rebound on the bottom so
it's slowed
right down so that is the damper doing
its damnedest to chill that thing out
pretty much
so what setting do we want for a bond
bug for a bomb bag not that hard if we
go full soft
and then i'll probably stick it on
around plus six okay because you've got
22 on there
right roughly about where you want to be
nice on there in the middle so that is
set up for the bomb
bug right can i order two more please
two boys it's got a weird one in three
it's just weird the whole thing's weird
three of those please thank you very
much no problem
well three is a magic number and back at
the workshop a bit of magic is about to
happen
the final filling and flatting is over
and the shell has gone into the spray
booth for its first coat of orange
and what was a few days ago a pile of
scrap is once again
unmistakably a bond bug and while the
paint is drying
fuzz has got some explaining to do
so here we have our steering column
along here
into a steering box we've got a steering
drop arm here
and we have the four and aft shaft
otherwise known as the drag link
it drags that way and it pushes that way
and then this steering arm attached onto
the back of the front hub here
so the steering wheel is attached up
this end turn the wheel clockwise
you go right turn it anti-clockwise
you go left it's simple but you don't
often get to see it because it's tucked
right underneath the front of the
three-wheeled car
neat idea eh well with the steering all
sorted we come to the moment of truth
the fully refurbished engine is ready to
go back in
but will it fit the newly rebuilt
chassis
let's lift her in place there's one
and two so there's the front mountings
mounted onto their brackets
i might be lucky and be able to get this
rear mounting in place a little bit of
grease on there
there we have it engine and gearbox in
place that
dirty horrible little engine that came
out
is now transformed into this thing of
beauty
it's almost a shame to put the body back
on so
relief all round and on with the job the
suspension is fitted followed closely by
the wheels
and then the big transformation it's
orange
body time and no i'm not talking about
love island
hold on what's that down
there down down
we're down we got a car again look of
all the cars we've ever done
never has to be a car that looks more
like you and i should be just fighting
into space in it
come on let's get it thrown back
together let's get the rest of the car
together come on and with that
it's reassembly time the world's tiniest
boot lid is attached the brakes are bled
and the belt's tightened and as for
refitting the interior
well with the bomb bug it just takes a
matter of minutes always puts a smile on
my face when we manage to keep
some original parts on the car put these
on
how's that they look cracking don't they
timmy
do us a favor will you what do you say
i need you to pick up these parts for
the bug if you would please
wipe the motor around but yeah okay
where from martin's
yes tim is always a little nervous going
to see
parts man martin because martin well
he's not called
parts man for nothing hello hey
uh i've come for those parts i forgot
you were coming i know you phoned up you
spoke tomorrow
i thought you were coming are they in
the shed i know where the shed is now
i'll just get it
for you it's fine
martin right i better get out of here
because fuzz is uh
fuzzy my phone's ringing there we are
that's great thanks very much yeah
that's great all right then i'll see you
later
goodbye there you go parts suppliers
if you don't want to visit from tim you
now know what to do
nope what what's wrong with you i don't
want to talk about it shut up i don't
even talk to you no
i can't get over it so with the final
few parts now recovered
everyone can pile in to get the car
finished the electrics are tried and
tested
seat belts are bolted in not a detail is
missed
title fit this even the funny old ash
tray
but just fitting the parts is not going
to make this a bond bug
for that it'll need a working engine
well it's wet on the end right tim
i am ready yeah go on give it a try here
we go
[Laughter]
it works right okay so mechanically
we're pretty much there okay so i'm
going to put the radiator in a few more
bits to tighten
the exhaust we're pretty much ready to
shove the canopy on come on let's do it
yeah let's get it on
okay how does that look forward a little
bit there you go
and for the first time we have a bon vod
i'm really really pleased with it it was
all about just putting a smile on your
face and this car has put massive smiles
on my face i'm gonna be sad to see it go
but i'm looking forward to seeing ian
get it back yeah exactly so come on
we've got a few things that we still
need to do i mean like uh
oh the windscreen is doors on the side
hinges on the front i'll get them i'll
get stuff
come on
in the former grounds of an edwardian
reservoir
siwell country park in northamptonshire
is 69 acres of bucolic delight
a haven for trees wildlife and unusual
insects
there's even one bug here that's hardly
been seen since the 1970s
the little orange mouse i love it fuzz
it makes me laugh i mean never before
something so tiny giving me so much
pleasure look at it it's itsy winty
remember what it looked like when we
picked it up and now it looks perfect
you could go anywhere on this and people
point and just give you the thumbs up
with a smile on their face
i know what you mean it could be better
yeah so what is the plan for giving it
back to you oh it's simple
do you know where we are yeah soil
country park do you know who happens to
volunteer here with the rangers
let me guess it's ian and guess what's
being filmed here today
i don't know country things right okay
yeah oh i know it i know it's yeah
of course yes made it up anyway he
believes it's happening down here today
so he's coming down
to take part in this tv show now just
when they roll cameras
and action you and i in the distance are
going to pop up
leaf blowers chainsaws the annoying guys
and then pull the cover off
what in fact is the covered up bond bug
he doesn't even know he's standing in
front of it
whip it off and then he gets his car
back fantastic
okay brilliant plan you like that i do
yeah do you want to go with a leaf
blower yeah right let's get this in
position i'm going to do that don't
practice okay come on
so that's the plan as one of the parks
volunteers
ian has been invited here today to be
interviewed as part of what he thinks is
a sunday night nature program
of course it's just an excuse to get him
on camera all his many friends and
fellow volunteers are here to witness
the fun
but have they ever seen a bum bug before
it's like a show even the ones that i
saw when i was back when i was a kid
they were they were pretty rough then
but to see it like this like a brand new
car it's
really cool really cool going to be a
fantastic surprise for it
so everybody happy time then for
operation
bond is back to go into action tim and
fuzz get into disguise as a couple of
random tree surgeons
right let's get these boxes on here so
that it doesn't look like it's a car
the car is hidden away under cover that
does not look like a bomb
come on and the volunteer group
assembled to take their turns to be on
tv
interviewed by our bogus presenter how
long have you been working here
oh in excess of seven years and
bang on time ian and kathy who's in on
the scam
roll up
and it's not long before it comes around
to ian's turn to be on camera
how long have you been a volunteer here
at sidewell uh
about two and a half years now
[Music]
cue background action
sorry how rude is that i don't that
doesn't look like they're gonna
should we i think we might have to move
guys do you find
doing volunteering work is helping it is
yeah because i've got
parkinson's disease when you're here
working
this is impossible excuse me could you
yes there's nothing worse than the
hallow mum brigade
hey do we need to blow around here
what's this under here
no idea are you standing in front of me
talking what is it perhaps it's time
then to spring the sos
trap what is it come on let's have a
look let's have a look see what we've
got under here
another little thing oh look it's a car
oh wow would you believe it hello mate
hi ryan
[Laughter]
do you recognize us yes i do yeah ian
you are standing in front of your car
yes yeah well i recognize the number
yeah
yeah well what can i say thank you very
much
somebody's popular that's you that's the
thing
kathy can you explain to ian why you
wrote to us
i just wanted something to make you
happy because i know how sad you were
that it wasn't
working out and you weren't going to be
able to restore it you were avoiding the
shed because you didn't want to see the
wreck in there i think that deserves a
kiss
did you have any idea any of this was
happening here no not at all
did these guys know that you everybody
oh yeah everybody this is
all about giving your car back do you
want to take a look around it yes please
i'll raise the canopy
there we are wow the last time ian saw
his bond bug it was rotting away in its
shed
a cruel reminder of a dream project that
was never going to happen
now the car's broken body and horrible
black paint have been swept away
and the shell returned to how it looked
when it left the factory
the tired old 700cc reliant engine has
been rebuilt
and is ready to rumble the car chassis
is as good as new but once ratty
interior transformed
and its three wheels look eager to hit
the road
so keep your eyes peeled as with a bit
of luck this bright orange head turner
will be appearing
center stage at a car show near you
how do you feel sitting in your bomb bug
i feel ecstatic
but you might not know that because uh
one of the symptoms of the parkinson's
is
dropped a mouth right and somebody walks
by me and i think look at that miserable
[Laughter]
why the bomb bug and when did you fall
in love with them because of its
uniqueness
if you seek attention just get one of
these
so i bought this from a lady in
nottingham planning to
do it up yeah and things you know like
kids came along
it just got left and then it's bloody
parkinson's yeah tell me about that it's
a horrible disease because
i'm losing my ability to string sentence
sentences together and i know that it's
only going to get worse
it sounds like a nightmare to be honest
it has the potential isn't it for
that but you know i'll try to keep
cheerful and i hope you enjoy your bond
bug you absolutely utterly deserve it
and there is only one thing left to do
and if you know the show you're missing
something
it's probably the ignition keys that's
right so it gives me great pleasure to
hand you one of only ten very special
car sos key rings and tell you
you have been car sos thank you very
much ian have you actually driven one of
these before
no you've never driven a bomb book no
brilliant
this is a first then so start your
engines
hey get out of here see you later
right fuzz where do we go after that
well
the world is our oyster
you're a devious lady
with me no i can't believe he really
didn't know what we were up to
that's why the grass is so long i didn't
dare get the lawn mower out until
after you found out didn't want to draw
attention to the gap in the shed
some warm air coming out under that
engine somewhere yeah
i felt the hot air
not surprising when it ends in just
there which i can't believe
all the work that's been done you put
your foot down like that you can see how
it's going to be 70.
yeah i think on the motorway we'll have
to
shout to a talk
it's fun but i don't fancy a motorway
[Music]
you