A husband’s drunken car purchase has helped reconnect his wife with her grandfather.
Owen Stevens, 35, bought a Peugeot 205 GTI for Sal Rowberry while on a stag do because it matches the red of his 1988 Lancia Delta Integrale and shares a near identical number plate.
The couple, who have recently moved from Kentish Town to Highgate, are both car fanatics and their shared passion helped get their relationship motoring when they got together.
Both of the cars are the same age as them. As Owen says in the film: "It felt like it was meant to be."
Their story has been recounted in a short film, In Lancia Delta and Peugeot 205: In Love, With Cars, by award-winning online motoring magazine Influx.
Owen, who works in IT, believes it was “drunken fate” that he bought the motor.
He told the Ham&High: "Sal's always wanted a 205 because her granddad had one and he used to take her out in it.
"I picked up the red Lancia and it was exactly the same age as me and the car I always wanted.
"Then I was on a stag do, a little bit drunk, came across the 205 on eBay, that was exactly the same age as her, exactly the colour she wanted and it felt a little bit like fate so I put a bid on it.
"She was thrilled, she really adores it, it's her fun summer runaround."
The couple rent a barn with friends in Hertfordshire where they "tinker" with their cars.
These include a modern Alfa Romeo, a classic 1967 Alfa Romeo, a Lancia Delta, and Sal's 205.
"My dad and I have an AC Cobra replica car, an old convertible sports car and a little
Hondo. My wife has also got an Abarth 500, like a sporty Fiat 500," he added.
He said the Peugeot 205 cost £5,500 and came with "loads of mileage", and was not in particularly good condition.
"There were days when you could pick these up for three or four hundred pounds, which was another reason to do it as they seem to be going up and up in value and every day you get less and less likely to pick one up."
In the film Sal, who works in television, said: “It’s been my dream car for quite a while because my grandad drove one and he was a really important person in my life,”
“Owen sadly never met my grandad and now that I have the 205 it sort of feels like a weird triangular connection that he, sort of, knows him now.
"I also have my grandad’s driving licence that my nan gave me when he passed away and I keep that in the car so it feels like a nice sort of additional reminder of him when I’m driving.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to have a 205 again to reconnect with him.
"He didn’t exactly teach me to drive, but he was always giving me driving tips and was a really important figure in my life.
"His Peugeot was really important to him and he really looked after it.”
Watch the film at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd4W9HFnijs.
Sal added that she and Owen get a lot of joy out of their cars.
“It’s kind of nice driving together," she said. "It’s really fun if we drive behind each other – people clock the Lancia first, and then they see another neo-vintage car behind it with an almost identical number plate, in the same colour.
"Then they’re even more confused by what’s going on.”
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