East Harling couple bring their Rover car ‘Duchess’ back to life after 26-year round trip

A Norfolk couple, who brought their beloved car back to life after it had been left to rust for more than a decade, have seen their story reach a national audience.

John and Hazel Craig’s tale about their Rover 216 GTi, which they bought in 1997 for £6,295, has been featured on Adrian Flux’s Forever Cars website.

The couple, from East Harling, repaired the car, nicknamed the Duchess, after their son Darren stopped using it and left it parked outside his house for 12 years.

Mr Craig, 75, who carried out a lot of the repairs himself, recalled the first time he laid eyes on the two-tone red and grey Rover.

“Oh, it was lovely,” he said. “It was so comfortable because the seats wrap around you. We really enjoyed it and just fell in love with it.”

From that day, the Duchess became part of their day-to-day life.

But, in around 2003, they started to own caravans and the Rover took a backseat as it struggled to tow uphill, so they purchased a new car.

Their son needed to commute to work in Bury St Edmunds, so the Duchess was passed on to him.

At first Darren used the car frequently but, when he changed jobs, it was not needed anymore so it remained – unused and unloved – outside his home for 12 years.

“He said he did not want to move the car because, outside his front door, there was a parking space, so he kept it there,” said his father.

“He had people trying to buy it off him, but he said no, because he did not want anybody else parking there. It was effectively a bollard.”

With the couple having many fond memories of the car, it was hard to see it left to rack and ruin.

“The car just deteriorated, getting worse and worse,” said Mr Craig.

“It was in a very sorry state, with flat tyres, peeling lacquer on the bodywork, cobwebs in the engine compartment, moss and mould around the windows, on the roof and bonnet and splits in the seams of the seats.

“It broke my heart every time I saw it as I had always kept it in tip-top condition. In the end, we had to say: ‘Enough is enough, it is coming home’.”

In March 2023, the Rover was back at the family home in East Harling, where the real fun and games began.

Assisted by his friend Steve Smith, Mr Craig got to work trying to restore the vehicle.

“We worked under jacks and axle stands and many knuckles were skinned,” he said. “At times the language was somewhat colourful, but we also had plenty of laughs along the way.

“The most challenging part was cleaning the petrol tank. We had to take the whole tank out and disconnect everything lying on our backs.”

The nearly year-long restoration project would be a priority for the car fan, even when he was unwell.

“He was even working under the car with a catheter,” revealed his wife.

Mr Craig, who left school at 15 to be a butcher’s boy in London and rode a series of motorbikes as a rocker in the 1960s, said the restoration cost a very precise £3,717.83, with just a couple of jobs still needed when funds allow – a professional stitching job on the seats and an alloy wheel refurbishment.

Since its restoration, which included the paintwork being finished by TPH Motorsports in the village, the Rover has been taken on a race day at Snetterton race circuit.

“We took it to one at Old Buckenham and got quite a lot of comments, ” said Mr Craig. “It was really nice that it brought back memories for people.

“Now we have got it back, we are going to keep it and enjoy it.”