By Leeza Clark

A FIFE man can take a real trip down memory lane, thanks to a series of coincidences that has led to him being reunited with his late grandfather’s 1936 Model Y Ford.

Ken Mcrae was yesterday handed the keys to the immaculate vintage car by Dunfermline man Dougie Dickson, who decided to sell it after spending years lovingly restoring it to its former glory.

But in a remarkable twist, Ken, a motor mechanic from Leven, was no stranger to his new set of wheels, which has a top speed of 35mph. For, as a young lad, he vividly remembers being taken out for many a spin by his grandfather, Andrew Christie.

At the Scottish Vintage Bus Museum, he told The Courier how his grandfather, a miner from Methilhill, had spent what was at that time a huge sum of money to buy the new car.

“He bought it brand new in 1936 and it must have been one of the first cars in the area.”

“It must have been a great deal of money to him, as he was a miner, but this was his hobby. It never went out in the winter time and never got wet,” he said.

Ken’s grandfather and his wife Euphemia died within six months of each other in 1963 and the car passed out of the family’s hands.

“I was only eight and he had always promised the car to me but that didn’t happen. I didn’t know what had happened to it but I never saw it again until recently.”

That was when Ken’s mother, Norah, spotted Dougie and the family car, which was the first Ford designed for the European market, at a local vintage car rally and called her son up so he could go and see it.

But it was to be several more years until Ken could finally get back into the driving seat.

Mr Dickson, whose hobby is restoring vintage cars and buses, picked up the tale of the car, which has done 87,000 miles and has had 15 owners, counting Ken.

“It was about 20 years ago when I was at a rally in Leven that an announcement came over the PA that the first owner’s daughter had recognised it and she remembered she used to go for jaunts in it.”

And then, decades later, Mr Christie’s cherished car finally found the road home.

“I was at the vintage car show in June, here at the bus museum, and I put a ticket on it that I was considering selling it. I had six people interested, including Ken.

“When I found out he was the grandson of the original owner and hadn’t seen it for 30-odd years, that clinched it. I knew he would look after it,” Dougie said.

Dougie, who bought the car back in the 70s when it was in a dilapidated condition and took three years to restore it, knows some of its history, although he does not have the original owner’s log.

“I am the 14th owner and bought it from someone in Glasgow so we knew it went out of Fife.”

Having bought it for £700, he has since spent a fortune on restoring it but it has repaid him well, never having even had a bit of welding and never letting him down.

“I will be sorry to see it go but I’m looking for a more modern car to restore now and I know it’s going back to the family where it belongs,” he added.

Ken, who paid a whopping £4000 for the car, added, “Being a mechanic, my hobby is old buses and cars and I couldn’t believe it when I saw it and so I had a word with Dougie and because of the family connection he decided to sell it to me. It is amazing, really, that after all that time it’s back in family hands.”