The car’s the star as thousands raised for charity

A CLASSIC car that was sitting in a barn has been renovated and raised thousands of pounds for charity.

Specialists at Delete-A-Dent in Oldham have worked their magic on the Reliant Scimitar 3.0 GTE after it had been covered by just a tarpaulin and years of ‘dust and hay.’

Now it has sold online for £7,501, which is being split between three local charities – The Ricky Casey Trust, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust and Dr Kershaw’s Hospice.

Rik Wild, who runs Delete-A-Dent, received the car after putting out an SOS to help train up apprentice Jordan Sunter.

Pal Mark Dickinson told him about his Scimitar, that had been sitting at his farm and the charity push was born.

Glass was replaced, panels were repaired and tyres put in a condition where it can run before it was put up for sale on internet auction site eBay.

Rik billed it by saying: “Enjoy classic car motoring with peace of mind as this vehicle won’t require major expenses for years to come.

Presenting the cheque to Dr Kershaw’s hospice

“Yes, it could do with little improvements to cosmetically enhance it, like fixing the clock and replacing some seals, but nothing is preventing this car from daily use.

“I have been using it and people are loving seeing this car drive past them with thumbs up an often occurrence.

“This is a car that people would love to see at classic car shows up and down the country.”

Now it has sold for thousands, the money will be split equally between the three charities, including one inspired by ‘very close friend’ Ricky, who died in 2019 after living with cancer.

The former player, coach and manager at Springhead FC has inspired many fundraising efforts after he fought a rare form of kidney cancer.

And this latest donation will help the Ricky Casey Trust’s aim to ‘advance the knowledge, education and research into rare renal cancers in the UK, particularly but not exclusively the Renal Medullary Carcinoma (RMC) subtype.’