When Martin Page decided to build a rally car from scratch, he had no idea his hobby would lead to two lovely daughters and a trip up the aisle.
The retired police sergeant finally said I do to his partner of 10 years, Claire, at the weekend, and the couple’s two daughters, Emily and Martha, were bridesmaids.
Their beloved camper vans also witnessed the occasion, as Martin and Claire run Deeside Classic Camper.
Their thriving business has been built on their shared passion for camper vans, but Martin, 50, and Claire, 47, who live in Finzean, first met when Martin was getting to work on his rally car.
He spent 30 years in the police and also served in the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, having only retired last year.
Rally cars have been his hobby since he was a little boy however, and Claire has gone on to support him in racing all over the country.
“You could say we met over rally cars really, I used to be in the garage working on the rally car when Emily would go past, and she’d always stand and watch,” said Martin.
“We used to give each other a little wave.
“I’ve never called her my stepdaughter, she’s my daughter in my eyes but it took me months to ask her mum out on a date.
“We’ve done all the big things, set up the business together and had Martha who is now six.
“It’s the girls who have been on at us to get married all these years later.
“I blame Emily for me and Claire getting together in the first place, if she hadn’t been so fascinated in the rally car we might never have got talking.
“We both had Minis but mine was used for rallying of course.
“It has been a passion for so long and I was brought up with it.
“I bought a brand new BMW Mini Cooper only to take it all to pieces and turn it into a tarmac rally car, I literally took it to bits.
“I loved doing it and I really enjoy the mechanical side of rallying, once you’ve got the bare shell you start welding it up and then you fit a road cage.
“Thankfully Claire supported me 100%, you can’t really be a rally driver if you don’t have that support.
“She drives behind in a support vehicle and she understands my competitive side.
“I’ve even got Emily rally driving, and when Martha was only four days old we went to the rally on the Isle of Mull.
“We reasoned that babies are babies wherever you take them.
“There’s this misconception that rally driving is dangerous when it’s actually one of the safest sports you can do.
“I’ve ended up in some ditches a fair few times but more people get injured on golf courses than they do rally driving.
“I think I love it because of the sheer thrill and having Emily as a co-driver is brilliant.
“Martha is also involved, she isn’t scared of getting her hands dirty and has her very own plastic spanner kit.
“She’s always crawling underneath the car to help when I’m doing work on it.
“Rally driving is a world away from driving a classic camper van where you trundle along at 45 miles per hour, but we’re equally passionate.
“We loved getting away and going camping whenever we could which got us thinking about starting the business in the first place.
“After Claire had Martha, she was toying about whether to go back to work as a PA.
“The business is really an extension of our lifestyle, we hit on this idea of hiring out classic high-end campers and the idea really took off.
“We couldn’t not have the campers at our own wedding and thankfully the business is always busy.
“This isn’t your usual retirement but we really couldn’t be happier.”
