Fans of the BBC programme QI or those who just like cool little bits of trivia might already know the answer to the question, what van was used in the popular Only Fools and Horses programme?
You know the one I mean, it’s yellow and was the main mode of transport for brothers Rodney and Del Boy Trotter. It is as iconic as the two characters themselves.
If you said Reliant Robin, then prepare to hear the harsh sound of the klaxon and whistles that indicates a wrong answer on the
quiz show hosted by Stephen Fry.
For the right answer is the Reliant Supervan.
“Like everyone else seems to think, I thought it was a Robin Reliant that was used in the show,” Nikki Forde said.
“But it was actually the Supervan which is based on the Regal, the predecessor to the Reliant Robin.”
This is something the 36-year-old engineer from Aberdeen discovered after buying a Supervan from eBay – a purchase that started out as a bit of a joke.
WATCH a timelapse video of Nikki’s restoration project
He said that he was working on a project with a friend when they joked that they should buy a van to help move around equipment and do other odd jobs with. After going online Nikki found a Reliant being auctioned on eBay. And after putting in what he describes as a “cheeky bid”, it was his.
He said: “I didn’t want it initially but I ended up buying it. The guy I bought it from only had it for a month. He was a big Only Fools and Horses fan and he bought it. I think his wife said ‘Get rid of that, you are not having that, it’s a mess’.
“But the guy who he bought it from lived locally to him in Telford and he had it from something like 1982 so he had maintained it and used it every day so it was in good running order.”
That was a year ago and since then Nikki, with the help of brother Derri, has completely transformed the van. He said the extent of the work has been cosmetic but it’s been a thorough restoration.
“The shell was in a bit of a mess,” Nikki said.
“It was cracked and we had to reinforce it quite a lot underneath. My brother Derri has been a big part in this. He’s got a little business in Edinburgh that can do that sort of thing. The business is called In-Form and I took time off to go down to work on it.”
The engineer is quite far down the road with the restoration now and having painted it yellow, he now plans to go “the whole hog” and make it a replica of that belonging to Del Boy and Rodney.
The next stage is putting the iconic Trotters Independent Traders sign on the side and the roof rack. He’s even got the leopard print seat covers to complete the look. Once finished, Nikki thinks he will have to pass the creation on to someone else.
“When I started the process the plan was to keep it but with the downturn in the industry I’ll probably have to sell it,” he said.
“It’s a bit of a luxury item, I’d like to keep it but probably have to sell it.”
In the meantime though Nikki can enjoy the van, especially the reaction it gets from people in the street. He said he hasn’t ventured far out of the city – as the van lasted from 1956 to 1973 it doesn’t have a lot of luxuries Nikki explained – but he’s still managed a few trips to the shops “for a laugh” and down Union Street.
“You get a good reaction,” he added.
“You get people giving you thumbs up or flashing their lights. I had a guy stand up in a coffee shop and point at it as I was passing. I think probably the older generation know more about it than the younger ones.
“Saying that, the paper boy stopped and took pictures of it yesterday and asked me about it. He recognised it from Mr Bean. There’s an episode where it’s Mr Bean’s little nemesis in it. You see it buzzing around.”
Even as Nikki was getting his photographs taken for this feature by our P&J photographer Kenny Elrick, the car managed to grab people’s attention.
Nikki said: “We were at Hazlehead Park and there was a lot of traffic and a guy in quite a new 911 went past. Normally people would be staring at that but actually he was in his 911 and staring at the yellow van because they are so rare now.
While the purchase may have started out as a bit of a joke, Nikki said he has enjoyed the restoration process – so much so that he would probably do it again, although not necessarily going down the TV show route again.
“I probably would take on another car, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I would prefer something quicker though, something that can go over 40mph probably. But I won’t be going out and buying a DeLorean or anything like that.”
My First car: Audi A4
My dream car: Ford RS200