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'Punishment car' restoration like a 'model kit'

Martin Heath & Annabel Amos
BBC News, Northamptonshire
Graham McKechnie/BBC Grey body of a three-wheeled car, with yellow rectangle on the bonnet. There are sheets covering the interior. The headlights and other furniture from the front are missing. The car is inside a workshop with a roller shutter. There is a blue canister to the right.Graham McKechnie/BBC
The first stages of the paint process are under way on the car

Students who are rebuilding a unique rugby "punishment" car have likened it to a "model kit" - and say much progress has been made.

The three-wheeled Reliant Rialto was discovered in Harlestone Firs, near Northampton in 2023.

Former Northampton Saints players said members were made to drive the vehicle as a punishment for errors in training or misbehaving.

Motor mechanics students at Northampton College are now trying to restore it to its former glory.

The Rialto was bought by the club and painted with the Saints colours in 2002 as a joke.

Among the players who had to drive it as a penalty for wrongdoing was Ben Cohen, who was caught doing donuts in the club car park.

Man sitting in driving seat with door open and leg out - the car is a black Reliant Rialto three-wheeler with green and yellow go stripes in Northampton Saints colours
As it was: Jon Sleightholme, a former Saints and England wing, poses in the car in about 2002

A local businessman bought the car and displayed it for several years, but it then disappeared.

When it was rescued years later, it had been vandalised almost beyond recognition.

The former Saints player and manager, Lennie Newman, pledged to get it restored and Northampton College stepped in to help.

After 18 months, a lot of work has been done.

The chassis has been sent to a firm in Corby to be re-galvanised, there are new weight-adjustable shock absorbers, and all the steering and braking components have been replaced.

The bonnet is in the process of being repainted and a new clutch is being fitted.

Dirty car painted in Saints colours - green roof and radiator grill, black bonnet with yellow and white rectangle in front of the window. The Saints stick man notif is on the rectangle. There is no glass in the windows. The number plate B541 MLT is visible. There are two men standing on either side of the car, with one hand on the chassis. There are trees behind them.
The car was in a very poor condition when it was found at Harlestone Firs
Graham McKechnie Grey three-wheeled car with yellow rectangle on the bonnet. The seats have been covered with gold-coloured sheeting. The wheels have been removed. There is a blue circular machine beside the car. People are visible behind the car.Graham McKechnie
Almost everything in the car has had to be replaced or refurbished

Mechanics lecturer Steve Bunker said: "The students are loving it - they've put an amazing amount of effort into it.

"It's probably a bigger project than we ever thought - we didn't ever intend to go to this level."

Graham McKechnie/BBC Four people in a car workshop. There are two teenage boys, one has blond hair and is wearing grey overalls, the other has brown har and is wearing blue overalls. He is talking into a microphone held by Annabel Amos with long blond hair. :Lennie Newman with short white hair and wearing a grey top is watching.Graham McKechnie/BBC
Charlie Brown and Sammy Mold, both car mechanics students, tell their story to Lennie Newman and BBC Radio Northampton's Annabel Amos

Sammy Mold, one of the students, said: "It worked in our favour that it was fibreglass because it was almost like a bit of a model kit really - and we could just strip it, tip it all out.

"I do watch rugby, so it's nice to have some sort of part in the team."

Charlie Brown, another student who wants to be a paint-sprayer, said: "It's got me an apprenticeship, to be honest."

It is hoped the conversion of the car from wrecked rugby Rialto to sensational Saints spectacle will be completed later this year.

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