The birth of The Chopper

In April:  
Having trawled ebay for days, one majestic beast jumped out as being the one. Those who know defenders know they come in two sizes. The longer 110" wheelbase and the shorter 90". However, just like daddy bear and baby bear, neither is "just right". The obvious answer to this is to get a chop shop rebuild at 100" - the perfect size. So it was that on a boys' reunion weekend, still a little merry from a full speed night in the Lizard Lounge reliving the good old days that Guy Shepherd was convinced to drive to Cheddar to view the potential acquisition. This only took a little bit of lying about it being only 15 minutes away, which later made him angry.

The test drive was a casual affair, driving up and down a field and making what we thought were the appropriate sorts of noises and faces to make when buying a second hand car. Skillfully negotiating the line between asking no questions so looking like idiots, and asking stupid questions so looking like idiots I made my offer. A car full of us had gone for moral support so the test driving phase was a long and repetitive one...the highlight being Gary complaining about the brakes not stopping the car as he skidded up and down the man's field at 30mph creating furrows which we can only hope will prove useful for next year's crop. The other bidder was a no show so she was mine! Next to the naming; after several iterations including Spicy One-Ton, The ChopShop and Chop Suey we settled on The Chopper. In hindsight Mummy Bear might have been more suitable.