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The Irish Sun

I rescued abandoned 1929 Singer car I learned to drive 65 years ago after it was left to rot – now it's as good as new

A WOMAN, 81, has been reunited with the car she learnt to drive in six decades after he father saved it from a scrapheap. Merriel Gallifant's father, Harry Booth, bought the 1929 Singer Junior from a scrapyard in 1961, and the teenager, then 16, used it to learn to drive. 5 Merriel Gallifant grinning with her first love in 2025 Credit: SWNS 5 The 1929 Singer Junior kept popping up throughout her life Credit: SWNS Quickly becoming a grease monkey, she fondly remembers practising gearstick changes in front of her father's Old Cottage Paint shop in Stanway, Essex. Sadly, just a year later, her Dad flogged her beloved wheels to David and Sylvia Rouse for a fiver. Astonishingly, Merriel was reunited with her old flame at a classic car rally thirty years later. The Rouse's were displaying the well-loved wheels at a car rally when Merriel spotted the old banger. Read more She exclaimed, 'That's my Car!' and showed the couple a snap of her teenage self sitting on the bonnet back in the day. Mr Rouse was very attached to the Singer, using it daily, taking it for spins at vintage car club events, competing in hill climbs, driving tests and navigational rallies and tours. The couple kept their bargain motor for 57 years before David died in 2017. Mrs Rouse sold their vintage car collection but kept the Singer until Merriel approached her, buying the token from her childhood back in 2019. Most read in Motors Selflessly, Merriel waved goodbye to her four-wheeled first love once again, selling it at auction for £4.1k and donating every penny to St Helena Hospice. Auctioneer, Lewis Rabett from auctioneers Reeman Dansie, said: 'It's a beautiful little car with a heart-warming story. 5 The classic car was sold for just a fiver in 1962 Credit: SWNS 5 It's pristine interior could have come out of a time machine- it is almost completely unchanged Credit: SWNS 5 Merriel at 16 perched a top her first love Credit: SWNS 'A proper full-circle moment. There's even a photo of Merriel with the car now and back when she was a teenager – not much has changed!' He added: 'It's a niche buy, but for the right person, this car is an absolute gem. It's been loved and lived in – and it shows.'