The car was built on 20 May 1957 and left the factory on 22 May 1957, headed for England, equipped with a miles per hour speedometer and leatherette upholstery. It was sold by European Car Sales in London and first registered as TYY 817 on 14 June 1957.
Around 10 years later, the car had moved to the Portsmouth area, where it is believed that one of its later owners left it in his garage, unused, for seven or eight years. Then its luck changed.
Robin Allen bought it in 1989. By that time, the Oval had been badly painted in bright blue by a previous owner, which was how it looked when I first saw it. There was some evidence of poorly repaired minor accident damage to one front wing, the front seats looked tired and needed re-stitching, and it appeared that a family of moths had made a tasty snack of the headlining.
Underneath all that, though, it was still a good car, and
