Inverness care home helps Johns' veteran van dream come true
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
CAR-daft Inverness man John MacIver dreamed of owning an iconic Morris Minor ever since his childhood when his father and uncle had one of the hardy wee cars.
Sadly John (55) has a disability that limits his mobility and makes it impossible for him to learn to drive, so his passion for motors was confined to his major collection of models and toys.
That was until Cheshire House, his care home in the city, stepped in, and with their help John’s dream became a reality.
Cheshire House deputy manager Hilary Prosser said: “We ask people here if there is anything they really want to aim for and John told us about his veteran car. He had the money and with help from his keyworkers including Tammy Lauder and Linda Cook, we made it come true.”
Now John is the proud owner of a 1968 Morris 6cwt van rocking a far from standard orange and white paint job and the veteran workhorse now turns heads and brings smiles to faces as it tootles through the city with John in the passenger seat.
There is no shortage of volunteers to take him out for a spin, including from his church the Christian Centre at Culduthel.
“I am now a member of the Morris Minor Owner’s Club, with a membership card and a magazine every three months,” said John proudly.
“It had a story in it about me getting the van but no pictures of it.
“Everyone here knows how much I love cars and especially the Morris Minor and when I had my birthday recently, they made me a cake in the shape of the van with orange and white icing.”
Anyone driving the Morris has to get used to idiosyncrasies of 1960s cars including a manual choke and three-speed gearbox where first cannot be engaged unless almost at a standstill.
The van is based on the very popular Morris 1000 saloons and traveller.
Volunteer driver Colin MacLean said: “It is fun to drive, and it has this special smell of petrol and the vinyl seats when it’s hot. John gets a huge amount of pleasure from it.”
Cheshire House is run by the Leonard Cheshire disability national charity.
