Gary Critcher
I’m sure some of you would have worked on “Only Fools and Horses” at some point?
One of my mates has been offered a three-wheeler which purports to come from OFAH. He says it’s been offered to him by a company that used to supply vehicles for film and television, but they didn’t lease it to the BBC, they bought the car after the show had finished.
Now, obviously, what he’s wondering is, is there anyway he could verify that it WAS used in the series? Would anyone know anything?
Geoff Fletcher
There was a newspaper article in, I think, the Birmingham Mail (it dates from Jan 2013) to the effect that the OFAH Reliant was up for sale from a private collector named Adam Sykes, and the car came with another OFAH artefact apparently. On offer at £17K. Is it this one your friend has been offered?
Gary Critcher
No, it’s not that car… but the complete coincidence here is that I actually know Adam Sykes!
I used to race with him in Historic Formula Ford racing a few years ago, he works for H&H Auctions these days.
Bernie Newnham
I think there are a number of Reliants dressed up to be the OFAH one. How does one find out the provenance?
Ian Hillson
A trawl through old Beeb photos – there were one or two used in the series. A good place to ask: the Only Fools and Horses Appreciation Society at http://www.ofah.net/. Registration DHV 938D was used on several 1969 Reliant Regal Supervan III from 1969. See: http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_39205-Reliant-Regal-Supervan-III.html.
Dave Plowman
Would this be like the Morse Jaguar?
Chances are there was more than one vehicle used on a long running series, but with the same number plate used on all.
I’d say it would be near impossible to guarantee it was really used on the series this far down the line.
Dudley Darby
There was one purporting to be from “Only Fools and Horses” in the Screen Cars Exhibition at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu last May (2016).
Steve Edwards
I saw the original van used in the main series DHV 938D back in 2001 at the Cars of the Stars Museum in Cumbria – I think it’s now in Beaulieu?
I was told there was six (?) of these vans used (with some on stand-by) in the series over the years but I’m not sure whether they actually changed the registration plates.
It doesn’t help because as we’ve all know, lots of folks that owned a reliant Regal super van painted it yellow and had it sign-written "Trotters Trading Co" on the sides – surely there’s now got to be well over 100 or more replicas out there!
Didn’t one of the originals sell for £44k in the recent past? I think Ricky Hatton the boxer also bought another one – was his a fake in the end? Is that a lesson to be learnt I wonder.
The Reliant Owners club may be able to cast some light on this – some anorak may know the answer or may have done a feature on the van in their magazine.
I think it’s really a case of the more times Del Boy and Rodney used it, then the more it’s likely to be worth. If they never used or even touched it, then is it really worth any more than any replica offering?
Dave Plowman
It’s common for the likes of Action Cars to have a number of ‘false’ plates that they can legally use on film etc vehicles (for fairly obvious reasons.)
One of my cars was used on “The Bill” while I was working on it. They wanted to smash the windscreen, which was OK by me as the original was stone chipped and I wanted a new one anyway. They put a false plate on it. Sadly, as I can’t prove it was my car from the video!
