Woman sets out to save van bought in memory of mum

A woman who bought a vintage van in memory of her late mother has said it was left in a worse condition following a £6,000 restoration.

Ribs Norman, 54, from Folkestone, bought a 1976 Citroen 2CV with money left to her after her mother, Sylvia Norman, died from cancer aged 58.

After moving to Finland, she said the vehicle ended up abandoned in a field near Herne Bay without her knowledge. She tracked it down using Google Earth.

She paid for a restoration only to find the van had problems with the welding, bodywork, paintwork and electrics. Ribs, a science technician, has been working through the problems with a manual and sharing her progress online.

Ribs said her mother drove the family around in a similar van when she was growing up.

"She used to drive us to school in it, and some of my happiest childhood memories are tied up with that little van," she said.

She bought the vehicle with part of her inheritance 24 years ago and paid to have the van professionally restored at the time.

Her van was plum-coloured, unlike her mother's red van, but Ribs eventually had her own van painted in a 1970s orange.

"I still love it," she said. "It's all tied up with my mum."

Ribs made arrangements for people to look after her van while she was in Finland, but after she returned, all she knew was that the van had been stored somewhere in a field in Herne Bay.

"I went on Google Earth and looked for fields in Herne Bay," she said. "One had lots of vehicles. I zoomed in and could see my own van."

After she got it back, she paid £6,000 for a four-year restoration that was to return it to "showroom condition", but she said when she discovered the condition of the van, it was "devastating".

Now restoring it for a third time, Ribs said she had followed a vehicle repair manual but found videos on the internet more useful.

She said she had not originally planned to launch a crowdfunding appeal, but decided to do so after people following her updates online encouraged her to set one up.

Ribs hopes to have the van on the road by the end of the year, but said getting it back to respray stage will take longer.

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