Scoop's beautiful article about the Secret Service Ford T Gabriel got me feeling curious as to where the original car ended up. My first mistake was thinking that it was a real car as such. "Wag Evans manufactured a full-size and two miniature versions (the last of differing scales) of Gabriel, fitting the larger car with belt-driven electric motors, a folding roof, upholstered interior, and a remote control mechanism" [Wikipedia].
So where are these models? Well despite a good old search around the net I couldn't find the whereabouts of the miniatures but I did come across this photograph of the large-scale vehicle from 1999. It appears to be on display for Busseys, who are an East Anglian car leasing firm. Whether its still there I can't say. Anyone know any more?
An interesting aside I came across whilst looking for Gabriel was this page of Secret Service locations on the Avengerland website. They don't mean a lot to me but I can appreciate the effort it will have taken to track down original locations. May be of interest to readers.
It was on display at Bussey's showroom in Norwich for some years and also made an appearance at a Fanderson Convention near Coventry a few years ago. More recently I went with some friends who knew where the showroom was, and was where they had seen the car, but was disappointed to find that the site had been redeveloped into apartments. I understand the car was owned by Bussey's so perhaps they still have it?
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