“It’s taken a while for an opportunity like this to land in our lap,” says Tony Compson, a former marine who served in the Falklands War and is the project’s crew chief. “All our cars are donated but most are manual. That the BRZ is also damaged makes this project especially worthwhile.”
Compson is responsible for the eight veterans working on the project, among them an ex-paratrooper and tank commander, and former members of regiments including the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) and Royal Logistic Corps.
Each brings their own skill and experience to the job. Well, almost: bodywork is beyond even them so while they will do what they can, the final shaping, filling and painting will be done by Dragontek, a local firm that is providing its services free of charge.
The veterans could use the help because the BRZ, registered in 2016 and with just 25,000 miles on the clock, is in a bit of a mess. It may be only a Cat N but a lot of damage can be done even at this level – and that’s just what you can see.
One thing the guys stumbled across early on was that, at some point, the roof lining around the passenger side curtain airbag had been made good to give the impression it hadn’t deployed. It’s a blip that has set them back but they are using the time to get all the remaining airbag sensors attached and functioning.
