Ian (Del) Lines has passed away

[Sue Franklin]

Some of you will have heard the sad news that Ian (Del) Lines has passed away a couple of days ago.  Del had been in a home in Weston super Mare for some years suffering from dementia.  Prior to that, as many will know, in the 70s he got into big trouble with BL as he was buying 2000 estate shells and putting Stag engines in them - marketing them as Stag Estates.  Many of these cars still survive and are sought after.  

He ran Atlantic Garage in WsM for some years and looked after many Stags from the South West.  He had a colourful life, taking him abroad to Spain and Mallorca at times.  

In addition to the work with Stags, he rallied with some success, using Rover SD1s, one of which had the registration SYB 1L - his mother's name.  

His registration DEL 33 is now reunited with one of his Stag Estates.

RIP to a most interesting and at times controversial character.

[AndyTV8]

Thanks for posting this Sue, I hadn’t heard of his passing. RIP Del, my sincere condolences to his family

…… Andy 

[DVD3500]

I had heard of these Estates so glad to know their provenance.

Even though I never knew him my deepest sympathies to family and friends.

 

[Arthur S]

So sad to hear about Del. Atlantic Garage was directly behind our hotel, the Birchfield, in WSM. I knew him very well - though not as well as my wife apparently who ended up marrying him! 😂 (we resolved all that when they split up - he was my youngest Son’s Godfather ).

He sold me his mother’s Vandem Plas 1300, complete with her number plate SYB 1L, on the understanding that he got the plate back when I sold the car. He also built a Fiat 128 for me (HOT888L). 
If we ever parked our car in his forecourt and it was dirty, it was clean by the time you had finished talking to him - he always sent someone out to wash it. 
We lost touch when he left Madeira so didn’t know he had returned to the UK.

Certainly a character and a very talented engineer

 

[Anglefire]

SYB1L is reported as now living on a Audi A3 - but the MOT ran out yesterday with no Tax information - hopefully the plate doesn't get lost

Condolences to the family.