Over the years, CVC has covered a fair few long-term restorations carried out in less than ideal conditions, and been impressed by the determination, tenacity and innovation shown by many enthusiasts. However, Neil Cook’s restoration of his 1965 Atkinson Silver Knight tractor unit is one of the most ambitious, and most longterm, that we’ve seen. This one took 18 – yes eighteen – years to complete. What’s more the dismantled lorry had to be moved no fewer than seven times during restoration.
Now aged 66, Neil has been involved with the lorry and transport industry for over 50 years; “I’m retired now, but I still work 4½ days a week.” On leaving school aged 15, he took an apprenticeship with A E Ingrem – he still describes Gerald Ingrem as “the best boss I ever had.” He then went on to work for the family business – a combined road haulage and lorry repair operation in Lymington, and when his father closed this in the late 1990s, he became a self-employed lorry repairer and painter. He also spent time working in Germany and then in Kuwait, where he was part of a contract-team employed
