It was way back in January when we first announced that
Adrian Flux
insurance had generously provided £15,000 to be shared amongst two lucky PHers to
buy a used car
. To win, all you had to do was provide a link to the search criteria that best matched the type of car you wanted to buy, along with a few words as to why you think you should be chosen as our winner. Our final winners would be chosen using the following criteria, as published in the original article:
“A panel of judges comprising the PH team and Adrian Flux staff will sift through the entries judging them based on the following criteria:
- Detail given
- Worthiness of entry
- Explanation of why the selected car is important/ relevant
- Humour and interest level
- The level of inspiration
A unanimous winner will be chosen based on all the above criteria, and second place will be awarded in exactly the same way.”
And what a response we got! With over 3,500 entries received the judging process was long but fun and this week we finally reached a unanimous decision. Our winners received a call just a few moments ago and to say they were excited by the news would be an understatement! Suffice to say, if I haven’t called you recently, we’re afraid you haven’t won…
So, who did emerge with our biggest prize of the year so far? Step forward £10,000 winner John Crook and £5,000 winner Matthew Purdon, who will both soon be the proud owners of new (used) cars, and who are both probably in the pub celebrating as we type!
You’ll hear a lot more from John and Matt over the year ahead as we follow their buying, owning and (in Matt’s case) building experiences with their chosen cars. But to kick things off, we’ll give a few reasons as to why their entries caught our eye.
£10k towards one of these...
John has suffered from a terrible addiction to Lancia Delta Evos since he was a kid. So bad does he have it that he’s been known to follow unsuspecting owners for miles down the road just to look, hear and smell (no, really) their Integrales until they realise someone is stalking them. His entry submission was instantly entertaining, and dripped with the passion only a true car enthusiast would understand. John’s even looking forward to the troubles owning a car like this may bring. His engaging entry means we’ll be funding his car purchase to the tune of £10,000, and John will be adding another £10,000 to the pot, meaning his long-held dream of owning an Integrale will now be possible. We’ll publish his entry in full at the beginning of his first Carpool article, and we hope you enjoy reading about what life is like with a rally legend on your driveway.
£5,000 winner Matt has an amazing, and saddening, story to tell. His dad was a pure petrolhead and Matt naturally followed suit, with father and son building Matt’s first car together, a 1952 Land Rover that he still uses as his daily car. Shortly after the Land Rover was completed, Matt’s dad sadly passed away.
£5k towards one of these...
Matt remembers how much his Dad loved his Mk3 X-Pack Capri, and was told that he only sold it as it wasn’t practical for carrying young Matt and his sister about. Matt can appreciate how tough a decision this was, as that car meant the world to him. So we’ll be buying Matt a Mk3 Capri, from which he and his family will build a perfect X-Pack replica in memory of his late father, and we’ll be following the journey every step of the way as Matt builds this very special car.
Our winners have been asked to start searching for cars this weekend, and we’ll start the buying process next week with the team from Adrian Flux. Of course, we’ll be keeping you updated along the way.
Join us in congratulating our winners and also in thanking sponsors Adrian Flux for their generous donation of the prize fund.
Finally, thanks to all of you who entered. In all honesty we could have given away £100,000 so worthy were the entries but sadly, there could only be two winners.