A GROUP of Wirral friends will travel across nine countries in four days to raise money for Huntington’s Disease Association – and they’re planning on doing it in a 15 year old “banger”.

Wirral Globe:
David Ramage, Ian Wilson and Lee McCombe with their Volvo V70. Picture by Geoff Davies.

Lee McCombe, David Ramage and Ian Wilson will set off on the impressive journey as part of this year’s Two Ball Rally on Thursday morning.

The rally will see the trio – who will be joined by friend Graham Watson – travel 1,200 miles across Europe in the V-reg Volvo V70, which they transformed from banger to brilliance after buying it for £370.

Mechanical engineer Lee, from Moreton, said: “We are very much petrol heads and enjoy cars and bikes, we have been to many car shows and we enjoy showing off our own cars and entering them into competitions but we have done nothing like this before.

“We came up with the idea on a night out and it stuck. We took the plunge and registered and paid the registration fees. Next one was to buy the banger - that was a story and a half.

“The first car we went to look at, we took it out for a run with the owner and we broke down somewhere in sticks – we had to push it back in the rain.”

Wirral Globe:
The Two Ball Rally will see Lee McCombe, David Ramage and Ian Wilson travel across nine countries in four days. Picture by Geoff Davies.

After the less than successful ending with the first car, the friends stumbled across the Volvo.

“It was a mess but it sounded and ran sweet – it was full of bird seed and it stunk but we knew it was the one,” said Lee.

“We got her home and started working on her and as you can see we have spent a lot of time dressing her and we have mechanically made sure she is fit for the road – it’s been a journey getting her there.”

The friends – who are going by the name of “The Specialists” - are one of 20 teams completing the challenge.

Wirral Globe:
The Volvo before its makeover.

They aim to raise as much money as possible for the Huntington’s Disease Association to enable the charity to continue to support the sufferers and their families, as well as securing funding for further research towards finding a cure.

Lee added: “We would like to thank G&A bodywork for painting the car, Ste’s Car Hospital for helping with mechanical work, Euro Car Parts for donating service parts and Frank at Universal Signs for the car decals.”

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