The unfinished motorbike Chris Bartram was working on before he died was a constant reminder to his sons they would never see their dad again.
But thanks to BBC One's Repair Shop, an integral part of the bike - the fibreglass cone that deflects wind from the racer - has been restored to its former glory and is now a wonderful tribute to Chris.
“When we got it back we were ecstatic at how it had been brought to life,” his son Dan, who has displayed it in pride of place at home, says. “The way it’s positioned on the stand as though it’s flying through the air, it really encapsulates Dad.
“It’s no longer scratched and battered. It’s up on a shelf in my house next to a picture of Dad.”
Dad-of-two Chris, who died aged 56 in 2000, was a drag racer in the 1960s and 70s competing with his brother, Tony.
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They were known as the ‘Rebel’ brothers, which is emblazoned on the side of the cone that sat on the handlebars of the motorbike.
This unique item is what the Repair Shop carefully team brought back to life, while also preserving the original brush strokes Chris made himself.
Chris and Tony loved working on their bikes and even bagged a world record.
“The level of skill they had was amazing,” 34-year-old Dan says. “They built their own bikes, took different engines apart and put them together in new ways to maximise speed to try and be the best.
“It was essentially a hobby, they’d build them and take them racing, they’d go to Santa Pod racecourse in Podington, Bedfordshire, and also competed in Europe.”
The nose cone was originally for Tony’s bike, but he gave it to his brother.
Chris stopped racing the bikes when he had children but still tinkered with them, which fascinated Dan and his younger brother, Andy.
Dan, a secondary school teacher in North London, says: “It was an item on the floor of the garage that we always thought was quite cool as kids. After he died me and my brother saw it as something to keep hold of.”
Dan, who grew up in Watford, Hertfordshire, was only 13 and Andy 11 when their dad suddenly died of an aneurysm.
While they only had a short time with their dad, they remember him fondly.
He says: “He was our hero, nothing was ever too much trouble. We didn’t have too much time with him in the end. He was always the one taking us to sport, he’d always take us away at weekends and holidays.
“He was always supportive and always there. He was such a nice guy, we have such fond memories as kids. We would watch races and some of his old mates racing. “I remember going there very young.”
The brothers were delighted when they found out art conservator Lucia Scalisi would be working on their item.
It was a first for Lucia, who asked metal expert Dominic Chinea to create a special Perspex stand so Dan can display the heirloom at home.
“We always wanted to bring it back to life but we were terrified of ruining it. We didn’t want to attempt it but thankfully Repair Shop came along.
“I was amazed when Lucia was going to be doing it because she’s the fine art specialist.”
When they presented the cone to the brothers, they were overcome with emotion.
Andy says: “I don’t have much to remember him by. It’s a living memory of Dad.”
Their uncle Tony is now in his seventies and is working away on bringing Chris’s old bike back to life.
“He came back and picked it up,” Dan says. “It’s his retirement project. He’s trying to get it to run again.”
When the episode was filmed Dan had just become a father to his now seven-month-old son, who turned out to be one of the main reasons he applied to the show.
He says: “I’d love him to have a link to his grandad. It was part of the motivation for applying to the show. When I knew he was on the way, we wanted him to have a link to his grandparents.
“The best way I could think was to have the item in the house, something he can look at and touch.”
Now the racing cone sits in pride of place on a shelf in Dan’s home, next to a photo of Chris. “It’s a real connection to him.”
New episodes of The Repair Shop are airing now, Mon – Fri, 4.30pm, BBC One, or catch up on BBC iPlayer.
