Remembering Herbie

Our dear friend and loyal club member Herbie passed away in June 2017 but club members still fondly remember him and the fun times we had in his company. His wife Anne hasn’t parted with their much loved Fiat 15oo Cabrio and club members are delighted that the family are planning to keep the little red Fiat which is part of Herbie’s legacy.

One concern that Anne and daughter Allison had was the safety of the occupants in the car as due to its age it was never fitted with seatbelts. When Anne spoke to club members about the possibility of having seatbelts fitted the club was happy to arrange for this work to be carried out and to contribute to the cost.  The Fiat now proudly boasts a pair of bright red seatbelts and Club Chairman, Cyril, Club Secretary Alastair and myself decided to pay a visit to Anne to see the car and try the seatbelts out.

Anne and Allison are delighted with them as they feel so much more secure in the car so hopefully Herbie’s  Fiat will now be a more regular sight on the roads around Lisburn.

When we visited Anne we also had something else to give her which was a bit of a surprise. As a club we had been wondering for some time how we could ensure that Herbie’s fun times spent with Italian Car club members would be remembered. What better than a photo taken at the Abingdon Collection in 2013 when Herbie took little encouragement to climb aboard the WW2 motorbike and sidecar. We got the photo mounted and framed and presented it to Anne as a token of our affection for Herbie. Needless to say she was delighted and really appreciated the thoughtful gesture.

We hope that she treasures the photo as much as we treasured the times spent with Herbie over the years.

Tim Logan