Wheeler Dealers’ Mike Brewer shares agonising update on stolen Ford Fiesta which vanished ‘in minutes’
WHEELER Dealers presenter Mike Brewer has shared a devastating update on the show’s Ford Fiesta which was nabbed during filming.
Mike and his co-host Marc Priestley lovingly restored the Fiesta Mk1 and were due to unveil it on the show’s 20th anniversary last year.
The project was completed as a special tribute to the iconic model, discontinued by Ford, and involved about £11,200 of work.
But hours before the big reveal, production crews discovered the car had been nicked from outside the hotel they were staying in.
Whoever took the car was said to have spent just 25 minutes freeing it, as it had been chained up inside a lorry and had a wheel lock on, using measures which Mike described as “quite inventive”.
He said: “They parked a big lorry in front of the security cameras of the hotel and they spent the next 25 minutes behind the lorry with cutters, angle grinders and all kinds of things to steal it.”
Mike and Marc immediately issued a desperate plea on social media to have the restored Fiesta returned to them – but it was to no avail.
Many were left wondering what came of the stolen Ford Fiesta after Mike offered £5,000 cash to anyone with information in November.
Now, the Wheeler Dealers star has given a rare update on the situation, admitting that nothing has changed and that he “doubts” the model will ever be discovered.
It came after X user James Corcoran, who goes by @jbcustomsjxn, asked Mike if the car had been found.
He queried: “I know it happened [last] year but wondering if the Fiesta has been recovered as of yet? Has to be disheartening after all the work put into it.”
Hours later, Mike replied: “Fiesta still stolen. If it’s recovered, which I very much doubt now I would shout about it on social media.”
Mike previously revealed the car was one of his team’s “proudest ever achievements”, adding that the fact there were only four of its kind left in the country made it a “really important car” to work on.
Days after his one-off custom-designed Ford Fiesta was stolen last year, Mike listed a classic ultra-rare 1968 Chevrolet for sale at £60,000.
He spent about 1,500 hours during Covid-19 lockdowns revamping the Camaro, making changes to the exhaust and the engine, as well as to the four-speed manual gearbox and the brakes system.
The TV host estimated the redesign of the car set him back £40,000.