Two men drove a decades-old car, affectionately known as Sheila, from London to the southern tip of Africa to set a record for the longest journey in a three-wheeled vehicle.
The 14,000-mile drive took them through 22 countries and lasted over 4½ months, according to The Associated Press.
“It was so ridiculous I couldn’t say no,” Ollie Jenks said of the moment his friend, Seth Scott, pitched the idea, according to media reports.
Their Instagram page, Hold My Gear, aptly summarizes the trip in its bio: “14,000 miles, 3 wheels, and 0 common sense.”
Has anything like this been done before?
In 2005, Susi Bemsel and Daniel Snaider traveled 23,245 miles in a tuk-tuk (auto-rickshaw) from Thailand to Germany, according to the Guinness World Records site.
A tuk-tuk is a three-wheeled, open-air vehicle commonly used for taxi services in developing nations.
In 2013, Nick Gough and Richard Sears traveled even further: 26,172 miles, per CNN.
Both of these achievements, however, remain separate from Jenks and Scott’s record-breaking drive.
The reason they are classified differently is that those journeys were completed in tuk-tuks, whereas Jenks and Scott used a Reliant Robin — a three-wheeler notoriously famous for its tendency to tip over, according the Guinness site.
The Reliant Robin wasn’t very reliable
Though they went out of production in the early 2000s, Reliant Robins maintain a cult following in the U.K., acording to AP, thanks to the sitcom “Only Fools and Horses.”
The British-made car was described by Jenks, according to The Associated Press, as the most unsuitable car for “probably any journey.” In fact, the car’s designer told the travelers he was frightened to drive it more than 20 miles.
Yet, Jenks and Scott (and Sheila) did it anyway.
And when they faced trouble, Reliant Robin enthusiasts from back home stepped up, helping find a new engine when theirs blew up.
More chaos ensued. Sheila needed her wheel springs replaced in the first two weeks, per The Associated Press.
Eventually, however, the car “rattled” into Cape Town, barely making it the last 1,000 miles.
Where is Sheila now?
The silver three-wheeler sits on display in South Africa temporarily, as reported by CNN.
She’ll travel to Kenya, then board a ship to Turkey, and make one last trip back to the U.K.
There, she’ll be taken to the London Transport Museum.
She’ll rest now and be given the service she deserves, Jenks said, as told by AP.