WOULD you Adam and Eve it? Derek "Delboy" Ward could not believe his eyes when he saw his 60th birthday present - his namesake's famous Robin Reliant.

The unsightly three-wheeler made notorious by the BBC's Only Fools and Horses had been specially constructed on The Green at Tackley to mark Mr Ward's special birthday on Friday.

His son Stephen, 32, who also celebrated his birthday on Friday, found the car and customised it to match the Trotter's Independent Traders trusty chariot.

Mr Ward junior, of St Nicholas Road, Tackley, has become so attached to it he has kept the car, bought for less than £100, for his own personal use.

He said: "It's been the talk of the village. It was red when I bought it only ten days before so I painted it yellow. It's all legal and I'm still driving it around."

The three-wheeler is a cause of concern to his girlfriend Maxine Gilbert. His dog Tikka refuses to get into the car. "My girlfriend and dog are embarrassed about it but I think it's quite funny. Tikka is very embarrassed about it and won't get in. Any other car she jumps straight in - it might be the colour," he said. Mr Ward senior, of Rousham Road, Tackley, who got the nickname because of his Christian name, not because he is a ducker and diver who could sell snow to Eskimos, said: "It was a complete surprise. My wife Pat said we had to pop down to the village. I didn't really stop to think, I just thought we were going to pop up to the church.

"When we went round the corner there it was in the middle of The Green. The amount of work that went into it was amazing. I'm so proud of my family."

He added he had no plans to become a "miwyonnaire" this time next year, but he added: "It would be nice, wouldn't it?"

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