A MAN has turned his van into Del Boy’s three-wheeler to drive Only Fools and Horses fans to their funerals – and he’s been inundated with requests.
Darren Abbey, of Fleetwood, Lancashire, set up Only Fools and Hearses after purchasing a Robin Reliant Supervan 3 in 2011.
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The 56-year-old spent almost £10,000 kitting out the three-wheeler to resemble Del Boy’s van.
It comes with a matching yellow trailer that holds the coffin itself.
He also offers a range of eccentric personalised coffins including a leopard Only Fools and Horses vinyl wrap, Sex Pistols, Elvis Presley and Motorhead.
The service is so popular that Darren said he did 70 themed funerals last year – averaging around one per week.
He is willing to travel anywhere in the UK to provide his wacky send-off service and said the job makes him feel rewarded.
Darren said: “Some of the rewards you get are just priceless – I’ve done some amazing funerals.
“Families are laughing and crying because it’s a special way to be sent off.
“I must admit it’s always going to be sad at a funeral, but things are very different today and families want something different as a lovely memory.”
Dead fast!
Darren has also transformed a motorbike into a funeral hearse that comes with a sidecar to carry the coffin.
He bought the 186mph Suzuki GSX-R1000 for £4,000, but said the DIY project set him back £25,000 in total.
After purchasing the bike, Darren completely stripped the body before rebuilding it.
This included installing brand-new wheels, forks, sprockets and chains.
He also built a special suspension unit for the sidecar.
His friend, Dan Armer, helped install the sidecar – which took a lot of trial and error to make it strong enough to carry a coffin.
Darren said the sidecar hearse has done two funerals so far.
But he is looking forward to launching the service to the rest of the public in early spring.
“I’ve only just finished the bike after about two and a half years of working on it,” he said.
“With it being a full-blown race bike the reality could have been it never happened because of the style of bike.
“Everyone said to me from the start it wasn’t going to be a straightforward project, hence nobody has ever built one and now I understand why.
“If you look at the colours, it’s almost the same as Barry Sheene’s Suzuki.
“But I did it with a twist so it looks classy. People say it’s amazing and it looks the part.
“I’ve always wanted to do something nobody’s ever done before.
“As I always state to families – a funeral is a celebration of life and we’re all unique.”
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