A40 Farina Club

I've just received this e-mail from Bob's best mate Peter Asquith, a Club member living in NSW Australia near to Bob:-

It is with a heavy heart I advise you that Mr. Robert James King (mem.no 3889) passed away at 7.05am this morning in our local hospital.
Bob, as he was known, has battled pancreatic cancer over the past two years and in the last few week, it finally caught up with him. Hospitalised just on two weeks ago, he deteriorated very quickly.
Bob had his pancreas operated on 12 years ago and had a good life until recently. This would almost be a record as this insidious disease usually claims life as near as 3-4 months and maximum 18 months.
Bob was a very talented man and we will miss him greatly.
Best wishes, Pete,
Lake Munmorah 2259,
NSW Australia

Pete's sending me a ful obituary in due course but Bob needs to be remembered now as an extraordinarily talented body engineer. In the six years of his Club membership this indefatigable bloke successfully converted one rusty Mk1 A40 into the world's only legal A40 convertible (yes, you read that right) and, not content with that, decided to create a Morris Traveller look-alike based on another rusty A40 - again, a world first. Quite extraordinary especially as for most of that time he fought several life-threatening diseases while continuing to follow his heart's dream.

We send many condolences to his widow Clare. Those of us who had the pleasure of meeting Bob and Clare when they, along with Peter and his partner Claire, travelled from Oz to tour the UK several years ago will remember them with great fondness.

RIP Bob.

ps: Bob's service will be streamed live: this coming Friday 25th March at 11.30 a.m (that's eleven hours ahead of the UK, so it'll be half-past-midnight here).
To view the service, click on this link: https://palmdalegroup.com.au/scheduled- ... -palmdale/ then scroll down to Friday 25th and click on Bob’s name.

Scheduled Funerals for Palmdale
****Please note for scheduled live streams, they are scheduled to start 5 minutes before the service commencement time.
In the event that there are unforeseen issues with the live streaming, a recorded copy of the service will be added here the next business day and will be available for 10 days for viewing from the date of service.****

After clicking on ‘Watch the Service’, the link will take you through to a video player. The live stream will be automatically be muted. To unmute and hear the service, click on the icon of the speaker with a line through it, which you will find at the bottom of the screen. Clicking that icon will remove the line, meaning the sound is now unmuted. Make sure to slide the volume level up to hear the audio.

So very sad to see. I wish I had met him. Thinking of him and his family.

Sincere condolences winging their way to the Antipodes. Enjoyed the recent article. Happy now with other tin bashers in the sky I've known and been in awe of. Arno Praeger, Jim Mainwaring, Jack McGrath. Rest in peace Bob. Never met, but surely one of a kind.

Condolences to all his family. I remember reading his articles with great admiration for his work. RIP Bob .

My sympathy also goes out to Peter who has lost a good friend of many years.I had the same experience four years ago and still miss him like hell

Condolences to his family and friends

We met Bob and Peter at Chilworth when they visited the U.K.

Both lovely people

Bob was indeed a very talented restorer.

In my last conversation with Peter, he advised that many friends had rallied round to help Bob in the completion of his traveller conversion

RIP

Sad to hear this, we met Bob during his UK tour when he visited the SW meeting. He left us some great memories, will not be forgotten.

Chaps, I've just received this e-mail from his widow, Clare, which you might like to see:

"Hi Keith and Bab, Hope you are keeping well.I am doing ok since losing Bob I miss him just so much .The convertible and the woody have been sold we were very lucky, the same lady has bought both of the cars and they have gone to a good home. Bob would be pleased to know that. It has turned very cold here, please pass on a hello to the club from me. Stay safe. Cheers, Clare King"

I wonder whether we'll ever hear of those two unique vehicles again? I replied to Clare and in part of the message asked her, if possible, to let the new owner know of our Club.

Glad they both went to one person, would be nice to keep them in the Club. I wonder if Peter Asquith knows of the new owners? He was very close to Bob King.