A judge is to examine the frame of a Diahatsu Charade to eliminate guesswork in deciding if it is a crashed car rebuilt with major donor parts.
Judge Kevin Haugh, at Dublin Circuit Civil Court, had heard conflicting engineering evidence as to whether parts, including a roof, had been cut from another Charade and welded to one sold from the forecourt of a Dublin garage.
In order to avoid choosing one engineer's word against another, he felt he could see for himself if alleged cut and weld marks were pointed out to him.
The car is to be towed to the Four Courts car park tomorrow morning for Judge Haugh's inspection. Interior trim will be removed to allow direct examination of the car shell.
Mr Harry Fitzsimons, of St Donagh's Road, Donaghmede, Dublin, is suing Harmonstown Motors Ltd, Raheny, Dublin, for damages for alleged breach of contract in the description and sale of the car to him three years ago. The garage, described by a director as one of the top three Ford dealerships in Ireland, denies having sold on a repaired crashed car. Mr Micheal O Scanaill, counsel for Harmonstown Motors, said when Mr Fitzsimons complained that the car had previously been crashed, the garage had it inspected by an independent engineer who found no traces of crash repair work.
Mr Brefni Gordon, counsel for Mr Fitzsimons, told the court an AA engineer's inspection on behalf of his client revealed the roof had been replaced by random cutting and welding of door and body pillars. It also showed a door and another panel had been replaced.