1973 K8 Kiosk

Collection and Recovery

Another ebay purchase for £100. I acquired this kiosk from a holiday park in Newquay, Cornwall.

I hired a tipping trailer from HSS for £75 and set off with a friend of mine on the 460 mile round trip to pick up the latest addition to my kiosk collection. We stopped off at Exeter overnight as the weather had fallen apart and I didn't fancy the motorway with this thing following close behind. Next morning it was still tipping down but I couldn't afford to wait another day. We arrived at the park at midday and sized up the job in hand. Easy, with the previous experience of the K6 and a tail lift van I was spot on with this trailer. Reversed up to the box, tipped the trailer, tied some straps around it and the kiosk then drove forward a bit and lowered the trailer bed. A few more straps and 15 mins later we were on the return journey. The trailer was much more stable now with the weight and it was quite an uneventful drive back. It took about 4 hours to get back then came the off loading. Tip the trailer up undo the straps and hey presto, done in 5 minutes.£75 for the trailer, £40 for fuel and 25 mins on and off loading

Strip Down.

First job was to remove all the glass which compared to the K6 was so easy, the 3 main panels are retained by numerous screws holding 4 aluminium beading strips per glass. this took about an hour to complete and about 20 mins to pull the top "TELEPHONE" glass signs out. Next came the big mistake, far too easy so far with this project I was bound to get over confident and make a boo boo. I had undone all the bolts (8) holding the box together plus a few between panels. (I was planning on storing this box out of the way while I worked on completing the K6). To flat pack the box meant lifting off the roof and then taking down each panel. All was going ok with my staging which was holding the roof about 10 inches above looking quite secure, I had the front and side panels out of the way but the back one wouldn't shift, what happens when something won't budge and your getting irritable? An accident, inevitably, sure enough I gave it a sharp kick at the bottom which knocked it off the base as planned but it caught on the little electrical cut out mounting board on the inside and slewed sideways hitting the staging holding up the roof, well I ran and then things started happening in slow motion, the back panel went side ways then wobbled forward taking out the staging which gave way and allowed the roof to start sliding off, this hit the back panel and sent it backwards into my bay window, complete with 2 month old double glazing! The window sill buckled and exploded as the back panel bounced off it and went back to join the roof on it's continuing journey downward with the two bits and staging in uncontrolled descent there was only one thing else nearby that was yet to be caught in the epic disaster, the shiny new Mercedes that I had lovingly washed and valeted the evening before. Suffice to say everything landed on it. I stood staring at the mangled mess for ages then did the obvious and wandered down to the local pub.

Next day the scene in the driveway hadn't changed by some over night miracle, someone also told me that that visits from the  Easter Bunny and Santa Claus also didn't happen! I took some photos for the insurance company then cleared up the wreckage. Only the back panel had a slight crack which will be hidden by the back board so all was not lost. I put all the bits in the garden and broke out the concrete infill from base. With all that out of the way it was time to call the man from Sun Alliance. They had issues believing the story and sent an assessor round assuming I was trying to make it on to one of those weird insurance claim form out takes. The car was towed away a couple of days later and within a month the window was repaired and I had the wheels back looking good as new. Only £5500 of damage! Anyway, I digress. The phone box is now dismantled and awaiting re erection and refurbishment in the back garden. It's about 6th on the list to restore so I doubt anything else will happen to it (thank god) until 2005 at least.