| UPDATED: 10:01, Fri, Mar 12, 2021
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The Top Gear host had asked DriveTribe viewers what to do with the ionic model back in January with viewers saying they wanted the car to be restored back to its former self. Mr Hammond seemed surprised by the decision but said he would follow the audience s decision on the future of the model.
James May said he does not want to see the car restored (Image: YouTube / Alaska to Africa)
“I think it would be wrong to deny that part of the world that car just because of some nostalgic, sentimental whim.
“It has to stay there, it has to keep being mended and being mended until it s just a shell that s running around.
“That s where it lives, it s like putting an animal in a zoo bringing it back here.”
The Botswana Special saw the trip travel from the Zimbabwean border to the Namibian border.
The journey took them across several key areas such as the Okavango Delta and the Makgadikgadi salt pans.
The model has been fitted with new hinges (Image: Alaska to Africa / YouTube)
The YouTube Top Gear fans discovered the Lancia in a field in Maun after several phone calls, emails and meetings.
The car was partly destroyed and featured no headlights, no windows and a damaged floor.
The vehicles wheels have been pulled off the car which was discovered standing upright on a wooden post.
Jeremy Clarkson said on Twitter it was “great to see” the old model after a clip of the discovery went viral on social media.
Speaking in the Lancia video, Alaska to Africa said: “This car isn t supposed to exist.
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Richard Hammond decided to keep the classic Opel Kadett after filming (Image: Drivetribe)
He said: “As you’d imagined once we’d finished I wanted him to come home with me immediately and just two years later he did. There was some paperwork in between.