I have a 1983 Austin Ambassador, which I'm currently preparing for concours.
It was parked up in dry, dehumidified storage in 1992/1993, with 54,000 miles on the clock. Before then it was always kept garaged. Even for that mileage, the interior is in absolutely exception condition. Even the drivers seat looks barely sat in, all the plastics are perfect apart from one door top trim, which has gone brittle and I'm trying to source. No sun bleaching of anything, obviously never been damp etc etc.
It had never been welded at all, and the underside is absolutely immaculate, and still requires no welding. The only two tiny bits of welding required, was around the holes where the rear arch protectors bolted, which had gathered some dirt and rusted slightly, as per the photos below.
Other that that, plus a couple of stonechips that had rusted slightly, the car has never seen any rust.
It had obviously had some remedial paintwork before, which hadn't held up so well, and had moisture microblisters on the bonnet and tops of both front wings. There was also a slightly mismatched blow-in on the offside lower rear quarter, which was dug out and found to be a minor dent, which has now been pulled. No sign of any other real dents or damage, other than 3 very minor car parks dings in the doors/wings, a collection of small dents over the bonnet, and some denting to the roof, possibly from having things stored on top of it at a guess.
I do require some minor pieces of trim, which need replacing to be truly concours, but nothing is easy to find.
Mechanically, it's very good. Have obviously overhauled all the brakes and rebuilt the twin carbs and automatic choke unit, as that was problematic as usual.
It was parked up in dry, dehumidified storage in 1992/1993, with 54,000 miles on the clock. Before then it was always kept garaged. Even for that mileage, the interior is in absolutely exception condition. Even the drivers seat looks barely sat in, all the plastics are perfect apart from one door top trim, which has gone brittle and I'm trying to source. No sun bleaching of anything, obviously never been damp etc etc.
It had never been welded at all, and the underside is absolutely immaculate, and still requires no welding. The only two tiny bits of welding required, was around the holes where the rear arch protectors bolted, which had gathered some dirt and rusted slightly, as per the photos below.
Other that that, plus a couple of stonechips that had rusted slightly, the car has never seen any rust.
It had obviously had some remedial paintwork before, which hadn't held up so well, and had moisture microblisters on the bonnet and tops of both front wings. There was also a slightly mismatched blow-in on the offside lower rear quarter, which was dug out and found to be a minor dent, which has now been pulled. No sign of any other real dents or damage, other than 3 very minor car parks dings in the doors/wings, a collection of small dents over the bonnet, and some denting to the roof, possibly from having things stored on top of it at a guess.
I do require some minor pieces of trim, which need replacing to be truly concours, but nothing is easy to find.
Mechanically, it's very good. Have obviously overhauled all the brakes and rebuilt the twin carbs and automatic choke unit, as that was problematic as usual.
