Thanks all, you've just proven exactly why this forum was one to join - I should have done it far, far sooner. Kev thank you for the link, have fired off a couple of emails so fingers crossed. Road trip to Ireland anyone?
So on with bringing the story up to date. You may want to get a cup of tea at this point as there are quite a few pics!
Needless to say I was rather looking forward to having a proper nosey around the car once I got it back to my garage to see exactly what I had on my hands. First things first - genuine panels don't come up for these very often in the UK and so one day browsing a well known auction site I spotted something that made me literally drop everything and go grab my phone... a pair of unmolested front wings in primer, rare as hens teeth and in very good condition - I simply had to get them! A few calls later and my cousin who lived nearby to the seller had collected them and stored them safely in his garage - bit of a result!
So onto the car itself... as to be expected there are good bits.. and there are definitely bad bits... Lets start with the positives! Interior is pretty much complete, asides the two things that slip into the centre console (any ideas what they are? - coin holder/tray perhaps?). Those of you who are eagled eyed will also notice the one missing radio button... this was found in the glove box.
Needs more horn buttons I think...
The car also came with a whole host of stuff just chucked in it, both on the back seat and in the boot - time to see what was contained within. Firstly the bag on the back seat missing from a post office somewhere...
Nothing too exciting on first inspection:
But there was more... the 90's bag design giving away when things were last stored
Which also revealed a whole manner of trinkets as well as some spare vinyl and tape:
There was also a piece of trim and front grill:
The really interesting bit however appeared at the bottom:
Which contained a couple of rallying articles, some cards of garages previously involved with the car and ....a four page diary of the previous owner.... This explained how the car was bought (speculative enquiry) and his plans for the car (was intended for his daughter.
So what about the boot? Well suffice to say another mess awaited me:
Never a bad thing to find ( think...):
Along with this little lot (yes more mirrors) 3 centre caps (always the way!) a couple of spare headlights, car aerial and a load of old seat belts.
All in good condition protected by the liberal application of aforementioned waxoyl... it's everywhere!
So what about the outside? this is possibly the not so positive aspect... I'll let the pics do the talking but it's definitely had work done in the past and suffice to say it needs some love
Sills show signs of having been replaced already
Underneath looks ok all things considered
Tyres were seemingly new when fitted... not so good now however but they are holding air!
Front splitter has definitely seen better days
as has the bootlid:
Now as with all cars in this state the first thing you want to do is to bring it to life... easier said than done on something that has been sat for well over 20 years - restraint and patience was definitely needed! Thankfully I had a bit of a result as the engine did turn freely so a little bit more oil was put down the bores and I hooked it up to a battery to see if it would turn over on the starter.... err no. Nothing asides just a simple 'click'.... so I gave up on that, took the starter out for bench testing and left it for when I had more time to investigate.
However while I had the battery hooked up I thought I'd see how many bulbs were in working order - surprisingly quite a few it turns out, all hazards working, front and rear lights, interior lights, dash lights and the clock also sprang to life with a very confident ticking
More soon...
