by abbirkin » Mon May 25, 2020 9:03 am
Just to expand a little on the last photos. I said earlier the car had been in a wooden garage 8-9 years. Someone broke into the garage at that time and stole the radio and leaving the interior as it is on the photo. The owner lost heart in the car and just left it as it was with roof open, broken garage window and ill-fitting garage doors. I'm convinced this is what saved the car with natural air flowing round it for so long.
After we dragged it out of the garage (brakes not locked) we put an upturned petrol can to feed the carbs, put on a battery and it started! The clutch was seized temporarily but came off with a bang!
We towed it home with my brother's Granada Estate, only about a mile but was apprehensive of ramming him down a hill, but used the handbrake successfully.
The Webasto roof, having been open for all that time would not stretch to completely shut, so I waited for a warm day, kept damping it with hot water until it shut. I later had to renew the fabric roof as it was going rotten.
After playing around with the car for a while, I decided to drive it locally to a car valet who washed the wheels with acid and cleaned the car. When I went to fetch it later, it was astounding. I decided to call in my local garage asking him to test it to see what what wanted doing. Again, astonishingly, after fitting a new exhaust (the old one had rotted, but it sounded great without one) and fitting a new ball joint, he gave me a clean certificate! I taxed and insured it and just drove it for a while. After finding it was doing about 50 miles per pint of oil, it was then I knew I had to do something drastic.
Hope the above is interesting.
Just to expand a little on the last photos. I said earlier the car had been in a wooden garage 8-9 years. Someone broke into the garage at that time and stole the radio and leaving the interior as it is on the photo. The owner lost heart in the car and just left it as it was with roof open, broken garage window and ill-fitting garage doors. I'm convinced this is what saved the car with natural air flowing round it for so long.
After we dragged it out of the garage (brakes not locked) we put an upturned petrol can to feed the carbs, put on a battery and it started! The clutch was seized temporarily but came off with a bang!
We towed it home with my brother's Granada Estate, only about a mile but was apprehensive of ramming him down a hill, but used the handbrake successfully.
The Webasto roof, having been open for all that time would not stretch to completely shut, so I waited for a warm day, kept damping it with hot water until it shut. I later had to renew the fabric roof as it was going rotten.
After playing around with the car for a while, I decided to drive it locally to a car valet who washed the wheels with acid and cleaned the car. When I went to fetch it later, it was astounding. I decided to call in my local garage asking him to test it to see what what wanted doing. Again, astonishingly, after fitting a new exhaust (the old one had rotted, but it sounded great without one) and fitting a new ball joint, he gave me a clean certificate! I taxed and insured it and just drove it for a while. After finding it was doing about 50 miles per pint of oil, it was then I knew I had to do something drastic.
Hope the above is interesting.