vauxhallviva.com

Kraken wrote:You did some amazing work on that car. It looks great with the steel wheels, they really suit it. I notice in the 4th picture you appear to have left a tiny bench on the roof, hope you charged the new owner extra for that!

Haha excellent! I was wondering what you were talking about till I looked at the photo. A tiny roof bench for carting little people....

cooperman wrote:A fantastic read this, thanks for sharing your story

Cheers- it was a fun bit of my life and nice to share the rescue of a cool wagon.

Fantastic to watch your work on the wagon...I'm busy doing a wagon (Estate) here in the UK.

Here's a link on Facebook to the build...

https://www.facebook.com/robert.meldrum ... 994&type=3

jpsmit wrote:sorry to see it go and yes, you did such cool stuff with it! Please though keep us posted on Retrorides! cheers

Yeah It was a sad little last drive over to Blenheim and then to Picton where it was left to be loaded onto the ferry. It drove so well- I have said it before - I'm amazed at how capable the standard little 1159cc engine is. I don't even know what mileage that wee engine had clocked up previous to me starting it for the first time but i never used any oil (although i did leak a bit) and pulled really well up the hills for what it is. I can see why they were so popular in the day.

Bobby- yes. I have been following your build for a long time. Lovely car!

Leaving the Viva wagon at the ferry terminal was officially the end of around 13 years of Viva ownership. Started in the UK with my oyster grey 2 door hb after having chatted to Paul about Vivas being a replacement for our rotary powered Chevette we had just sold.

So I now only have the little Imp as a classic car. We are back to being a two car family - the Imp and our old rusty '87 Hiace 4wd van. No boring moderns for us

There is a very exciting engine conversion going on in the background for the Imp which i will soon be 'going public' with...

For those interested you can check out my Imp restoration and subsequent modifications here...

https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/20 ... iece-leaky

Cheers all. Vivas have been fun! Maybe I'll be lured back one day They are still such underrated classics but now is the time for me to play with another make of car.
Alex

BobbyMel wrote:Fantastic to watch your work on the wagon...I'm busy doing a wagon (Estate) here in the UK.

Here's a link on Facebook to the build...

https://www.facebook.com/robert.meldrum ... 994&type=3

Oh ok- I have not actually seen that build- I thought you referring to your white wagon

A lot of work going on with the new one eh! I have to ask one question- why did you opt to go with a remote servo?

I fitted an HC servo and tandem master cylinder to mine - so having the safety factor of a tandem brake line system. It works really well (once I finally got around to swapping the servo for another that did not have a split diaphragm...)

Hi, I was informed the HC Servo didn't fit, incorrect brackets. I have a used HC Servo with the tandem reservoir too, but as I was intended to fit a Weber sidedraft carb, the servo would have been in the way. I may still fit that carb, although I have since purchased a Nikki downdraft, so my options are open. Kinda just going to stick with the remote, happy with the position, when I finally get it fitted, with Lockdown, my car is trapped in the resto club, and I'm unable to work on it.

The resto club?

Restoration club where members can take their cars into temporary bays to work on them, electricity, oxy/ acetylene, a well stocked workshop with rolls, benders, bead rollers, latches etc...all at your disposal

ahhhh- I had worked that one out as you were typing...

http://www.northeastrestorationclub.co. ... ities.html

What a cool idea! How much does a long term subscription cost?

£30 a year membership, then £10 per week while your cars in