Wahey,i've finally stumbled across some vehicular treasure (well my cousin did really) and it turned out to be a viva!
Basically the story goes that my cousin lewis(a plumber by trade) had to replace a boiler in the garage of an elderly ladies house in Tunbridge wells. Whilst in the garage curiosity got the better of him and he couldnt resist pulling the cover off the car to see what it was. As it turned out to be a viva he spoke to the lady about it who informed him that it was her late husbands car that had been sitting there since his death 28 years ago. Lewis wasted no time letting her know about my vivaring antics and making the obvious enquiry into would it be for sale. As it goes,Ellen having had quite a bit of work done to the house lately (bet the boiler wasnt cheap!) could do with reigning in a few quid and agreed to let lewis pass on her contact details to me. Several phonecall's and a few weeks later a viewing was arranged. So i popped over to T.wells last night with my stepdad and we had as good a look as we could with the car being surrounded by furniture,lawn mowers and all sorts of other clutter that had built up in the garage! What we found was an hb 4 door 1600 auto deluxe,not sure what colour/shade it's meant to be as with the inadequate artificial light,rust,rot,filler and what looks like underseal and dulux gloss it was a bit hard to tell. It all looks relatively complete but worse for wear although very saveable. There is the usual rot to the inner wings with a few remote spots here and there but overall it seems quite solid. The floor has surface rust but a good poking made no holes,the sills seem ok,the boot floor is mostly ok with there being a small area that needs attention. The roof has surface rust prob caused by the non breathable cover and the rest of the body has various dings,dents and repairs. We tried turning the engine over but seems seized,but then that's to be expected after a 28yr lay up i guess! Rather amusing is that the exhaust has rotted clean off and is just laying as it fell under the car! I had a chat with Ellen after poking around the car to make doubly sure that she wanted to sell,which she did. She has offered me the car for £350 which i think seems fairly reasonable,what do you guys think? Was thinking of buying it and sticking it in the lock up whilst i get the firenza done,which will also allow me to collect parts for the hb as i go. I took pics but only one came out,the one which barely shows anything but here it is anyway!