Hello everybody!

[FHF]

Hi Thomas,

My Mum owned this car in 1977/1978, it was her 2nd car! During the time she owned it, it was stolen from outside Colwyn Bay Pier. It was recovered by the Police and taken to Bangor so that they could try and take fingerprints from the vehicle. When it was returned to her the paint was in a mess-the police did the damage somehow. She sold the car shortly afterwards. Maybe that's the reason for the poor respray? She remembers it as a brilliant, comfortable car lol

I've been looking for this car for years. As a car fanatic, I've always asked my parents about the cars I they had before I was born. This is one of them! I was born in 1982. I checked on the dvla website about 5 years ago to find it was taxed. Couldn't believe it lol Since then I have searched ebay regularly, hoping it would appear! And it finally did-just 20 miles from home! Unfortunately for me, it came up for sale at the wrong time! Gutted! Good to see it's going to someone who will give it the attention it deserves!

Good luck with the project, and if you ever want to sell her please get in touch

Cheers,
Dave

[thomas]

Thanks for getting in touch again Dave.

Shame you missed it, It was a short 3-day ebay listing; I had been looking rather more for an early HC or Chevette, I missed the Chevette from the same seller by a mere few pounds and pence, and had just before xmas been after a blue K-reg HC saloon and missed that by washers too. I think the orange-peely paint will flat out nicely with some used wet 1200 grit, a rubbing block, some compound, cutting paste and a good polish, it seems quite a thick and glossy coat in some places and a bit thinner in others, as long as I keep well away from any edges or high points and don't rub through, there should be improvement without retrogression. Cosmetics are rather unimportant at present.

Was the car originally blue? Areas under the bonnet are a different shade as much light blue as light green, it can't have been Pinewood Green which was very much darker, might have been Pampas Green maybe? The new paint used is unidentifiable but a match could be found, probably -hopefully, even if just for touch up purposes. It is still rather dusty inside --from all that powder maybe. I wonder where it's been in the interim, I think the penultimate PO, also named Dave -had it for about 5 years. It's obviously been looked after in an overall sense, but must have at times too have endured studied neglect.

[Cerbera]

Dave here again. Have you still got the Viva? Would love to hear how it's doing!

[thomas]

Hello, Dave, yeah it's still going great guns, hasn't let me down once in the last year. Electronic ignition, alternator conversion done almost immediately on buying it. It needed a fair amount of welding for its last MoT this time last year, wasn't in as great condition as I supposed, buying it unseen was a bit of a lottery. Kept outside as it is and used in all weathers, it can't do anything but decline, I've been unwell most of the last year so not done a great deal to it.

I got a full history for it from DVLC a while back, so likely your mum is amongst the owners listed there.

There's a recent picture (a couple of weeks ago) in the Snow Pictures thread, in the General Discussion Forum.

Nice hearing from you.

[Cerbera]

Hello, Dave, yeah it's still going great guns, hasn't let me down once in the last year. Electronic ignition, alternator conversion done almost immediately on buying it. It needed a fair amount of welding for its last MoT this time last year, wasn't in as great condition as I supposed, buying it unseen was a bit of a lottery. Kept outside as it is and used in all weathers, it can't do anything but decline, I've been unwell most of the last year so not done a great deal to it.

I got a full history for it from DVLC a while back, so likely your mum is amongst the owners listed there.

There's a recent picture (a couple of weeks ago) in the Snow Pictures thread, in the General Discussion Forum.

Nice hearing from you.

Hi Thomas,

Sorry to hear you've been unwell, sending positive recovery vibes your way!

Glad to hear all is well with the Viva, just took a look at the photo of it in the snow- brilliant photo, the car looks great Good to hear you've got some info back from the DVLC, Alison Rogers (maiden name) is my Mum- she was 18 when she had it, 6 years before I appeared! I've shown her the photos of the car and she can't believe it's still going

All the best,
Dave.

[thomas]

Yeah, she's there as 2nd owner, first owner from new in '68 was a William Edward Reynolds of Colwyn Bay, till November 1977, then your mum - Alison Patricia Rogers - but seems she sold it sharpish in January 78 to a Mr Pritchard also of Conwy, who kept it and obviously kept it good, until 2003! Its had some serious restoration work at some point though, not bodgery but reasonably decent work, solidly done.

If you're ever up in this area (about 50 miles from either Newcastle or Carlisle) with or without your mum, I'll gladly take you for a hurl in it. It's a bit stark at the moment as the carpets are out, still some annoying water leaks to solve before putting new ones in (I've lost the old ones anyhow, but they weren't original). There's more photos from earlier in the year in some other threads.

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viewtopic.php?f=47&t=18785

I like this picture best.