GIJ 9461

[HC Fairley]

After 5 years of owning my Viva (and membership on this forum) I figured it was about time I started a bit of a thread on my Viva.

Don't be mistaken, this is far from some of the amazing build and restoration threads I have seen on here where the patience and craftsmanship demonstrated is extraordinary. Personally this will serve as more of a platform for me to collate my photos in one place and document how my first car changed and evolved bit by bit, alongside my experiences with it, shows I attended in it and general day to day journeys.

Unfortunately I wasn't great at photographing things I did to the car and what photos I do have are scattered about on various memory cards, mobile phones and digital cameras. This means my posts probably won't occur in chronological order. Rather, as I find photos or remember about something I did to the car.

Hopefully it still remains easy enough to follow.

For now, here is one of my most recent pictures of the car, in its current state, taken about 4 weeks ago.

[carmad]

looking forward to updates

good to see local cars getting some attention

[HC Fairley]

While I'm gathering up old photos I thought I would share a few taken this Sunday in Portrush at the "End of summer cruise"

Needless to say I was the only Viva present amongst the Boras, Twin Cams and 306 D-Turbos but I had a good time none the less and heard quite a few positive comments directed towards the car which boosted my pride all the more.

[1972nail]

Looking good. You should have called round on your way home.

[HC Fairley]

Looking good. You should have called round on your way home.

I had thought about it at the Ballymoney roundabout but it was getting on and your neighbours might not have appreciated my exhaust

Always next time

[HC Fairley]

After a bit of digging I found some of the photos taken almost 6 years ago when I first brought the car home.

Boxing day 2014 saw the Viva make a 1.5 mile journey back to my yard for the first time since 1996!!

Still sporting the pinstripe, hubcaps and furry seat covers from days gone by.

Covered in dents and scrapes bodywork was high on the priority list and a search for a set of rostyles began.

The prop shaft also needed new U joints and a tune up was on the list.

Worth noting I also bought the car thinking it had done 26,000. Going by the service history I found in an old notebook it was more like 126,000 Nevertheless this didn't put me off one bit

[HC Fairley]

A few more photos

[carmad]

looks the part

rare sight on the roads here

[HC Fairley]

Now for some actual restoration!

After rubbing down it came to light the front wings were rotten, luckily 1972Nail was able to source me a pair of fibreglass wings that came off an ex rally Magnum.

Following this my uncle set into sorting out the dents and painting. Wings aside there was basically no rust to be found in the car as it had been treated underneath with waste oil for years.

I decided to stick with the original colour, after all, she had made it this far in her original clothes

[HC Fairley]

A few more photos