The Art of Shedding

[CATstrangler]

Aah...A lovely day out in the countryside.

[Retroshite]

CATstrangler said:

Aah...A lovely day out in the countryside.

It was actually.
Might be one of the last for a while...

[Fermit and Sexy Sarah]

the sad on for me was the CX estate. Get saving that one sir!

[CATstrangler]

Retroste said:

CATstrangler said:

Aah...A lovely day out in the countryside.

It was actually.
Might be one of the last for a while...

Aye it's grim right enough. But you seem to have plenty to keep yourself busy.
And on the bright side I seem to have the time now to finish rebuilding the Midgets brakes.

I wasn't taking the piss by the way, it's something I'd dearly like to do myself given the opportunity. I'd love to stumble on a decayed petrol Sierra for example - I need a type 9 gearbox.
If you trip over one gies a shout eh!

Keep up the good work. Great stuff.

[Retroshite]

I had a go at doing an inner and outer sill repair on the Chevette's nearside sill.



DSC_0016 by srblythe, on Flickr

DSC_0017 by srblythe, on Flickr

DSC_0020 by srblythe, on Flickr

DSC_0021 by srblythe, on Flickr





Not bad!

[JoeBolt]

Quite a few Lada there.

I remember when Lada were quite a common sight on British roads. However, like Skoda, they were always viewed with disdain, an object of derision. The same went for their owners, perceived as tightwad, miserable old codgers. Any boy at my school, seen being picked up by his dad in such a car would be teased and ridiculed relentlessly. I gave my dad strict instructions to stay away from the school gates in his bloody bright yellow Polski Fiat 125p. Oh the shame!

Apart from this, can someone confirm or deny something I was told about Lada and the reason so few are seen on British roads now. It's that most of them went back East, to Russia, Poland, etc. The reason being that cars for the UK market had slightly better equipment and trim levels so were highly sought after in their home markets.

[Fermit and Sexy Sarah]

JoeBolt said:

Quite a few Lada there.

I remember when Lada were quite a common sight on British roads. However, like Skoda, they were always viewed with disdain, an object of derision. The same went for their owners, perceived as tightwad, miserable old codgers. Any boy at my school, seen being picked up by his dad in such a car would be teased and ridiculed relentlessly. I gave my dad strict instructions to stay away from the school gates in his bloody bright yellow Polski Fiat 125p. Oh the shame!

Apart from this, can someone confirm or deny something I was told about Lada and the reason so few are seen on British roads now. It's that most of them went back East, to Russia, Poland, etc. The reason being that cars for the UK market had slightly better equipment and trim levels so were highly sought after in their home markets.

Along with Yugo. A lad at school's Dad had a Sana, and we used to take the piss relentlessly. He'd go to great lengths to explain that it was an Eastern Block Fiat Tipo (which was BS)

[j4r4lly]

Great thread. It's surprising how many cars there were that I'd almost completely forgotten about.

Also interesting in that last batch of pictures how few Ford's there were. Other than a Transit and a Ranger, I didn't see any others.

[Retroshite]

I removed the passenger side wing to see how bad it was underneath.

DSC_0033 by srblythe, on Flickr

DSC_0034 by srblythe, on Flickr





Not quite as bad as the other side but still quite rusty. I wanted to get another one ticked off the list so started on the chassis leg.



DSC_0032 by srblythe, on Flickr



Initially I thought I'd get away with making a small repair section but after chopping the first part out it was clear to see there was a lot more areas needing attention so more chopping unfortunately...



DSC_0035 by srblythe, on Flickr

DSC_0037 by srblythe, on Flickr



I repaired the chassis leg then made another repair section that is to be sandwiched between the floorpan and the inner arch/A-pillar.



DSC_0039 by srblythe, on Flickr

DSC_0038 by srblythe, on Flickr



And that's about as far as I got...

[Zephron]

Retroste said:

The aim for me is to get the cars and drive them, some may need general maintenance, welding or minor fettling but I'm not "tarting them up" I'm just fixing them for my personal enjoyment.
<snip>
I'm not shining them up and photographing them in a white room and selling them for extortionate amounts, I'm just preserving them for my own amusement and selling them on as honest used old cars.
<snip>
I love travelling to new places and buying crap old cars just for the adventure.

Very little puts me off buying stuff, if I want it I'll usually just go out and get it, I don't care if its dirty, needs welding, has moon miles on it, doesn't have service history, as long as it starts, goes and stops I'm easy.

If I'd have found this thread a month ago you could have had my old car instead of me scrapping it. It wasn't pretty but would start every time, sit at 70 (&#128540;) on the motorway, and get you were you wanted to go.
Keep up the good work! &#128512;

[Retroshite]

Zephron said:

If I'd have found this thread a month ago you could have had my old car instead of me scrapping it. It wasn't pretty but would start every time, sit at 70 (??) on the motorway, and get you were you wanted to go.
Keep up the good work! ??

What kinda car was it?

[Retroshite]

RJC_4773 by srblythe, on Flickr



RJC_4776 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4779 by srblythe, on Flickr



RJC_4781 by srblythe, on Flickr

Here's a bunch of rust that's been chopped out so far!



RJC_4784 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4786 by srblythe, on Flickr



I shut the bonnet and discovered the front end had pulled in slightly so had to cut it off, wedge it out and re-weld it in the correct position.

I'm probably going to have to chop the front end off anyway to make more repair sections.



RJC_4794 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4801 by srblythe, on Flickr

[Retroshite]

RJC_4816 by srblythe, on Flickr



I have a serious Chevette problem!

Still managing to buy them during the Covid-19 lockdown...

[Retroshite]

RJC_4829 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4830 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4832 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4836 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4845 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4849 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4864 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4866 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4867 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4869 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4870 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4871 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4872 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4876 by srblythe, on Flickr





I paid near enough £700 for that! I need to get my head examined!

[dandam]

Whilst I love and applaud what you are doing, I do agree, by the time that one is welded up you will have basically welded in a new cars worth of metal !!

[Michaelbailey]

Goes to show why these are so thin on the ground when the metal is so rotten the only people that could feasibly keep these going are people who can do the work themselves and have some serious affection for the car. (or in this case a masochistic nut case)
You are right though £700 for a literal pile of rust... oof... I'm sure you can make some good of it though! Admirable work you're doing!

[skwdenyer]

Fermit and Sexy Sarah said:

the sad on for me was the CX estate. Get saving that one sir!

+1 where’s this place again? I’m not sure whether my marriage would survive that CX but it is tempting to test the edges of the thought

[Bobberoo99]

I hate to add to the doubters but surely that Chevette is way beyond saving???

[S100HP]

Bobberoo99 said:

I hate to add to the doubters but surely that Chevette is way beyond saving???

Agreed. If you dipped that you'd end up with nothing.

[RazerSauber]

I suspect next week you'll find a Mk1 Cavalier headlight and weld a new car around it

Seriously, top work!