Poor rusty Alpine now shining Beauty :-)

[Richieg]

Hi Peeps,

Not been on for a long time,no reason why,just kind of forgot to really . . .

Anyway i thought you may like to see what happens when you buy a rusty Talbot Alpine without actually seeing for yourself and what it needed to sort it out.

I bought this car November 2010 and my friend had a quick glance at it and reckoned it needed about £500 worth of welding which wasn't too much of a problem even though he said it may not be worth it i kind of felt that it needed my help as nobody else would touch it with two shitty sticks lol

Strip down commenced after about six months and it turned out it was in such a state and a hell of a lot worse that first thought,so much so that my friend who is heavily involved with Talbot Alpines and Solaras did say "are you sure about this car?",he carried on telling me he had scrapped better ones than this years ago.

 

Well after thinking about it i thought there can't be too many of these left now and i will not scrap a car unless it is completely had it and had absolutely no way of being repaired . . .

It's good points were it had a good tailgate with the car,4 excellent rust free doors,a nice interior and and engine.

It's bad points were it just had a severely rotten body.

 

Anyway here are some pics which speak louder than words on how i don't care about how much it costs to sort a car properly (i am far from loaded btw) but at the same time some cars need to be preserved for everyone to see to keep memories alive . . .

This is how she looked on recovery . . .

 

More pics to follow Peeps

 

Richie g

[HillmanImp]

Come on, don't be shy. We want more.

[dollywobbler]

Great stuff! If it's now sorted, on with the FSO? Very keen for an update on the Polish shed of win.

[Lord Sterling]

Brilliant! cant wait to see the rest. CYH - Originally a Central London registered car.

[Cavcraft]

Excellent, can't wait to read more about it.

[Richieg]

And here is more rusty bits!!

Don't worry though,the further you scroll down the better it becomes

 

cheers

 

Richie

 

By now after i had seen all this corrosion i was feeling really down about this car

 

 

This was the rear panel crossmember,it took a second to realise where this was lol

 

 

It still gets worse !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here she is now!!!,in her shining glory!!!,i am hoping to take some better pictures if the weather holds out tomorrow

 

 

I hope you all like her?,i am so pleased with the result ,it has cost a fortune but i am very proud to say i have saved another Alpine

 

 

cheers

 

Richie

[Lord Sterling]

I hope you all like her?,i am so pleased with the result ,it has cost a fortune but i am very proud to say i have saved another Alpine

 

We certainly do like her, and you should be well proud to have saved another shitey car from being turned into bean cans. Cap duely doffed mate. Hope you enjoy the car now.

[Richieg]

Hi Guys,

The Fso unfortunately is at a standstill . .

I am struggling to get the spares i need to find before i can start the restoration.

I went to see it over the Chrimbo period and we got her started and i had my first drive around the yard which was an experience,it kept wanting to come out of first gear so i would imagine the box is gonna have to come out and get repaired.

I am desperate to find 4 new doors (or rust free) ,a new or better front bumper for the bodywork to get started.

I have seen them for sale on a Polish site funnily enough called Allegro.pl which is like Ebay ,so i know parts are available but i need to either go out there and find someone who can talk Polish or Benno on here is going out there at some point and he may be able to help me with the bits i need to get.

It will get sorted i promise but until parts become available i can't do very much really.

 

cheers

 

Richie

 

[dollywobbler]

Great stuff!

[Paul Dupart]

NIce to see it preserved. I had an A reg 1.6 GL a few years back and I really liked it, surprisingly the most reliable car I've ever had. Bought it with 27k miles and sold at 120k miles, only problem I remember was PAS pump bracket fracturing. Engine quite perky too!

[Alexg]

^ hold tight, is that yellow wedge the Morris 18/22 series that was on eBay a few months back?!

 

Great work on the Talbot by the way!

[scooters]

you a fuggin legend Richieg!

 

buy a rare - unloved rusty money pit and throw money and time at it!

 

THAT's what its about folks!

[Richieg]

It certainly is Alex and i have just bought it!!!!

My friend Peter rescued it and has done some important bits to it like pump the suspension up,fit a new exhaust,bleed the brakes and now he has done his bit i have decided to take her from there .

I am hoping to get her restored to her former glory,she however requires an awful lot of bodywork and is probably double her weight because of the amount of filler in her!

 

cheers

 

Richie

 

Ps will be joining the wedge club soon

[Richieg]

Cheers Scooters!

Very kind of you to say Mate.

You know what its like ,you feel sorry for these unloved ,uneconomical to repair cars and you know if you don't step in and save them who will???

(Well maybe someone on here)

At least you can feel proud that you have done your bit to preserve it the best you can and if you do pass it on it won't be a pile of shite

 

 

cheers

 

Richie

[Alexg]

Great work in buying that, it was quite local to me when on ebay but the rumours of it being 98.8% filler put me off... Best of luck, I can't wait to see it sorted!

[Wilko220]

Fantastic work! This is what AS is all about...

[Richieg]

Hi Alex,

Yeah to be completely honest Mate it is completely full of filler.

It needs an awful amount of work to make it look beautiful again.

I am very lucky though because i know of a new drivers front wing,i have been told the repair rear arch sections are available in the club and there is a good possibility that i may have a lead on 4 good doors.

Once these panels are sourced then i will probably get one side done first then the other.

I think it is worth doing but probably not economical though but the Morris version is meant to be mega rare!

 

I will update you if there are any developments

 

 

cheers

 

Richie

[Craig the Princess]

Great stuff Richie, that car is now beautiful. We now need a picture next to your other Alpine!

[Richieg]

Thanks Wilko ,much appreciated Mate

 

Lord ,Is it a central London Plate?

The guy i bought it from originally was its original owner,he bought it on the continent as he was posted abroad,he then bought it over and resided in the Colchester area as far as i know?

I am always in ore of anyone who knows where the cars reg originally came from!

I wonder whether it was assigned as there were lots of London plates spare of something?

 

hmmmm curious now

 

cheers

 

Richie

[AnthonyG]

Superb stuff on the Alpine. Did you put a whole new rear panel on?

[Richieg]

Cheers Craig!

I am so pleased with her!,i am so pleased you were impressed!

Needless to say Peter must have told you who the new custodian of wedge is ?

I love that car,but i am under no illusions about the major work involved lol

 

I may actually take a little trip up to Reigate in the Alpine (Cynthia as she is fondly refered too) and wake up Alice the Chrysler Alpine for a mini photo shoot for everyone to see ( i may need to ask Kieran nicely if he would like to participate lol)

 

Cheers

 

Richie

[Richieg]

Hi Anthony,

Thankfully it wasn't a whole rear panel ,it was cut off a Solara that was scrapped and we needed the rear cross member off of it and part of the boot floor as a repair section,the rest of the rust was ground off and treated luckily

 

cheers

 

 

Richie

[Alexg]

Yeah Richie I'd love to see updates. Your shite portfolio is amazing - How do you have space for all your cars?!

[Richieg]

Hi Alex,

The funny thing is don't have much space at all!

I have 6 lock up garages and luckily i have a very good friend who i rent a bit of parking down one side of the yard,i currently keep about 9 cars down there but i do need to get some sorted and find new custodians for them really!

[Mash]

AS Legend, nice work

 

Can't say I've seen a C-reg Alpine or Solara in forever. Well done on saving it. And the Wedge too.

[Alexg]

WOW 6 garages - the autoshite dream!

[Station]

What are you hoping to sell? Is that red one next to the BX a Sunny?

[Angrydicky]

Very impressive work, well saved. Is that a 2CV you have at the end of the line there?

[Richieg]

Hi guys,

I should just clarify the six garages are all council lock ones and cost a fortune lol

The piccie of the yard has changed a little bit,i have sold the BX estate last year as well as the 2cv dolly grey and red too,it needed a lot of bodywork sorting so decided to find a new custodian lol

The little red Datsun is my Datsun n10 cherry coupe,it is 1.3gl,one previous owner ,40 odd thousand but just needs some bodywork tlc as most Dattys now oh and a new clutch lol

here is a better pic of the cars everyone mentioned below

 

 

 

[trigger]

Fab stuff as always Richie! I'm sure Boobydoo will doff his hat to you when he see's it as well!