My New WiFeY

[Wibble]

Chuffed to bits for you Eddy, you know I love a big old Vauxhall. Sorry the Omegas going but this is definitely for you. Godspeed! 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Superb that you've finally ended up with the actual car that you've watched from afar for so long. Sad about the PO but I'm sure he'd be chuffed it's gone to an owner with passion for keeping it on the road and reliving a dream from decades ago. The fact it's from where you are is the icing on the cake. 

Just one thing - pay a fella to lanoguard the shit out of the underside before winter!

[IronStar]

Amazing story and what looks like a lovely car! I hope it doesn’t give you any problems, and you have many many many happy miles with it! ❤️

[DodgeRover]

Rock and roll Eddy, that's grand. Make sure you fit some security to it and a disclok.

 

[eddyramrod]

18 minutes ago, Dick Cheeseburger said:

Just one thing - pay a fella to lanoguard the shit out of the underside before winter!

On it   I can see that being done next week.

1 minute ago, DodgeRover said:

Make sure you fit some security to it and a disclok.

And yeah, that's the other thing.  I remember @trigger's Astra!

[warren t claim]

I always said that Barrow was turning into a ghost town.

[DVee8]

4 hours ago, warren t claim said:

I always said that Barrow was turning into a ghost town.

[Billy - Medhurst]

Top bombing there Eddy -- Paintjob reminds of late 50s Chevy's.

[bezzabsa]

roof needs to be lace painted (or whatever its called) .. Looks a great old thing.. Has it got that old car smell ???

[LightBulbFun]

13 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

 

And here in 2025 is the 66-year-old Ed at the wheel of a 1962 Cresta automatic, about 20 minutes before I started the engine and drove it home.  This one cost, as they do these days, rather a lot more than £25!

Awesome stuff @eddyramrod I am really pleased for you that you manage to tick off one of your dream/very-much-wanted vehicles  it must be very satisfying just to be able to look at the Cresta and think "yes I have put 2 fingers up the bullshit that is life and managed it"  

 I bet with its inline 6 cylinder and slushmatic its very smooth and its Americana looks certainly suit you right to the ground as they say!

[eddyramrod]

1 hour ago, bezzabsa said:

roof needs to be lace painted (or whatever its called) .. Looks a great old thing.. Has it got that old car smell ???

Lace painting, yes that's right.  From reading Hot Car and Custom Car in the early 70s I know it's a fairly specialised technique, and we all know how to spell "specialised" don't we?  E-x-p-e-n-s-i-v-e!  It would absolutely suit this car too, perhaps done in green over the white roof.

As it is, the non-standard colour scheme is a clear nod to the 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air.  I'm fine with that!

Old-car smell?  Yeah a bit, lol.  I'm hoping that sympathetic usage will mitigate that a bit.

[tooSavvy]

Vx.. ✔️

Slushie.. ✔️

Amply proportioned pilot.. ✔️

WCPGW

Top Bombing 😍

🚙💨

[DodgeRover]

Lace I don't think is too bad to do, didn't Vulgalor do it on his princess at some point?

[High Jetter]

Wow. I had no idea you'd be getting one of those! For anyone to get their desired classic is special, for you to get this after all the probkems with Huggy is tremendous. Well played. Am personally not a fan of the colour scheme or the wheels, but hey - it's not my car. Hope you have many hours of fun tinkering and driving her.

[ETCHY]

Cool motor Eddie.

As you're not doing a Toyah this seem appropriate -

 

[eddyramrod]

I do happen to believe Ghost Town was their best work, by some distance...

43 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Wow. I had no idea you'd be getting one of those! For anyone to get their desired classic is special, for you to get this after all the probkems with Huggy is tremendous. Well played. Am personally not a fan of the colour scheme or the wheels, but hey - it's not my car. Hope you have many hours of fun tinkering and driving her.

Thank you.  The colour scheme was instigated by Allan snr, who clearly went for a 1956 Chevy Bel Air vibe; it might not have been my choice tbh but it's certainly distinctive, and given that he put 30 years of effort into the car I'm inclined to respect his choices.  Ditto the wheels, although I have now seen a photo of it (in this livery) wearing mk4 Zodiac wheeltrims which really suit it.  The tyres need replacing anyway; whether the alloys stay remains to be seen.

[auntiemaryscanary]

I thought surely it must have... Of course it did!

[comfortablynumb]

It's easy!

Just buy a car that everyone loves....🤣

(Just kidding Eddie!)

[danthecapriman]

So, what’s it like to drive @eddyramrod ?

I bet you’ve not been out of it since you got it have you!?😄

[junkyarddog]

We need moar pics Eddy!!!!

[eddyramrod]

More pics will follow, don't worry.  You'll be sick of it by Christmas.

As for today's activity... well there hasn't really been any.  There was a point this afternoon when I thought I might get out and about, but it didn't happen.  I have been crawling all over ebay ordering stuff, and as it arrives you'll see it.  Until some of the jobs are done I don't really want to take it very far.

How does it drive?  Well it's 63 years old, so no brake servo, no power steering; but it's not difficult to steer once it's rolling, and the brakes are adequate as long as I leave myself plenty of room.  That's something I've always tried to do, so no problem really.  The wipers are rubbish; new wipers were the first thing I ordered today!  But they do at least move as they should.  The driver's seat doesn't quite go back far enough, a problem I don't remember my Velox having, but of course I was slimmer and bendier 48 years ago!  I might have a word with Tom about that, see if he can modify the runners a bit.

[junkyarddog]

2 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

You'll be sick of it by Christmas.

No,no we won't.

[Doctormop]

I know this might be a question you can't answer at the moment but will this fine vehicle be at Classics over Sands 2026?

Be great if you were both there.

[eddyramrod]

It's a bit early to answer that, but I'm hoping I'll be able to say yes.  Likewise Barrow Festival Of Transport.  It's a few years since I've done either of those, so at the moment I'm thinking I would like to.

[Cavcraft]

Well done, Eddie!

[camryv6]

On 28/08/2025 at 21:42, FakeConcern said:

???????????????????????????????

Jag wheels ?

[captain_70s]

Cheap motoring there!

Nice to see it'll be seeing some use rather than being parted out. As with most things all the value is in originality and completeness so these modded projects rarely survive beyond their owner.

[yes oui si]

On 30/08/2025 at 10:07, eddyramrod said:

Lace painting, yes that's right.  From reading Hot Car and Custom Car in the early 70s I know it's a fairly specialised technique, and we all know how to spell "specialised" don't we?  E-x-p-e-n-s-i-v-e!  It would absolutely suit this car too, perhaps done in green over the white roof.

As it is, the non-standard colour scheme is a clear nod to the 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air.  I'm fine with that!

Old-car smell?  Yeah a bit, lol.  I'm hoping that sympathetic usage will mitigate that a bit.

There's loads of guides on YouTube for lacework, and it looks to boil down to being careful and methodical. 

I loved the Omega, but this is just so you that it's perfect. I hope that it brings you many years and miles of joy

 

[yes oui si]

12 hours ago, camryv6 said:

Jag wheels ?

Yup, 'Celtics' iirc. 

[eddyramrod]

Right... this one is a bit photo heavy.  We'll start with an impulse shot out of the front bedroom window...

Just because I could.  And this morning I took a slight detour on the way to the garage, to revisit an old friend...

I mean... it's only a few streets away, I had to, right?  These two almost belong together.  So, then I went round to Tom's garage and we got WiFeY on a hoist...

Note what's lurking in the corner!  OK, let's get her up in the air and have a look round...

Bubbling here and there, but no worse than a lot of much younger cars.

And these are the views from underneath.  Looks pretty solid!  There's a little hole in the exhaust, but it's been bodged many times so another little repair won't matter.    Now let's whip the wheels off and look at the brakes...

NSF, missing one stud.

One of the alloys close-up.  They could easily grow on me.

These are the two types of steel wheel that Allan jnr dug out for me; unfortunately neither type lines up with the Cresta's studs.  I do also have two steels that definitely are Cresta, so one of those can be my spare.

These two show you the inner-arch liners, which I have no doubt are part of the reason the car has survived so well.

Diff opened up to mop it out and refill with new oil.  She's having all new fluids.

I'm flying, Ma!  Well maybe not, but she is definitely getting Lanogarded.  Tom had all the drums off and cleaned them up, and pronounced the shoes excellent.  I'm expecting ebay parts to start arriving from tomorrow, and probably for the next fortnight or more!