My New WiFeY

[High Jetter]

That classic tho. Glad yours is pretty strong.

[comfortablynumb]

Wish my cortinas were as solid as that underneath! Great result that 👍

[junkyarddog]

Wow,that looks like a photo you'd see in an early issue of Street Machine "Readers Rides" section!!

[danthecapriman]

Looks great underneath! Far better than my Capri did and that’s not as old either! Definitely a good thing to Lanoguard it.

I bet it caused a right scene at the garage didn’t it!? Not something you see very often. Is that your old Jag lurking in the background?

[eddyramrod]

Yes it is!  And nobody at the garage has seen a car as simple as this before.  They were amazed there was room around the engine.  They were also amazed - as I was! - by how sound the underside is.  I know from experience that these things rotted so much they nearly killed Vauxhall; my first one was full of holes at 16 years old.

[danthecapriman]

17 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

Yes it is!  And nobody at the garage has seen a car as simple as this before.  They were amazed there was room around the engine.  They were also amazed - as I was! - by how sound the underside is.  I know from experience that these things rotted so much they nearly killed Vauxhall; my first one was full of holes at 16 years old.

It’s weight reduction! For performance gains😄

Glad it’s so solid though, it’s always a concern with old stuff after you’ve just bought it but doesn’t seem any concerns on this. Looks like it’s been under sealed before which is probably what’s been preserving it all these years. 
They were probably just painted underneath when new so little surprise they rusted.

[tooSavvy]

@danthecapriman.. "They were probably just painted underneath when new so little surprise they rusted."

IIRC Vauxhall (.. likely elsewhere) did nothing to the pressings 'in production'/going down the line as far as body preserving.... Some manufacturers did a full body dip but I don't think Vx did..?

With the electro charge tech now..... The paint keeps going on until no *bare steel is exposed.

*cars STILL rust 🤣🤣

GoGo sheepsoil 👍

🚙💨

[captain_70s]

If my E-Series Cresta is anything to go by anything you couldn't see probably didn't even get painted.

Certainly inside all the box sections etc is just bare metal so they rot out at every seam...

They built 700,000 of them but they're practically forgotten outside of warmer climates such as Australia/South Africa as they were basically all gone within 10 years.

Crazy, as the gauge of metal is thick and the design very simple and rugged. With a bit of rust proofing they'd probably have had a good reputation for longevity...

[Wibble]

On 30/08/2025 at 15:18, auntiemaryscanary said:

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

I didn’t know this was a thing but, apparently I won it on 23 of May, which I think was my last day at WBAC. Thanks all😀, sorry for the thred interrupt @eddyramrod

[High Jetter]

50 minutes ago, Wibble said:

I didn’t know this was a thing but, apparently I won it on 23 of May, which I think was my last day at WBAC. Thanks all😀, sorry for the thred interrupt @eddyramrod

Rightly so. I narrowly missed out on my A4 collection thread by some guy posting some very interesting pics. 🤣 Well deserved for Eddie too

 

[eddyramrod]

I doubt I'll ever top the Cresta/Classic-in-a-back-alley pic!  But, here she is with her great-grandson...

I'd love to be able to keep them both.

[Matty]

8 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Rightly so. I narrowly missed out on my A4 collection thread by some guy posting some very interesting pics. 🤣 Well deserved for Eddie too

 

Think i won it once when the Internet went down at my house and I couldn't post anything. People decided to show their gratitude... 😆

[danthecapriman]

9 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

I doubt I'll ever top the Cresta/Classic-in-a-back-alley pic!  But, here she is with her great-grandson...

I'd love to be able to keep them both.

A line up with @captain_70s one and @Wibble Senator would be very cool with your two. All lined up in age order!

[warren t claim]

Almost forgot about this advert.

[warren t claim]

The opening line in this feature hasn't aged well!

[comfortablynumb]

"Crazy, as the gauge of metal is thick" @captain_70s

This is something we found with MK2 sons Anglia 105e, after it had been stuck in a barn half stripped for at least 25 years.

He ended up basically building an Anglia from sheet steel, but if the metal hadn't been that thick, there wouldn't have been any left to weld to!

God knows what ' moderns' will be like after the same treatment, I guess there'll come a time when stuff like this still survives, but later models don't, unless they're heated garage queens😕

[danthecapriman]

1 hour ago, comfortablynumb said:

"Crazy, as the gauge of metal is thick" @captain_70s

This is something we found with MK2 sons Anglia 105e, after it had been stuck in a barn half stripped for at least 25 years.

He ended up basically building an Anglia from sheet steel, but if the metal hadn't been that thick, there wouldn't have been any left to weld to!

God knows what ' moderns' will be like after the same treatment, I guess there'll come a time when stuff like this still survives, but later models don't, unless they're heated garage queens😕

Years ago when I worked in the garage one of the other mechanics there used to go on and on about how I was mad for buying and running shitty old rust buckets. He had an R reg Almera that he swore by. This was about 2003ish so it wasn’t very old at the time. 
Oh how I laughed when his Almera failed its MOT one day with rusty sill ends! 
Then a few days later I asked him how he got on welding the sills up, and he said it was an absolute nightmare as the steel the cars made from was paper thin! Apparently the new steel he used to patch up the rusty bits was actually thicker than the cars original metal. He said even with his welder turned low it still kept blowing holes all over the place.

No such problems on my old rust buckets though😄     
If only rust protection on 60’s and 70’s cars was better (or existed at all!) there’d probably be many more around.

[comfortablynumb]

That "Fitzees Fabrications' YouTube channel is building a 1978 Toyota Corolla as a drag car.

He frequently complains that the steel is around 24 gauge, and really difficult to weld to. He's letting thicker stuff in for repairs, but actually getting the original stuff to take a weld without blowing holes has been a major undertaking, particularly since it's so rusty.

[eddyramrod]

The predicted rain has left us alone for a couple of days, so I dragged out the rain guttering and the front-wing finishers...

These are as-supplied with the car.  The gutters in particular are quite good, having been repainted already.  Trouble is, they've been done in black, and I want them somewhat brighter.  So, out comes the 60-grit...

...and the primer...

Since this pic I've turned them over and primed the other side.  Just need some colour now, probably silver.  The wing finishers were actually plated, but looking well past their best, so I'm quite happy to paint those too.  I remember my 1961 Velox had painted finishers, and it's been suggested that the plated ones were actually only on the 57-59 series.

I also dug the spare-spare Cresta steel wheel out of the boot...

Rusty, hey!  I'm cleaning this one up because the other one has a (rough, old) tyre on, and I want a wheel to put one of my lovely new whitewalls on.  So I fitted the wire brush to my drill, and you can see the difference below.

Obviously this is only part-done.  I'll be Hammeriting soon.  Yeah it won't match the alloys but I'm not planning to use it as anything but the spare.

Tyre-fitting booked for Thursday, for the alloys at least.

[808 Estate]

Superb, I salute you sir.

Even the gold Trans Am wheels look right on her.