'VENGER BOYZ

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Yo Barrett, you're right its a Sunbeam Talbot. the chap who owned the land had at least a dozen of the things including a roadster, all in hopelessly rotten condition, along with stacks of other old rammel - Loads of maestros, a 2-dr avenger, assorted Hillman Hunter-shaped vehicles, a Merc 123 + fintail, Rover P4's, a Humber Pullman limo, Sunbeam Alpine (is that the right name? I mean a Hillman hunter 2-dr), early 2-dr V8 range rover, a very early Audi 80 2-dr in metallic blue, Mk2 Cortina, and lord knows what else. All of these were festering away in the damp grass and most looked like they were past resurrection. I didn’t snap any of it cos I got the vibe that the guy would not appreciate it. he had a beard, flat cap, tie & jeans combo and animatedly discussed with the avenger owner what purchases were on the horizon, i suspect the fun for him was in buying the stuff and by the time it arrived in the paddock he'd already be hammering the classifieds in the following week's CCW.

[seth]

It was the forward facing one that got me confused, with its small side grilles but now I've actually looked at a photo of a Jupiter it obviously isn't one. 2 door Hunter would be either Alpine or Rapier depending on spec.

 

Sounds like quite a stock pile. Did he have anything old on the road do you know? Or was his fun in just owning rotten heaps?

[Lankytim]

I think all he had OTR was a circa 1997 mazda 323, as Mr B says, everything else was mega rotten!

 

We were shown a row of Maestros which he was planning on fixing, every one of them was borked.

[HillmanImp]

I think all he had OTR was a circa 1997 mazda 323, as Mr B says, everything else was mega rotten!

 

We were shown a row of Maestros which he was planning on fixing, every one of them was borked.

 

Why people store them on grass is beyond me. There was a bit of a row on the Imp Club website a couple of years back as someone posted some photos of a chap who had literally dozens of Imps which he had 'saved' and was storing in a field. Apparently he had some in better places too but loads in just sat on grass.

 

I obviously dont have the full story but was quite horrified. It might have been saving them from the scrappers a few years ago but we are at a stage now where you wont just scrap an Imp as it needs a bit of welding etc, it will more tham likely get restored unless its totally fucked or at least be a good source of spares. But leaving it too long in a damp field will result in it being totally worthless.

 

At least you have managed to save this Avenger before its too late. Good work. There was a gold on on e-bay a couple of years ago with a 1.7 Sierra dizzler engine in it that i was going to bid on but forgot coz i am a numpty. Had horrid wheelz on it.

[Mash]

Brilliant save Mr_B, it really does look solid. I often fancy and old estate for occasional tat hauling trips.

 

I've got a stack of Avenger manuals and handbooks and probably some other bits and bobs in the shed though I think the headlamps are all Hillman rather than facelift ones. I'll have a look at what there is.

[Lankytim]

 

Heres one thats been stored for 6 years!

[Mr Lobster]

This was a great day out, I think every shiter should have a few adventures doing stuff like this.

 

Indeed they should.

 

About seven years ago, for no better reason than I had fugg all better to do, I was roped into loading up my Focus Estate with tools and old Renault parts and driving up to Scotcheggland with someone who had bought a Renault 30 on t'bay. Turned out he hadn't actually asked whereabouts in Scotland until after he won it.

 

It was in Stornoway. Which is only a good nine hour drive from Manchester. Then three hours of vomiting up lager on the worlds roughest ferry crossing. Then finding out that Stornoway doesn't have much in the way of hot chicks (certainly not on a cold night in November anyway). R30 had been sat outside a 'house' for the last twelve months, exposed to the sea air and was utterly buggered so got left there. Attempting to drive a car with no MOT that had a hole in the o/s/f wing that you could comfortably fit a microwave oven through was probably not a good idea. Still, did have a decent curry in a deserted island curryhouse so that was something at least.

[Arthur-walker]

I may be wrong but i am pretty sure i seem to remember seeing this very car on ebay around 6 to 8 years ago, had been sitting in someones garage for a while.

[AnthonyG]

Excellent save MrB, we are truly not worthy!

 

I will have a look and see if I have any Avenger bits and bobs left in the garage, although most of the spares I had went with the car, a gold 1600 Mk1 saloon, that I sold to a friend of a friend back in 2006.

 

I might have a spare full Chrysler UK workshop manual kicking about as well.

[worldofceri]

Finally, at the A14/M6/M1 junction, if you look to your left while going up the sliproad onto the M1, there is the remains a ROADLINE truck body in there, virtual pint to the first person to get a snap of it. It looks like the green panels are being stripped off it so don't hang about!!!

 

I'll be passing through there on Saturday. I'll make sure to remember to get Mrs.WoC to drive, so's I can hang me head out the window with the camera as we steam through...

[trigger]

As endorsed by Bruce Forsyth Himself!

 

http://www.tv-ark.org.uk/mivana/mediapl ... 8&type=mp4

[Gompo]

Great effort, I thought the tyre change scene was going to end in disappointment but I should've had faith.

 

It looks great, I hope it's still outside the window so your Mrs can be reminded of it.

[seth]

Is this next for the wave of the magic wand of bo11ox then?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Ms_Bo110x is not about this weekend so i've been in the garage today and am going back there tomorrow! Been doing a bit on the avenger.

 

Fettled the leading edge of the bonnet a while back:

 

 

 

 

In the meantime I have removed the font calipers and bought rebuild kits for em, also bought a complete new exhaust system and a pair of new headlights. I've taken the steering rack off (Its buggered) and will get a new one when I feel I can absorb the £60 hit that will entail.

 

 

As the body is pretty decent apart from minor frillage on the fornt wings/bonnet I reckoned i would sort those minor rusts out then respray the front end with my electric spray gun. So today i took the passenger side wing off and had a look at it.

 

 

Like always, there was a bit more work than expected - i've stitched 4 small patches into the wing and a couple in the inner wing.

 

 

 

basically I have spent most of today chopping out and fixing little bits of rot on the NS front wing - tomorrow I plan to do the other side, which also needs some minor reprofiling down the rear edge, and a bit on the front valance. If I can then get the wings bolted back on and seam sealed, and put the welder away, i'll be happy with the weekends progress, its not often I get two decent days in down the workshop.

[catsinthewelder]

Great to see the welding skillz back in action

She looks so much better for the bonnet leading edge being sorted.

 

I missed this thread first time round and I've just read though from the start, well impressed with the tyre fitting

I've never even thought to try that myself

[trigger]

Mr Bo11ox's threads make autoshite. It's nice to see that at least one of the "old guards" have hanged around...

[garethj]

Good work, Snr Bo11ox, it's great to have a Mrs-free weekend sometimes to get some work done.

 

Hasn't she left you a list of thing to do like cut the grass, paint the skirting boards, put a new roof on?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Certainly has, however in this case I am ignoring it!

[michiel]

Good work & good luck!

[boobydoo]

Nice bonnet and wing action going on there. I'm looking forward to seeing this progress!

[retrogeezer]

Certainly has, however in this case I am ignoring it!

 

 

Top work as always Sir B..

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Been back on this today.

 

I finished the passenger side tinbashing yesterday, so time to look at the front valance and drivers wing.

 

Bit of crunchiness on the bottom of the valance:

 

Patched that up:

 

Off with the drivers wing, I knew this one had a bit of rot in the rear lower corner.

 

Disappointingly it was quite bad:

 

That 'spine' thing down the rear edge was pretty badly rotten all the way down.

 

I came back home to see if i could find a source for a new wing. After some digging, I found a few sources, but all would have cost about £100, which is a full years turnover here at skinflint motors. so i ate some lentil soup then went back down the garage.

 

I managed to get the spine thing right out of the wing:

 

I fastened it on the car through the original bolt holes and welded a new edge onto it.

 

And a new bottom:

 

I also welded a big piece of new steel into the outer wing at the bottom:

 

This lot took all day, knocked off at 8.30. As i was clearing up, the phone rang, it was the chap from http://www.oldpanels.com to tell me he had plenty of NOS avenger wings and I could have one for £50! BOLLOX.

 

Well i've just about finished 'repairing' this one now anyway, just got to put that spine thing back in to it and seal/paint it all up and i'm done. If the whole lot looks shit when refitted I'll splash the £50 on a new wing I suppose. Otherwise i'll spend it on a steering rack!

[Vin]

Great work Brother Boll

 

Very useful link to the Panel guy too. TOP MARX.

[barrett]

Excellent work. I'm enjoying seeing you shoot some hot, juicy new metal all over this hopeless old crock, but I have to ask - what has become of the 929? Has it just been bumped down the queue or did you give up on that one completely?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Dont worry about the 929, still got it, its stored indoors so not degenerating, its just slipped down the list!

[Guest]

Don't worry about the Old Panels bloke, I just bought a pair of Accord wings and sills off him, so he'll not starve this week.

[Danblez]

Monsieur Bolleaux, with these shite reparing threads you are really spoiling us.

 

Inspitaional work thanks for taking the time and effort to share! Having recently been inspired enough to get the welder out for the first time and repair a bumper, I attempted to take enough pics to string a half decent thread together and failed miserably! It appears not only am I not very good at welding but also not very good at remembering to take pics at key moments. Still, at the end of the day the metal is still sticking together so something must have gone OK.

[boobydoo]

That really is excellent....and as Wheeler Dealers are highly unlikely to film an episode with an old Avenger , this will have to be the Autoshite version.

Keep up the good work.

[Owain-328i]

As always, the welding repairs are 'the bollox'

[andrew e]

CURSE YOU BOLLEAUX CURSE YOU!

 

Alternatively, just reassure me your welding was shite in the begining to console me please I think the last time I touched a welder was in 1995... Mig and Arc yes, but never could do Gas without blowing huge holes in everything. Top fact, my sheet metal instructor was MR HAIR