Project 1990 country squire resto/modification by andyfanshawe

7 minute(s) of a 418 minute read

Well, this weekend and a few days leading up to it have been mind blowing to say the least!

To put you all in the picture, the last owner of the car, but one, had found out all the previous owners and wrote a letter to every one. Some had responded and some hadn't. I found out that the car has had 10 owners in 19 years. most of the time being spent in the south of our country and in Wales. But 1 past owner was located in Clay Cross which is only a few miles from me now. They sold it in 1999, A good 10 years ago. According to a letter, this particular gentleman sold the car due to possible redundancy (which turned out to be true) but was sorry to see it go.

Anyway, I took the car for a longish test drive on saaturday morning . On the way back I could smell a slight odour of hot coolant. Probably due to a heater matrix (heater core) after 19 years and especially after the colour of the coolant that came out. So, I ordered one (£56). If it turns out that it isn't that after all, I' m going to change it anyway.

I pulled down the under dash panel on the passenger side and this fell down 

It was an envelope that had been there a long time. Probably gone through the back of the glovebox.

Imagine my surprise when the name and address on it matched the ownerin Clay Cross from 10 years ago! Not any of the others that were miles and miles away, but the most local one!

But there was someting else up there. A brown leather pouch that was wedged tight. I pulled it down and this was it

Inside was these

Loads of american cents and a dime! Now the car left the states in about 1997, so this has been there for over 12 years!

Wonder who it belonged to?

My Wife wanted to open the envelope but I said no, let me see if I can return it to its rightful owner. She asked if I was going to have a drive out to see if I could find them. i said of course i was, and I would also take the car with me to reintroduce it 10 years after they had sold it!

30 mins later and I arrive at the house that was on the envelope. A knock on the door and a lady answered who confirmed they used to own it! So they were still in the same house that they were in when they owned the car!

I took them both out to see the car they hadn't seen for those 10 long years. I had an amzing chat to them about the car and tried to fill them in about its whereabouts since they owned it.

I gave the envelope to the Lady who's name was on it and she was very surprised. She said she thought it was a birthday card, but definitely from her Mum who had unfortunately died a few years earlier. I was concerned that it would be upsetting for her, but she said it had made her day. To receive 1 more thing from her Mum.

The gentleman told me he had to have the rearmost seat belts changed because they had seized up due to lack of use! Also the interior light lenses were changed because they had cracked. Said they were very expensive,

He noticed the slight dent in the bonnet (hood) and told me it had been caused by a stone thrown up by a passing car in a caravan site that had bounced across it. A simple bit of info but invaluable in the sense that it is filling in a small piece of the big history jigsaw of the car.

I left them feeling extremely pleased thay I had reunited them with a piece of their past (and a happy one at that), and I had delivered an envelope that had waited probably 11 years to be delivered. I have pointed them in the directon of this forum so that they may keep up to date with the carsrestoration, and hopefully chip in some comments every so often. just as I quoted I wanted the past owners to do in the very first paragraph of this thread..... Magic!

Okay, weld up CAT time. Up in the air we go to weld up the hole in the side of the CAT where the AIR/thermactor pipe used to be.

Here you can see where the pipe used to be. The clamp is still there and the remains of the pipe also.

Here it is again with the old rotten pipe removed and a small plate welded on the end.

Successful, but hang on, something doesn't look right.

The frame at the side of the cat has been welded and painted

The other side hasn't been welded but is corroding in the corner.

The box section is full of rust debris and plates have been welded over the top. Not at all good.

So. out with the hammer and around the frame we go. Luckily no where else is rotted. Probably due to the fact that water/salt gets thrown up there and sits inside the frame.

This will have to be done properly. Car put up in the air and secured in one place. Exhausts removed, fuel pipes removed and ALL the corroded sections removed and properly welded up back to factory specs. If the frame has to come off the car to do it-so be it. Shouldn't take too long once I get started.

In the meantime, back under the dash we go. Preparing to replace the heater core.

Bit of corrosion here on the flap control vacuum solenoid arm. Must be some type of water/coolant down there to cause this.

It is now clean and greased and free to move. The solenoid couldn't move it at all, but it can now!

It looks as if the all the dash is coming out to change the core. I don't have to, but I can check all types of things while I am there.