Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[gresham flyer]

Watching the pictures of the flood damaged UK, the towns and villages turned into large lakes, it sprung to my mind about all the old items that will be damaged laying around in barns and garages etc.

Nobody is going to have the time to move an old Morris Minor sitting on bricks or to the other extreme that expensive supercar that is sitting in a Thameside garage while the owner is living elsewhere in the world for the winter.

The emergency services would be more interested in your family and pets rather than your snap on tool chest.

People I know in the body repair business have purchased vehicles from insurance companies after a flood and after a lot of drying out and repairs have put cars back on the road for profit.

Another glut of damaged cars came on the market two years ago after a freak hail storm in Scotland.

Roofs, bonnet's and boot lids were peppered in small dents.

The insurance companies paid out the owners for replacement vehicles because new panels were quoted for, and it was cheaper to sell the vehicles on.

The body repair boy`s after getting hold of the cars just skimmed over the panels with filler and repainted the panels.
A good quick profit was made.

Has any one here had the misfortune of having flood damage to classic vehicles or old bygones.?

Have you managed to get a water logged vehicle running again.?

G.F

[D4B]

I expect it's like a mobile phone, if cars with electronics are dried out thoroughly enough BEFORE turning the key who would ever know

[BigJohn]

I remember going to look at a Ford Cortina 2000E estate in 1978ish, the dealer selling it seemed a bit shifty and became decidedly unhappy when I popped an air vent and ran my finger inside and found a trace of silt, the car had been registered near Blackpool, and the sea breached just north in 1977. I believe the dealer sold a few cars then got 18 months for fraud.

[Richard H]

A couple of flood victims in Somerset.






http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2553163/Get-belongings-Police-tell-flood-hit-villagers-leave-message-broadcast-helicopter-stay-fearing-looters.html
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Richard Hughes

[peppiB]

Friend of mine bought an X category write off (hadn't heard of one of those before) A Jag dealer was flooded and unregistered cars were dried and sold 'without warranty' It was a nightmare for him as the electrics simply didn't work. Dealers would take the car in and tell him it was covered by warranty, only to subsequently bill him when they submitted the claim to Jaguar

He eventually sold the car at a great loss to 'we buy etc' A few months later he had a call from a main dealer asking if he still owned the vehicle. The new owners were obviously having the same trouble and the dealer was checking to make sure it was the same car

[Rick]

Sad to see those photos RH, an Austin 7 probably isn't too tricky to dry out and re-commission (gutting though it must be to the owner), but anything with complex electrical/electronic systems must be a nightmare.

RJ
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[kevin2306]

a few years back a friend bought a lovely looking suzuki vitara.
it was one of the last produced and outwardly appeared a decent buy.
after a few months of ownership the rust started appearing. he couldnt stop the rust from creeping despite every effort. it just seemed to be corroding from the inside outwards.
turned out to have been an unregistered write off due to having been pretty much submerged in seawater. a new ecu, interiour and bits and biobs, all readily available and it did look like a decent car.
he lost quite a bit of money on that one.

kev

[Ironhead]

hope the Austin and the Triumph are ok worth insuring your vehicles even with a 'parked up' policy,if they are not roadworthy.

[V8 Nutter]

In 2007 a friend of mine had to 1960's Cadillac Limousines parked in a barn. The nearby brook flooded and the insurance company wrote the cars off. They said the cars were contaminated by the flood water and could not be used again. Both cars finished up in eastern Europe where they don't bother about such things.

After the floods the council cleaned out the brook for the first time in years, it hasn't flooded since. A strong case for dredging rivers.

[baconsdozen]

As I said on an earlier thread I did buy a submerged car. The hardest thing to deal with was the smell afterwards,on a hot day it would smell a bit musty although this lessened as time went on. Putting it right was time consuming but the amount of parts bought was surprisingly low in effect it was like restoring a car without having to do any rubbing down or welding.
The car gave good service and was still about some years after I sold it.
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Thirty years selling imperial hand tools for old machinery(Now happily retired).

[ukdave2002]

[baconsdozen]

A while back we had a rep come in and demonstrate the commercial equivalent of Fabreeze. This was a spray that coated anything to stop it smelling. He demonstrated it on a rag that had ammonia on it and it was impossible to smell it. He told us that the spray was used by some shady characters to disguise the smell of fish and meat they were selling that had gone off (apparently bleach made it look better too).
I'm sure he said that spraying something with a strong solution of sugar and water achieved the same sort of odour blocking effect when it dried.
I must give it a try one day.
_________________
Thirty years selling imperial hand tools for old machinery(Now happily retired).

[Rootes75]

Shame to see the little Austin like that but at least the electrics are simple.

[Riley Blue]

A friend emailed to say he'd spotted an XK150 awash in a helicopter shot on the news this morning

[petermeachem]

The Austin seems to be in water around 5cm deep. The water is barely covering anyone's shoes. Why the concern?