Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Rick]

... when you've spotted something laid up in a person's drive, yard, barn, field etc with a view to rescuing it?

How did it go - did you end up buying it, or did the owner's shotgun and/or snarling German Shepherd suggest that they weren't for selling?

RJ
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Rick - Admin
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[baconsdozen]

I saw a Mk1 transit in a farm yard. I was both pot less and transport less at the time. I did have some bits laying about for one and knocked on the door. I was told the van was being used as a temporary hen house,but it did go and was thirty quid. It did in fact start,it had a hole in the bonnet big enough that you could check the oil etc without opening it and the hens needing evicting.
Thirty quid changed hands,it was dragged out with a tractor and off I went. I used it for six months,it got me out of a muddle.
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Thirty years selling imperial hand tools for old machinery(Now happily retired).

[MikeEdwards]

I once noticed a Viva coupe on a local truck yard, parked up for several months. I went to the door, chap told me it belonged to his mate who'd lost a leg and had to get an automatic. I bought the car, stripped it intending it to be a donor shell for the Firenza, then learned that inner wings (the main problem on the original shell) were widely available so I scrapped it off for more room. Turned out that (a) inner wings weren't easily available at all, and (b) fast-forward to now and the Viva coupe is a very rare thing in its own right, probably because people used to use them to re-shell Firenzas or Magnum coupes.

Most sinister part was that while emptying the car out to strip down, I found many shoes in the boot and passenger compartment.

[PAUL BEAUMONT]

[peter scott]

[Peter_L]

[DM]

Back in 1986 we were driving through Hendon and spotted a rough BSA Winged Wheel outside a house.

A quick "U" turn later and for a nominal sum it was on the Chevettes roof rack and heading back to Cornwall.

[baconsdozen]

Thoughts of Flanders & Swann "The Bedstead Men"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM-yIBVEgF4[/quote]

Flanders and Swann,some happy memories there,thanks for the link.
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Thirty years selling imperial hand tools for old machinery(Now happily retired).

[Vintage Crank]

As an fresh-faced 17 year old, impressed by anything American, I saw this 1971 Cadillac Sedan DeVille parked locally and knocked on several doors until finding the owner. I persuaded him to accept the princely sum of £200 (plenty of money to me in 1983!) and proudly cruised away in my 8.2 litre monster that never achieved better than 9 mpg (although petrol was only £1.50 a gallon back then).



This was of course back in the days when a 10 year old car was usually ready for the scrapyard and, had I possessed a little more experience, I would have known that the severe big-end bearing knock wasn't actually part of that glorious V8 rumble at all. It took all of 4 months before the engine dismantled itself internally and I notched up a little more experience. No wonder the owner was so keen to sell it!
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Dave (Professional Procrastinator)

1927 Morris Oxford Saloon 14/28
1949 Ferguson TED20 tractor and other 1950s
1958 Series 2 Land Rover 88" and various 2a's
1969 Jaguar 420G

[Rick]

I've mentioned this before, but never mind.

Years ago I had my eye on a laid-up Amazon, a visit to the property alongside made it clear that the gent of the house was keen to keep the Volvo with a view to restoration one day. It was also very clear that his good lady was having none of it, and wanted the non-running 121 out of her life, and off her driveway.

A couple more visits were made, with the same result - he wanted the car to stay.

It occurred to me that only knocking on the door to enquire about the Volvo, should occur when his modern car was absent, and hers was present. On the face of it this sounds slightly dodgy, but my intentions were strictly honourable. It only took a couple of doorstep visits to convince her that I should buy the car, without him chunnering away in the background about how he planned to restore it "one day". Clearly she worked on her hubby while I was away, with the desired result that he finally came around to his wife's wishes.

The car was pretty ropey underneath but provided numerous excellent panels, including as-new front wings, for the 122S I owned.

RJ
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Rick - Admin
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[gillberry]

We have had several people knock here and sold a few to people it seems to happen after you have advertised them and no one wants them so give up then a few weeks later someone calls.
We have knocked ourselves but only about a caravan when we were after a spare wheel still waiting to hear back but that was years ago
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1968 Volvo Amazon estate (Gracie)
1967 Cheltenham Nyala caravan

[baconsdozen]

The initial post referring to shotgun and German shepherd reminded me of a scrapyard in Norfolk from years ago.
Called Medlars,it was patrolled at night by some enormous pigs,apart from making a row if they heard anything they were extremely bad tempered as any one fool enough to try a bit of nocturnal dismantling soon found to their cost.
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Thirty years selling imperial hand tools for old machinery(Now happily retired).

[roverdriver]

Many years ago, well, over 40 years ago then, I used a system to try to locate older cars. I was mainly interested in Model A Fords, but if I could turn up anything else of the Vintage era, I was keen to do so. Driving in rural areas, and on back roads, if I spied a likely looking farmhouse with lots of potentially interesting junk around it, I would call in.

When the owner, or his wife, answered my knock, I would explain that a friend of mine had been in the area doing agricultural work and had seen a very old car on the premises. "He tried to describe the location to me but was rather vague, so I thought that this might be the place."

Sometimes the owner would lead me to an 'old' car which might be anything from the 1920's up to about 5 years old. On rare occasions they would have something of interest to me.

If there was no positive response I would ask if they knew which property my 'friend' might have meant. I often got directions and a name, and set off after asking that person's name. When I got to the suggested farm, I could address the owner by name, and say that 'Fred', or whoever, from down the road sent me. That gave me some credibility with my new farmer, and my enquiry was taken much more seriously. I found a few interesting and many not so interesting machines that way.
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Dane- roverdriver but not a Viking.

[Rick]

I'll have to try that Dane, I admire your thinking

RJ
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Rick - Admin
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[Ashley]

Does anyone watch American Pickers on Dave?