The car itself can be seen on our stand at The NEC Classic on 16th October.
Here is my story on my Austin Metro HLE, which was purchased from the late Dean Thornhill's collection.
The car had covered 38000 miles with full stamped history and bill of sale!
Myself and my stepdad went to fetch the car from Derbyshire and the car drove onto the trailer.
Little did i know what was in store!
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Got the car home but it would not start again so we pushed it into the garage to commence work.
There was to be a lot more work involved than first thought.
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Initially i was hoping to get him running to use for shows before a total rebuild,
but we kept finding more and more things so it just escalated into replacing more parts,
which im glad i did now.
There was a lot of frustration - i couldn't get the car running after replacing all the leads/cap/etc etc.
It was realised a total top end rebuild would be needed, so this was done.
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Finally the car fired up and ran fantastic!.
However more problems lied ahead when it was found that all the brakes were totally shot.
I ended up replacing the callipers, brake hoses, pads, discs etc etc.
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The arches were full of mud, so these were all stripped out and sprayed with waxoil then painted.
(note this is a temp measure till car gets full respray)
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I also replaced all the shock absorbers, exhaust system, and the o/s front wing that was very corroded.
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The wheels were in desperate need of refurb, so these were sent off for shot blasting and powder coating.
I was very impressed with the result - i also bought so NOS wheel caps to finish them off.
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All the badges were replaced, new headlights, grille and he was ready for MOT.
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The car had been sitting under a cover and the paintwork was dull
so a full day using G3 and showroom shine! he came up lovely!
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MOT Day - i was a little nervous as i had never driven the car since it went on the trailer!.
However i was so proud when the car went straight through the MOT!
No advisories and i was told the car was totally mint!
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The first show was Gaydon, the car made it there with no issues at all! i was so proud!
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As much as its been a pain at times, the car just needed tlc and all servicable parts replacing,
and as much as i've shouted, screamed at it and nearly pushed it in the sea,
i've loved it and dont regret a thing
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The future:
The car is far from finished, the NS wing/slam panel/valence all are to be replaced,
along with rear bumper and caps as these are not as good as i would like.
The arches all want shotblasting and the future is to strip the car completely down
and have the full respray that he needs!
