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1986 Austin Montego 1.6HL (C418 YRW)
A couple of weeks ago, the Club received a message about a Montego needing a new home. The owner had died, and the family had sold his house and were clearing his belongings. The car wasn't too far away - in Doncaster - so I went along last week for a look. Not much was known apart from the fact it hadn't moved in a very long time...
The car turned out to be a 1.6HL in Opaline Green with Brown interior. It's covered 75,000 miles and hadn't moved from its garage since the last tax disc expired in 1991.
Being a complete mug for any early Montego that isn't roadworthy, I struck a deal to take it and went away to arrange recovery. This morning we moved the car out of the garage ready for its trip to Huddersfield. Thankfully it rolls freely and only needed one flat and perished tyre replacing to make it mobile. I've spent this afternoon removing twenty two year's worth of muck and dust. The interior started the day grey and finished up brown (as it should be!).
First impressions are good. There seems to be (so far) not a speck of rotten metal on it. Arches, sills, seams, doors, wings and window surrounds are all outstanding. Quite possibly thanks to the copious quantities of Waxoyl coating every surface you can't see from the outside. Unfortunately, the car possesses quite a large collection of knocks, scrapes and rattle can patches. There's also a very odd effect on the paintwork in that the car is covered in spidery rust marks that sit just under the paintwork. Most odd. Are the older metallic paint finishes known to be a bit poor?
Thankfully the interior is a different story. This is the first brown interior I've ever seem where the plastics aren't turning to dust. They're all strong and a uniform colour. The dashboard is also uncracked and unwarped. I reckon that makes the car worth saving on its own!
Mechanical condition is unknown at the current time, but I'm not expecting any nasty surprises. Hopefully, it will be a pretty easy project to get it up and running. My current thoughts are to get it road legal, underseal it, treat some of the more obvious surface rust and run it as a bit of a shabby chic Montego. A bit ratty looking but bodily, one of the best.
Some pictures from today showing before cleaning.
The car turned out to be a 1.6HL in Opaline Green with Brown interior. It's covered 75,000 miles and hadn't moved from its garage since the last tax disc expired in 1991.
Being a complete mug for any early Montego that isn't roadworthy, I struck a deal to take it and went away to arrange recovery. This morning we moved the car out of the garage ready for its trip to Huddersfield. Thankfully it rolls freely and only needed one flat and perished tyre replacing to make it mobile. I've spent this afternoon removing twenty two year's worth of muck and dust. The interior started the day grey and finished up brown (as it should be!).
First impressions are good. There seems to be (so far) not a speck of rotten metal on it. Arches, sills, seams, doors, wings and window surrounds are all outstanding. Quite possibly thanks to the copious quantities of Waxoyl coating every surface you can't see from the outside. Unfortunately, the car possesses quite a large collection of knocks, scrapes and rattle can patches. There's also a very odd effect on the paintwork in that the car is covered in spidery rust marks that sit just under the paintwork. Most odd. Are the older metallic paint finishes known to be a bit poor?
Thankfully the interior is a different story. This is the first brown interior I've ever seem where the plastics aren't turning to dust. They're all strong and a uniform colour. The dashboard is also uncracked and unwarped. I reckon that makes the car worth saving on its own!
Mechanical condition is unknown at the current time, but I'm not expecting any nasty surprises. Hopefully, it will be a pretty easy project to get it up and running. My current thoughts are to get it road legal, underseal it, treat some of the more obvious surface rust and run it as a bit of a shabby chic Montego. A bit ratty looking but bodily, one of the best.
Some pictures from today showing before cleaning.
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