1977 124 Spider CS1 - Lincolnshire UK
Posted: August 14th, 2013, 10:43 pm
Hi,
I recently acquired my 124 from an auction site after a bid sale fell through for some reason. I bought it unseen but it was taxed, UK registered and had a new MoT (but was certainly NOT road legal which I am currently in a legal dispute from the auction company over) and was a runner. It had a new hood, new respray but a tatty interior. But most important of all, being a Californian import it has absolutely no rust save for a little in the footwell due to a leaky heater matrix.
Having bought it in April I was keen to get some use out of it during the summer months so I concentrated on the cosmetics first which involved getting the interior, wheels, brakes (unsafe despite MoT!) and suspension sorted. I also fitted a new carb' as the original's auto-choke was bypassed and it wasn't running particularly well. I also had the radiator refurbished as it had a lot of silt in it; in fact the heater selector valve was totally blocked solid with calcium and I'm not sure the previous owner used any antifreeze! This is probably why the selector cable to the heater was broken. I looked around everywhere trying to get a replacement which were very difficult to get hold of and expensive. In the end I went to a local piano repair shop and got a piece of piano wire which was a near perfect substitute and all for just a couple of pounds!
I've been hankering after a 124 for a few years after seeing some whilst living in Germany, so when this one popped up I couldn't resist. But when I started looking for spares and advice the name 'Guy Croft' kept cropping up. I wondered where in the world this chap lived and amazingly I found that he lives just 20 minutes up the road from me. I know many of you will be envious of a newbie to this forum like me, because I have already had a couple of tours around his workshop - in a word 'fascinating!' I even met Ian and his 'Lotus Lada' which is a beautifully finished car and I was even treated to a blast up the road in this beast! In case you are wondering, over the winter I am going to get GC to rebuild my engine so then it will be pretty much sorted!
Phil
The photos below are of my progress to date:
I recently acquired my 124 from an auction site after a bid sale fell through for some reason. I bought it unseen but it was taxed, UK registered and had a new MoT (but was certainly NOT road legal which I am currently in a legal dispute from the auction company over) and was a runner. It had a new hood, new respray but a tatty interior. But most important of all, being a Californian import it has absolutely no rust save for a little in the footwell due to a leaky heater matrix.
Having bought it in April I was keen to get some use out of it during the summer months so I concentrated on the cosmetics first which involved getting the interior, wheels, brakes (unsafe despite MoT!) and suspension sorted. I also fitted a new carb' as the original's auto-choke was bypassed and it wasn't running particularly well. I also had the radiator refurbished as it had a lot of silt in it; in fact the heater selector valve was totally blocked solid with calcium and I'm not sure the previous owner used any antifreeze! This is probably why the selector cable to the heater was broken. I looked around everywhere trying to get a replacement which were very difficult to get hold of and expensive. In the end I went to a local piano repair shop and got a piece of piano wire which was a near perfect substitute and all for just a couple of pounds!
I've been hankering after a 124 for a few years after seeing some whilst living in Germany, so when this one popped up I couldn't resist. But when I started looking for spares and advice the name 'Guy Croft' kept cropping up. I wondered where in the world this chap lived and amazingly I found that he lives just 20 minutes up the road from me. I know many of you will be envious of a newbie to this forum like me, because I have already had a couple of tours around his workshop - in a word 'fascinating!' I even met Ian and his 'Lotus Lada' which is a beautifully finished car and I was even treated to a blast up the road in this beast! In case you are wondering, over the winter I am going to get GC to rebuild my engine so then it will be pretty much sorted!
Phil
The photos below are of my progress to date: