Well, it was 2010 and my little ones were starting to be self sufficient. I have always had a thing for older cars and how cars worked and went together. Over the last 20 years I have revived a FIAT 131, Mitsubishi Galant, Datsun 200B (I know, I know), Holden Gemini (2wice), a Holden WB, Hillman Imp, Mazda 323, Holden VB Commodore, (I think that’s all … in order) and an Alfa Romeo GTV, which I still have, 16 years after an engine rebuild and some severe rust removal (it’s an Alfa so what was I expecting?). After a 10 year hiatus (getting married to an absolutely wonderful woman, building a house, having two fantastic kids) I could finally get back to doing something I loved and is almost therapeutic.
“I know”, I said to myself, “I’ve always liked the shape and sound of the mid 70’s FIAT 124 Sport”. I grew up in Zambia, and in the 70’s there were thousands of Peugeot 404’s and 504’s and FIAT 124’s, 127’s and 132’s. So I went looking … in the usual places, Quokka, EBay and Gumtree. I was about to set a time to look at one, when I stopped and really thought about what I wanted. I already had an Italian mistress (my wife calls her that), this one I’d really like it to be me … well, about me … my time … well, what represented my time; 1966.
Now that I’ve settled in Australia, it had to be Australian and it had to be 1966. We currently live on a small semi-rural property, so I wanted it to reflect rural Australia.
The candidates were really, Ford and Holden … the finalists, XP/XR and HD/HR. In the end the ‘Lion’ got it because it seemed more ‘Australian’. It’s actual content may not have been, but Ford sounds more American than Australian. After a few months of searching and meeting and greeting on Sunday mornings/afternoons (some people wanted stupid money for their incomplete ‘rotten’ HR’s), this is what I settled on.
Oh, this section should really be called ‘How NOT to buy a classic’.
A few will be thinking “… that HR looks like it’s rotten. After looking for months, that’s all you found?!”
Well, yes, and no. Yes, it looks rotten, but it’s only in all the usual places, bottom of doors, bottom of guards, 1/4 panels and tailgate. Floor is good and she’s straight, so no chassis straightening needed!
Panels, I have learned to do (I was taught by a couple of friends, that I have now lost touch with) :o( but chassis work would have been a bit harder.
I picked her up from a guy named ‘Charlie’ … but none of that has anything to do with ‘how NOT to buy a classic’.
Charlie had had the same idea I had a couple of years earlier . . . strip her down (after driving it around for a while) and get this ‘lioness’ back to her former glory.
Nice idea … only he’d stripped it down, almost completely, before his situation meant he couldn’t do it anytime soon.
While everything was there … technically, only the doors, and wheels were where they should be (well, the engine and box too). Everything else wasn’t.
Glass, lights (front and rear), bumpers, exhaust, wiring, brakes, some wheel bolts, tailgate, heater box, locks, ignition, gauges, seats, wipers, pedals, roof lining, speakers, radio, … I think you get the picture. So, I have my work cut out for me. For first timers, this is how NOT to buy a classic, because you have to work out where everything is supposed to go … a nightmare!!!
Why, “Long Live the King?” … the [Holden] Lion is the King of the Beasts … this one looks very close to death.
In 1968 the HR “died” to most, “The King is Dead!”. To many others, he still has a lot of living to do … “Long Live the King!”
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