1979 Vauxhall Viva GLS estate

Thought it was about time I introduced myself on here. I'm Rob, I've been a member of the Manta club for several years and I was brought up around Senators, Monzas, Royales and big old Triumph saloons amongst others. I've got several projects on the go at the moment, a '77 Cavalier coupe which I've owned for about 5 years, an '82 Manta SRB coupe, a '79 Rekord saloon which is up for sale, and the most recent one - my Viva.

My Dad and his partner went to look at a house they'd seen for sale locally and as they were leaving realised there was a garage beneath the undergrowth. A quick look inside revealed a sorry but solid looking Viva estate.









So after a few calls to estate agents and the person selling the house, I was told I could buy it on condition that I got it out of there myself. This looked like a bit of a challenge, as this was what we could see of the garage:



I recruited my Dad and my mate Chris from the Manta club, and we got to work.



After a couple of hours with a hedge cutter and flattening brambles with my Discovery, we found the front door.



This was the first daylight it had seen since December '95.



None of the tyres would hold air, and the steering wheel had been snapped off years ago so it was a bit of a faff to get it out, but with a bit of careful dragging and bouncing:



The paint's scabby as you'd expect, but apart from a little hole on the NSF wing and a bit of rot on the back of the OS sill, it's virtually mint. 13k miles from new, interior is unmarked now I've got all the broken glass out. It's got 4 nearly new tyres now and I've replaced the column, so it rolls at least. I collected a windscreen from Redditch on my way back from the Gathering a few weeks ago, so that's in and it's getting more weatherproof.

The interior's all stripped out and safely stored indoors, just waiting on someone near Exeter to tell me whether or not he's got the rear glass pieces I need then I can get it all back together and concentrate on getting it running.