Educate me : Viva HA van / estate (aka Bedford Beagle ?)

[nomad]

These cute vans & estates have been on my radar for a while, today I had a look around one from the 60s that might be up for sale soon   

It's on the original engine (1057cc ?) and sounds like it's in well sorted "daily use" condition.
Any words of wisdom from the collective before I do something daft (dafter than usual?) 
* My only experience of older Vauxhalls was a Viva HC many years ago. Slow, low-power, but it just refused to die. My type of car   

Questions have been asked in the past about engine swaps  forum.retro-rides.org/thread/192335/viva-ha-engine-swaps
Wheels? (4x100 13s - same as later Vauxhalls ?)
Spares & weak points?

Mick Wilkes with his HA Bluebell was one of the stars from RRG for me   


Same body, badged as a Bedford Beagle












Not an estate/van, but it's SO cute

[shielsy68]

jump on it if you can get it , i restored one for me da 12 years ago . wings are hard to get thou

[Deleted]

Sound basic little motors but they rot well - inner wings fall apart especially around the bonnet hinge mountings, front wings & sills but I suppose they are like every other design of the time - I am unsure on what the panel availability is now days

[dazcapri]

I had an old BT one years ago when they were just cheap bangers they're very basic,there was a guy up near Leadgate used to have a garden full of them think he's still got some if you get it and need bits. Also check out carmad his van is awesome

[carmad]

because off me loosing lots off photos on photobucket i cannot really partisapate in this thread

but yes they do rot around the front chassis legs quite badly

i had a redtop supercharged ha it was a right laugh not as much work as you would think

[astranaut]

My uncle had a sign written one for his model shop (Clwyd Models and Hobbies) for years, never got a pic though. I'm sure his was a 1256 though.

[darrenh]

yeah vauxhall still use(d) 4x100. i'm sure it will be different offset to the modern negative scrub stuff though.

[gtviva]

all the HA models use 4x4inch wheel fixings, great vans but any metal work is very very difficult to find but strangely the inner wings don't seem to suffer its outer wings/front panels around the headlights, wheel arches, sills oh and the roof around the gutter area and anything on the underside! also all the suspension bushes front and rear are hard work and the rear set up is quite complex with lots of bushes/mountings, any rubber seals like door rubbers and door to glass seals which are different to the cars, also lots of changes on the Vans after 1971 like bigger brakes, buy one but get the best you can!