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Well now... I have just gone and bought another Viva. This time its an HB wagon. YES!! I have been after one for ages and ummed and erred over the one that was for sale on Trade me up in Taupo about a month ago for quite some time. But factoring in transport to get it south put me off plus Hannah and I then ended up buying a MK1 Triumph wagon from Christchurch, a car we have always wanted for a long long time but had never seen one for sale at a sensible (read cheap) price. Then Shane, my viva HB mad friend in christchurch offered me his one. Its very rusty but with reg on hold plus a set of Cheviot Turbos I was keen. Hannah offered to go halves on it and that was it. So now we have two very rusty wagons, both circa 1969, to restore. The Triumph is still waiting for our collection. So this HB wagon eh?... yeah its pretty rusty. I had no real idea what it was like but for two photos. Shane brought it up from Chch today and we drove over to Blenheim in my Viva last night to meet him. He was unloading it when we got back from a walk in the hills this morning and my first impression when I slowed to a halt behind it was good. In fact great- it just looks so much cooler in the flesh than I thought it would. The shape is soooo choice. The turbo mags really set it off too. The back was filled up with the doors and the original tailgate. I grabbed some photos then we pushed it into my parents yard. Ha- the look on my parents face. 'FUCK' I had a quick look over it then we went for lunch. Shane and I just chatted Vivas and other old cars. He is a wealth of info on these Vivas having owned something like 40 of them and having done many engine conversions. Anything that is missing he'll sort me out with. After lunch they left to go pick up a Chevette wagon that he has had stashed away in the north island some where. I then took some time to go over the new toy with Hannah and see what we have let ourselves into. Yep- rust. It has rusted in the usual Viva places but is also solid in many of the places I would expect to see rust. Luckily the main chassis rails are not too bad. Drivers side has holes but passenger side solid. The boot floor boot and spare wheel well are great. Weird. The sills are shot, comically so with holes right through inside to out. A smear of filler and she'll be right... The floors are frilly along the inner sill edges. Head lamp areas not too bad luckily- these have welded on front wings so repairs are more time consuming there. Shane has supplied me with a spare whole right front wing cut as the car has a pretty dented one. The roof and gutters are good- just surface rust. Bulkhead good but holes in a few places closer to the inner wings. The very common spot for rust n these is behind the bonnet hinges but it looks to be solid there. Rear valence a bit thin. But it does have a stainless exhaust The engine apparantly runs but really I dont care as its most likely going to be swapped out with something more modern. Maybe I might get it going and driving with it first though. Luckily it has a disc brake front end and a servo. These will help haul back those 54 ponies. I have found a few pieces of the missing puzzle... I love these wheels. In fact I looked for a set ages ago for my Viva before I got the widened steels and couldn't fnd any in 4" pcd. Very rare. One of the few styles of alloys that I think suit these cars. So I am chuffed to bits to have these. two have quite bad curb scrapes so I will have to weld them up and machine them back but nothing major. Curves and sweet wheels.. It comes complete with ICE The dash needs a little bit of amourall... It is now safely parked in my parents carport- having relegatted one of thier manky modern cars out. I think it looks tiny next to what is meant to be a smallish suzuki. My parents think Im a bit nutty. But they know I'll sort it out... We wont start working on this for ages yet. The Triumph will be first in the queue and before that happens we have to get our shed up on the land and move out there. So for now the Viva will wait patiently. I am however quite keen to try out those alloys on my HB so I might fix them up soon. Bed time now as I am exhausted form so much excitement. I wont be back to view any responses (like "you idiot!" and "why that?!!!") from you lot till we get back from more gorse clearing on the bush block on monday night. Until then suggestions and mockery more than welcome Btw- we both love the colour so that will be its future shade- but maybe with a cream roof. Discussion