Introducing Hetty!

[CherryPeeks]

Well, here's Hetty, formerly known as Henry. Does anyone recognise/know her?

From what I can gather from the very comprehensive history (almost every receipt and MOT from new, all in date order in a folder!) she was owned by a lady in Cambridge, Olga, for many many years. She was very well loved and has had lots of money spent on her, including regular services and maintenance, and a recon unleaded engine over 20 years ago, which has to date done 49k miles.

I'm not sure what happened to Olga, but in recent years she was owned by the lovely family that I bought her from yesterday. She seems to have been lacking in love and attention recently though, and at one point was covered in handpainted flowers, which have since been sanded off.

Most of the work required seems to be cosmetic - the wood is sound (but I'm going to sand and re-treat), the floors, chassis, inner wings, engine bay etc all appear solid with no areas of concern, the seats are in excellent condition, the carpets need cleaning/replacing. Three of the four wings have dinks and dents, as does the driver's door, but the sills and door bottoms etc all look and sound okay. The chrome trims/badges etc all need tlc/replacing. The engine runs sweetly, and I've rediscovered the joys of a manual choke!

She's already booked in with my mechanic for the once-over and a brand new MOT, then it's off to the panel beaters/paint shop for quotes to help me decide whether I need to replace any of the wings, or if the dents can be nicely fixed.

The list of jobs is growing, but luckily I paid a great price for her, so have a decent budget to bring her back to life (unpleasant surprises permitting!).

With a deadline of 25 May, I'd better get started!

Thanks to everyone for all your help and support whilst I've been searching....the journey begins in earnest now! [frame][/frame]

[Robbiet9999]

LOOKING GOOD NICE PATINA. ENJOY THE WORK SHE WILL LOOK WONDERFUL FINISHED

[simmitc]

Well done, congratulations, and welcome to the ranks of drivers. She looks like the basis of a good car. I do note a departure from preferred colour Look forward to seeing you both out and about.

[CherryPeeks]

Thanks - and she won't be staying tha colour!

[dalebrignall]

looks a good solid car what colour are you going to have .

[CherryPeeks]

Old English White - hoping for an engine-out full respray, depending on cost

[bmcecosse]

Very nice -but that colour suits the Trav very well!

[LouiseM]

It can be a bit of an acquired taste but limeflower is a rare colour and the navy blue interior goes well with it

[CherryPeeks]

I'm in a dilemma....I really don't like the colour, and didn't intend to buy a traveller to do up and sell on, so I want to spray her the colour I want her to be and keep her foreve. However, if limeflower is rare and desirable.......

[plastic_orange]

A complete colour change is expensive - done by a pro will be £2.5k+. If you are prepared to do the dismantling yourself then it will come down a bit though.
I would caution getting a respray, or any paintwork until you fully appraise the car's structure. Once this is A1, then go ahead with paint. Join you local club so that someone can advise you after seeing the car.
Limeflower isn't my fave colour, but it is different, and you won't come across many others.

Pete

[CherryPeeks]

Thanks Pete. I'm going to give it a good ponder

[les]

I think the colour looks great and rather modern but it's not my car!

[brucek]

Here's what a re-painted Limeflower Traveller looks like http://www.flickr.com/photos/28240497@N06/2636259616/

At the end of the day, it's now your car to do with as you please. The navy interior will work with a white car too so at least you won't need to buy a new interior if you do change the colour. Whilst Limeflower is a fairly rare colour and only used on the last Travellers, it's certainly an accquired taste - and one which some never accquire.

[Gilesv]

A complete colour change is expensive - done by a pro will be £2.5k+. If you are prepared to do the dismantling yourself then it will come down a bit though.
I would caution getting a respray, or any paintwork until you fully appraise the car's structure. Once this is A1, then go ahead with paint. Join you local club so that someone can advise you after seeing the car.
Limeflower isn't my fave colour, but it is different, and you won't come across many others.

Pete

Well done on your purchase, it looks a good, sound car to me. I think the above is very sound advice and I personally like the colour. It is very unusual, so in my view, it's a shame to change it (if it was Teal Blue I'd be suggesting you change it to Limeflower!), but good luck with with ever you decide.

[CherryPeeks]

Thanks for your comments and advice. In all honesty I would not be at all happy to keep her limeflower, and the only reason I would do so is if I was going to do her up and sell her on, which I never planned to do.

Our inspection has found that the chassis, floors, sills, inner wings etc are all sound and require no work, and hopefully the garage will support this when she goes up on the ramps on Wednesday.

If there's a genuine reason to keep her limeflower, then I'd be daft not to consider it, but I would have to sell her on and continue the search for my preferred colour. I love her already but I just know I don't like that colour :-/

Would it be wise to bring her back to her original glory and then sell her on, or make her the car I always wanted and keep her?

[simmitc]

When you "do" a Traveller properly, you will usually spend more money than you can realistically get back by selling it on. It's your car for you to do with as you wish, and although limeflower is one of the rarer colours for a Minor, it is not historically significant. My travellers had limeflower interiors. Impossible to replace (I used to work for the company that made the material, and we simply could not run the production line in a small enough quantity to get the colour). Both cars are now biscuit - a non-minor colour, but it works very well with the teal blue paint (despite what others may say, that IS a fantastic colour!). My first sludge grey (rose taupe) traveller soon became maroon. One trafalgar blue became teal blue. In short, you have already bonded with the car, you want OEW, you have OEW. Compared to what other do with the cars, a change of colour is nothing

[CherryPeeks]

Thank you! That's really reassuring I want to make her beautiful again, and keep her and love her.

x

[lambrettalad]

I've never ever seen a moggie that colour but I must say it's very up to date and looks FAB

[PaulTubby]

If the car is solid and good, you have hit gold! alot of bodged examples out there. In my opion, paint it the colour you want, enjoy it, keep it and use it! also looking at the photo, is the passenger rear wing fibrelass, looks cracked at the rear edge, if so this would be easier to replace then repair to be honest as once they crack they never seem to be the same even when repaired and briged and strengthen from behind. Make sure once its been painted to waxoyl, dinitrol the underside and box sections, plus i would check under the kick plates, the panels on the sills under the doors.... these bolt on and off and have a good look in there when assessing its true condition

[bmcecosse]

You should make the car any colour YOU wish - nothing wrong with creamy OEW - indeed my own Trav is that colour. But as others have pointed out - to completely change the colour is a LOT of work and therefore not cheap - and you are also working to a deadline..... The existing panels can be easily/cheaply/quickly repaired and sprayed Limeflower - and then later, if you really don't grow to like it (and Limeflower looks it's best in bright/summer weather) you can go for the complete strip down/colour change respray. Well done getting rid of the ghastly reflective number plates......