The co-incidence:
Once upon a time, there were two men, one in the south of England and one in Zurich. Both bought a new Volvo 480 Turbo in white. Both loved their cars, kept them dry stored, and never sold them. Both men died. Both men had a son who, as executor, was tasked with finding the 480 a new home. The sons lived just 5 miles apart. One car became my Lily, the other R4. In a few weeks they will be one each end of my front garden.
It was real deja-vu this afternoon driving down the same lanes to visit R4 as when we looked at Lily. We went over to complete the paperwork and start the drying process. Pleased to say the rear hatch went up enthusiastically, so gas struts fine. The boot had less water in than I had anticipated, so the boot carpet didn't need swathes of giant plastic bags to stop it leaking on our Saabs carpet. It is now residing in the bath until it stops dripping, at which point I will shampoo it. The boot was pleasingly sound with just surface rust, but the toolkit had been wrapped in a canvas sack which was obviously home to a mouse. The resident shot out and disappeared under a back seat as soon as I touched the nest (thanks to a warning from Arthur I was wearing thick rubber gloves) Stinky nest went into a plastic carrier bag as well as the remnants of the book of maps that had been chomped up for nest lining, and the slight wet patch under the left indicator cluster was dried with a towel.
On opening the rear left door I found the puddle in the footwell considerably deeper than anticipated - I think the water must have got into the boot in the bad storm we had just before Christmas and now drained to the footwell. it had even started to flood the front footwell. The top edge of the left rear cluster is broken off and was full of soggy sludge so probably the culprit. Al used a small plastic tub to bail out the worst of the water then put thick wodges of newspaper down with the toolkit on top to encourage the water to soak up ready for disposal when the car arrives here. I went all round the car scooping composted leaves, twigs, moss etc off to try to remove as much wet stuff as possible, then used towels to dry the worst of the wet off the insides of the windows before giving the outside a wipe down. The battery had been charged and disconnected so we didn't need our jump leads to open the windows (both worked - another bonus). We have left it with a microporous cover on in the hope of no more water getting in, and maybe even some getting out through the windows, plus Al propped the rear hatch up a few inches having disconnected the battery again. I was delighted to see the full leather interior looking in good condition - even the driver's bolster has minimal wear and so far there is no sign of mould growing on it.
I'm hoping once it's here we can get it running so I can move it about - the parking place it will occupy is too far away from the house to reach with even our longest hose or extension lead. Getting it properly dry and cleaning it up will be so much easier if we can get it into the carport but it's a very awkward turn when pushing.
The bodywork will need some attention - there are various bits of surface rust here and there as well as just starting on the arches but hopefully either R1 or R3 will be sold in the not-too-distant future to return some of the cash spent on them back to the donation pool. That being the case we can treat it to a bodyshop visit once Jeff has worked his magic on the mechanical side of things. The worst damage is on the driver's door (left that is), which looks to have been hit fairly hard by something small and solid, leaving a dent and some distortion. Possibly, the white breaker our northern rescue team are hoping to aquire will have a rust free door we can swap. Fingers crossed on that one.
mouse swimming pool
swimming pool overflow
driver's bolster
very little rust here
rust above the damaged left cluster, invisible till I scooped the thick layer of sludge out
rust above the good right cluster
rust under the rear hatch
n/side door damage
split seal off side
split seal n/side and delamination in the corner of the screen
hope it doesnt blow away !
Pleased to see it's parked on gravel instead of left in a field (it's at a farm)
