However, I was contacted by a fellow forumiste who knew that I was persuadable to the idea of another project and he suggested a 1600 HF Lusso ......
We had an HF (EKB 846 L) when I was growing up, but it was before I could drive - I loved it and was itching to have a go. Unfortunately it was sold before I passed my test so I have always wondered what it would have been like to drive, so after a 35 year wait .....
This car was built in 1972 and has the correct "chairs & flares" etc, still has its bumpers and is complete and MOT'd and has done 33,000 miles. It has also been badly resprayed many years ago in a metallic Ford blue
It belonged to an American couple, Paul and Lily English who had 2 HFs , one they rallied and this , the spare car ! Unfortunately Paul died 18 months ago and Lily sold the rally car, but because this car had been stored for 9 years in a container, it took more time to get around to doing something with it.
She asked a friend who had been involved with their rally prep to get the car back on the road and sold. As expected it needed fuel , electrics and brakes doing , but it got an MOT last month and had done 8 miles since
I bought it, but unfortunately it was necessary to trailer the car to Portsmouth docks (I live more than 600 miles away in the south of France), so the first time I got to drive it was yesterday morning.
Leaving Le Havre, I was both excited and scared,and had no idea what was in store - and I had to get a move on because my wife was expecting me back last night so we could press our wines today.......
To cut a long story short, we (the HF and me) made it back last night, after 600 plus miles she gave 35 mpg, used no water and a good pint of oil. The subframe mounts came loose and she popped and banged a bit , and the wheels (flatspotted tyres
) were badly out of balance, but apart from that an unadventurous, albeit noisy drive home. As a plus, she probably has the best 5 speed ZF box I have ever driven
I stuck to a self-imposed 3500 rpm limit, just to let things settle in , but this equated to a cruising speed of about 70mph, so reasonable. With stops, it took about 12 hours
In the daylight she stills looks fab and my wife is already hooked, despite the colour
There is a lot to do to get her right, not least a bare metal respray, no time pressures though - I also have a couple of other projects to finish first !!
Many thanks to Brian Hilton who has been instrumental and hugely helpful in my getting the HF, and it was a delight to catch up with him and Fay on Saturday and have lunch at the Shuttleworth collection at Old Warden
