So some wee updates as to the state of cars in my fleet is probably due...
Sadly the jobs on the 1850HL never got done, the car proved to be a nightmare to work on with every nut and bolt rusted and seized solid, my mental health deteriorated fairly rapidly while money was always tight. I had gotten rid of my only modern car in order to rid myself of the finance payments and be able to afford to move out of my parent's house. I never expected the 1850HL to need so much work for it's MOT and at the time (early 2015) it was my daily transport. With my recent house move having drained my finances I started using my Dolomite 1300 as daily transport out of necessity for my 60 mile daily commute.
I ended up spending pretty much all my time and money on keeping the 1300 going so I could get to and from work while the 1850HL slowly dissolved in the sea air outside my house... I would start it and run it up to temp on a regular basis until the fuel line along the underside burst! I was also having problems with rust being pulled up from the tank.
I then had the car moved to a friend's place up the road as he had a shed to store the thing in and could weld.
Once there we started poking and discovered that large areas of the car were held together with underseal or paint, namely the front bulkhead, chassis legs, boot floor, front valance, boot lid, rear bulkhead and wheel arches. It also seemed that the subframe was partially being held in by the steering column.
In early 2017 I lost my job at the height of my depression and realised I needed to move house. I gifted the 1850HL to the mate who's shed I was keeping it in and he has been tinkering with it on and off since.
From what I understand it still runs/drives and the brakes have been sorted, various structural areas have been welded and cosmetic bits have just been fibreglassed. It is currently moving back to roadworthiness
very slowly on the budget of absolutely nothing...