THE BIG RESTORATION
Ian Wells has dreamt of this ever since he saw a pink PA on the cover of Practical Classics
Ian Wells is under no illusions: ‘I blame Practical Classics for this affliction, my obsession with owning an early PA.’ From that 1996 Spring edition, when he was only 12 years of age and saw the pictures of the beautiful pink Cresta, his mind was made up, ‘I would one day own one.’ Moving on 19 years, to 2015, a PA owning friend of Ian’s told him of a very early three window model that was lying in someone’s front garden. It took a lot of persuading for the owner, Mal Peters – who is well known in PA circles – to agree to sell the car to him, but the main caveat was the condition that it would be fully restored.
‘Of course, I jumped at the chance,’ smiles Ian, ‘within a week I had arranged for the car to be transported to my home. I had a rough estimate of the delivery time and so you can imagine what it was like for me, as I was like a little boy in a sweetshop awaiting its delivery with bated breath.’
Once the car was in the workshop, Ian conducted a full assessment. ‘I knew just how these Vauxhall models suffered from tin worm and I wasn’t disappointed!’ The sills, both inner and outer, were completely rotted through. The passenger door A-post had come away from the main body, while the rear body below the screen was flexing. Floors were almost non-existent. Front scuttle and lower bulkhead had rotted through. The bonnet had seen better days, as well as both front and rear wings, which were in the same condition.
‘I sat down and gave myself a talking to and questioned myself as to what had I let myself in for? However, it was the point of no return, plus it was my dream car being an early 1958 model. I could not afford the figure required to buy a minter, so there was no choice other than to get stuck in and put my skills to the ultimate test.’ Some good friends, namely Steve Godden and Andy Finch, who had both restored and owned PAs, helped Ian with locating parts. Early three-window models are difficult to source bits for, as a lot of the fixings were unique to them. But Ian managed to find a complete rust-free floor on a crashed vehicle, meaning a long trip from Sussex to Ipswich followed. ‘I had to ratchet strap the whole floor to the roof of my Vauxhall Zafira,’ Ian laughs. ‘I couldn't use a roof rack due to the weight of it, so you can imagine what a careful journey back it was.’
So it begins
The firs
