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Alzax3
30-12-2011, 06:05 PM
Don't usually get many of our kits over Christmas, but someone has a nice looking project up for grabs here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VW-AVANTE-KIT ... 35b842f7f0 (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VW-AVANTE-KIT-CAR-1963-/230724663280?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item35b842f7f0)

I seem to remember a rather clueless person on the old Nova International forum posting about this one, (can't be another water-cooled Avante in Sussex surely?) and that it had severe airlocking/overheating/potential head gasket issues. Since from the photos it looks like it's been parked on the beach ever since(!) problems with that particular engine may now be academic! Looks like the screen may be doing the usual round the edges, but the car still looks attractive however much work it actually needs........

Spacenut
30-12-2011, 10:17 PM
Love the brightwork around the screen - proper old skool bonded look. Where can I get some of that???

Interesting offset on the front wheels - the Series 1 Esprit used the same mix of Wolfies front and rear.

Engine is looking a little rusty, as you say :bye2:

doctor924
31-12-2011, 01:14 PM
Looks good - interested in this - but will depend upon cost of delivery - it is a loooong way from me..

islandman
31-12-2011, 02:12 PM
Love the brightwork around the screen - proper old skool bonded look. Where can I get some of that???

Phil use to have the same sort of thing on his yellow avante. If I remember rightly he simply cut it from 4 pieces of thin aluminum and bonded it onto of the glass to give it a more "finished" look

Vasco Da Gamer
01-01-2012, 04:14 PM
Hi All

Tell you what - the photographs on the E-Bay advert don't do this car justice, I live just a couple of miles away from Pevensey so me and a friend went and looked at it earlier today - in the pouring rain.....

We didn't get to see in the engine bay but the car looks seriously good in the flesh (the first time I have seen an Avante in fact). It's a really nice shade of subtle green (looks more grey in the photographs) with hardly any damage - just a chip out of it here and there. The ride height is just right, the rear end treatment exactly as it should be (simple lights, no spoiler, exhaust exiting neatly from the bumper) and the front kept simple too (just a droopy headlamp cover to fix).

I love the seats by the way - they would look great in my Nova, does anyone know what they are from ?

It does start, but the owner doesn't know if there are overheating problems. The radiator is in the front and whilst there do not appear to be any extra vents to let air out I doubt they are necessary given there is no under-bonnet space to restrict air flow (I hadn't realised the Avante has no opening bonnet....).

If I were still looking for a car I would snap this up - it has that 'it' factor which is hard to define. It does clearly need a LOT of work, but will be more than worth it I think.

Regards from

Steve

Spacenut
01-01-2012, 06:39 PM
Phil use to have the same sort of thing on his yellow avante. If I remember rightly he simply cut it from 4 pieces of thin aluminum and bonded it onto of the glass to give it a more "finished" look

So can you get pre-manufactured corner radii as well then? That's what this Avante seems to have. Looks very professional, although obviously the visible obscuration banding is in need of some attention.

Looks like an interesting project car for someone...

Lauren

Vasco Da Gamer
01-01-2012, 08:20 PM
Oh yes, sorry Lauryn; I did have a good look at the windscreen surround and it does not help you to say that it looks like a professional one - the radii are perfect and it's in two pieces - the finish points being at each side of the base of the windscreen. Some of the rubber surround under the stainless was shrinking a little but it did not appear to be leaking at all. Definitely looked good.

The screen edge issues could not bee seen in the appalling rainstorm that we looked at it under, but look no worse than many others I have seen in the photographs (including my own - which is going in the same place).

I have no idea what the chassis is like though - I was wet enough without lying down in the shingle.....

Personally I am not keen on the un-dished Wolfies at the front.

Steve

Spacenut
01-01-2012, 09:33 PM
Hi Steve - I agree they are not a good look, but their use on the Esprit was purely functional, to reduce steering effort and kick-back through the steering, while still allowing wide tyres to be used. Its not the first time I have seen an Avante use this sort of offset up front, which leads me to conclude that some prior thought went into the original specification.

So the brightwork joins are at each bottom corner? That's interesting - most of the screen surrounds I have come across tend to be mirror image around the centreline. Due to the camber on the screen, these points tend to be the highest so water isn't encouraged to stay around!

Well done for venturing out today - I left Elsted shortly after 1pm and the rain just kept getting heavier and heavier; I was toying with the idea of dropping into Brooklands for the big classic meet there, but I'd had enough of standing around in puddles today!

Lauren

Simpatico
03-01-2012, 12:46 AM
Never been a fan of the Avante really, but that looks very subtle. Like the front wheel treatment and the colour is one I would have chosen way back when to give it a more sophisticated look (Ford Forest green isn't it? Something like it used on upmarket Ghia variants). Some nice style to the interior too, lots of potential.

Vasco Da Gamer
03-01-2012, 10:44 AM
On the front wheels I think I very much 'get' the reasons given the appallingly heavy steering and kick-back I get on my own car, and that's to say nothing of the turning circle.... although I am used to driving a car with Triumph Herald steering - which has pretty much the world's best turning circle!

Clearly Green Machine's special wiper arrangement works well since you are never afraid to do long journeys in the rain - my own first experience (no wiper blade you will remember) put me right off driving Novas in the rain, but all that's fixed now so we shall see when the car is back on the road some time this year (he said confidently).

I had never thought about where the join points on windscreen surrounds are before, but I assume in this instance the rather extreme shape of the windscreen meant either doing this or having the joins at the top middle and bottom middle, I would imagine a single piece would not be possible - although I know nothing about windscreen surround manufacture :-)

I thought the same as Simpatico on the interior - again the photographs don't do it justice but there is a lot of style to the bits and pieces piled in there, this car could look great with the requisite amount of effort. However I should mention that the dashboard (not photographed for good reasons) is horrible - some sort of really dated saloon car pod-bit, pushed into place (sort of) but not fitted.

Steve

Alzax3
03-01-2012, 05:45 PM
The worst thing about driving Novas in the rain (discounting leaks etc.) is the steaming up, that's harder to cope with than the wiper not clearing the screen effectively because you can't reach forwards to wipe the screen manually as you would in a grown up car...... but then that's all part of the fun! :whistling:

Alzax3
03-01-2012, 06:16 PM
Auction has ended with no bids, so I guess someone bought it ouside Ebay - anybody on here?

Spacenut
03-01-2012, 10:32 PM
The worst thing about driving Novas in the rain (discounting leaks etc.) is the steaming up

Oh yea!

Had to wait a while on Sunday before making a move for enough of the screen to clear. Even then I had to modify my return route to avoid having to look through the opaque nearside window! Side demister vents are top of the priority list in the dashboard redesign!

Lauren

Vasco Da Gamer
04-01-2012, 08:41 AM
:laugh: Until the new dashboard is done I recommend Rain-X; funnily enough just about the only problem I didn't have on my journey down from Stoke was misting up from the inside because of that stuff....

It probably also helped that the car was previously kept in a dry garage and hardly ever driven - it would be a different matter now; outside under a tarpaulin and mysteriously damp as hell inside anyway.... Condensation I suppose.

Didn't think of side demisters.... reckon I can still do them though, there's space. But for heating I will have to add heat exchangers and ducting.... bit of a way to go there!

The owner may have simply withdrawn the car - he was in two minds about keeping it on E-Bay, I said it was probably worth it but evidently I was wrong.

doctor924
13-06-2012, 06:47 AM
Its back ...and moved further north - but still the same pics in use to sell the avante,
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/180905126756? ... 1438.l2649 (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/180905126756?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649)

Peter
13-06-2012, 09:25 AM
Don't people read, "So you want to biuld a kit car", :confused1: another case of starting a project without thinking it though and asking, "do I have the time and resourses to complete it?" IMHO, Classic case of buggering up a perfectly good car, :cry: I liked the original headlights, The V20 coupe headlights look good on an SS or a Nova :thumbup: but not on this Avante, too far forward. :thumbdown:
Changing the engine for a gutless 1300!, WTF. :facepalm: at least go 1600 or 1641 and that exhaust is doing no one any favours, the back end did look good but now it horrible.
Gone from just needing the engine tarting up and the trim sorting to a major restoration. Had I lived in the UK at the time I would have snapped up the first listing on ebay like a shot but not this time, I don't buy work. :bye2:

doctor924
20-06-2012, 10:09 AM
Its back again - after a duff buyer on ebay...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... ink:top:en (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180910724398&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en)