Thanks guys for the well wishing, and for your travel info Laird. Getting the car from south to way up northwest is going to be a bit of a slug whichever way we do it, but the price seemed to me to be so good I factored that cost and the rust repairs in, and still felt we were ahead.
It was suggested that trucking the car home might be a safer (not cheaper though) option, but the BH and I decided to take a punt on driving the 600-700 miles, depending on the exact route, in a car that hasn't seen a lot of action in the last year or so, but was apparently well looked after, mechanically at least, all it's life until recently, mainly by the owner himself, who had an impressive skill set to do the job properly (marine engineer). He died recently, and the family is now selling his pride and joy with quite a degree of sadness. Just how well it's been kept up to scratch in the last couple of years is something we're taking a bit of a risk on, but all the reports from people who've seen it, the mechanic who did what work the owner didn't want to do over the years, and it's MOT record, indicate it's a good one.
We chose travelling as painlessly as we can, and not get too uptight about the cost ....bussing down to Glasgow from up near Skye and then flying down to Heathrow, which is only a few miles from the car's location. That will take all day. Then we do the handover the next day and head as gently as possible all the way up the east coast of that southern country and over the border on secondary roads to Edinburgh and finally back home, taking however long it takes, and smelling the few roses that are brave enough to bloom at this time of year, and haven't been washed away in the last few weeks.
If the car's as good as we hope, it'll be a gentle doddle and touring holiday, though maybe a damp one, in a very pleasant car. If it isn't as good, things could get embarrassing. We're in no hurry. Retirement is a wonderful career.
Currently the owner's family has it being looked after at a nearby car dealer's yard, and I've commissioned them to give it a good safety check-over and tell me if anything obvious is likely to fall off. Another piece of trust, as I don't know them at all, but we're trying to "always look on the bright side of life.... de dum, de dum, etc"
