Update on this car! I contacted the lady in question, who'd just moved into a small flat in Church Stretton from her house in a nearby village, following the death of her husband. They owned the car, a silver H-reg, 1.8ie for 18 years. They'd only used it during summer months as they lived in Zimbabwe during the winter. She let me have a good look around the car, which was taxed and MOTd. It's been serviced by the same chap at the same garage for 18 years. Everything electrical worked, sunroof, windows etc and the engine, although a little oily, sounded fine. Every single panel on the car was scratched, dented or creased but it was solid in all the crucial places. Her sons were trying to persuade her to take advantage of the scrappage scheme. To be honest she really didn't want to scrap it, professing to really enjoy driving her Lancia, loving the way it drives. I left, leaving my number with her and a reasonable offer, but she never called.
Yesterday, I had call to drive through Church Stretton and in the same parking space where I saw the Dedra, was a shiny, new Hyundai i10
So it looks like a perfectly useable older Lancia has been needlessly scrapped. Nice one Mr Brown. On Friday, I'll be in Shrewsbury, where the Hyundai dealer is located, so I'll see if it's still there. You never know, we might be able to salvage some headlights.
Lee
