A Tale of two TRs
In the beginning or part 1 whichever you prefer!
I purchased my Persian Aqua TR7 DHC in April of 2003 having briefly considered what to buy to satisfy my craving for classic motoring. You may well ask, ‘what on earth possessed you to buy a TR7!’ and the simple answer would be nostalgia and price in that order.
The nostalgia element of the purchase harks back to about 1978 when I purchased my first TR7 a boringly white FHC that I loved with a passion, for unlike the other sports cars of the day it was nice to drive, it stayed dry and even got warm in winter, the ride was in a different league to the other contemporary British offerings and it was quick and went round bends. What more could I have wanted? Well as you clearly need to know, it would have been nice to have a more racy colour (red would have been good), it would have been nice if it sounded like a 6 cylinder TR6 and it really, really would have been nice if the rest of the British sports car fraternity had accepted it as a proper sports car. After all it had an overhead cam engine which boasted over 100hp, there was no separate chassis and it had a modern shape with gizmos like pop up headlights blah blah blah!
Ok I can sense that you are still not convinced but I needed the trip down memory lane and this car looked the part, went well and was well within my very limited budget at the time. The intervening period has been a blast too, the car has been reliable and most of all, it has been used regularly and would you believe, it has never failed an MOT in all the time that I have owned it (notice that I refer to it as IT as I don’t believe that cars should be given names and certainly not the names of women, come to think of it that’s probably why it has behaved so well!!)
The Puchase
Having spent some few months looking around and journeying to odd places like Birmingham to view some real tatty offerings at really silly money it was suggested that I contact Yorkshire Triumph near Goole as the guy there had a couple of lateish models in stock and the price was in the right area, so off I went.
The two cars available were an 81 model which was totally original but quite untidy bodily and of course the 1980 model in Persian Aqua which I finally bought. Interestingly the vendor seemed very keen for me to take the 81 model as it was a more honest vehicle (for honest read, lacking in body filler) but it ran like a dog and looked like one too and as I needed more of a rolling restoration than a project car I resisted his bias towards the 81. I hated the colour as well, it reminded me of school ink, you know, the sort that resided in the dipping well on the top edge of the desk (this article is clearly aimed at older people and scholars of ancient history).
So off I went, having parted with my hard earned cash, and with my wife Sue in close pursuit in the Daily Driver, for a quick flirt down the motorway heading for home.
With hindsight and to be fair it was inevitable that such a pretty car would eventually show the signs of a previous restoration and sure enough after about three years all the usual places exhibited bubbling paint and rusty tear stains. At least I now know where to start digging and grinding when I am ready to start my own restoration, or will I, as I now have a hankering after a TR6, but that is another story yet to be told.
This story is not over by a long way, HOK 70W has covered some 6000 miles in the last 7 years and in that time has provided our family with hours of fun motoring at almost zero cost.
Over that period of time I worked steadily on the car improving and repairing where necessary and of course enjoying the pleasures of open top motoring at every opportunity, my repairs included replacing shocks at the front and at the same time replacing suspension bushes and track rod ends all of which improved the ride and handling which was getting a bit soggy to say the least. I then moved on to replace the clutch assembly to cure a slipping clutch when warm and also the noisy release bearing. This was followed by the removal of the viscous coupled fan and replaced it with a home spun electric fan which was made up as follows. The fan itself came from Rimmers who were selling off new and unused (but old stock) Rover Fans which just happened to have a diameter that matched the TR7s radiator size, the thermostatic switch was already in place at the side of the radiator because it turns out that someone had fitted a radiator off an American car that had air con fitted. I removed the switch and tested it in a pan of water on the gas ring with thermometer and circuit tester in attendance and was delighted to find that it switched at between 82 and 87 degrees Celsius. The switch was replaced on the radiator and wired in to the fan with a fused relay to take care of the power demands of the Rover Fan, I also wired in a manual over ride switch but in all honesty never had to use it as the thermostatic switch worked a treat cutting in and out at the perfect temperature, the relay doing its job of protecting the switch from current overload. It was difficult at times to leave the car in a car park after a run because as the residual heat dissipated from the block as I turned the engine off, the fan cut in and ran to keep the temperature down, this state of affairs only ever lasted a minute or two before the fan cut out as the water temperature dropped to acceptable levels. I, of course, finally got to trust the system and all was well until the day I sold the car in 2010. The electric fan also had the benefit of reducing the noise that the viscous coupled device makes even at low engine speeds.
One fateful day I decided to attempt to cure a small exhaust leak from the head to manifold joint and in so doing managed to break off two of the fixing studs and so decided to remove the head to effect a repair to the studs. This small job, as all small jobs do, lasted about two weeks as one after another the head studs either broke or refused to move in the head, clearly 30 odd years of never being moved had caused them to bond to the head and no amount of soaking in WD40 and diesel fuel would free them off. I finally had to pry the head away from the block enough to feed in a hack saw blade and cut the offending items in half. The head, I decided to send off to a specialist firm, Beckett and Garner, in Sheffield whilst I tried to drill out the threaded remains of the studs from the block. The removal of the head did allow me to confirm that the cylinder bores were still in good condition and also to diagnose worn rings particularly on number one piston causing some degree of piston slap when cold. Lack of funds did not allow me the luxury of removing the engine for a re-ring so it was decided to re-assemble as it was and see how things went. A good decision as it happens as the engine went on to perform faultlessly for several more years right up to the sale of the car in 2010.
Over the years I made extensive use of Robsport for supply of bits for the car both new, and in some cases, used parts, there was also no small measure of advice and guidance freely given by Simon.
The car was used regularly for classic runs in the Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Leicestershire area over the years and provided hours of fun and economical classic motoring for my wife Sue and I. My son Oliver also used the car for the last three years to take part in the Classic Runs that I organised, indeed some of the best pictures that I have of the car in action were taken when he was driving.
In August of 2010 I retired from 38 years of secondary teaching and decided it was time to acquire my next car and so the search was started for a TR6 to form a rolling restoration that I could occupy myself with in retirement.
It is worth mentioning at this juncture that I have very clear views about the types of restoration that I want to undertake, whilst I fully understand and admire those who are driven to concourse restorations I would not have the nerve to use a car that was in better than new condition and that had cost more to restore than it would ever be worth. This philosophy led me to formulate a stance on restorations that dictates that the car must look nice, it must run well, it must be capable of being used in any weather and it must be an individual like its owner and not some blue printed clone of a car.
So yes, I am happy to modify my cars away from the original spec, by doing such things as, upgrading fuel pumps on TR6s, improving brakes and suspension systems using new and technologically improved components, replacing original seats with more modern and safer designs. All these things fall into my acceptance of what a restoration should be based on but more than that I believe that for me to gain maximum satisfaction from the restoration I have to do as much of the work myself as humanly possible and farm out to so called specialists only those tasks that I am not able, or equipped, to do in my own workshop.
I believe in repairing rather than replacing where possible, I also believe that where items are purchased new they should be checked for suitability as many manufacturers of replacement parts are making sub-standard items that are not fit for purpose. A perfect example of which cropped up recently when I replaced an original throttle cable with a new one only to find that the new ones only lasted for a few miles before failing through faulty workmanship. (more of this later in the saga)
Back to the hunt for a suitable TR6 to form my rolling restoration. I had been keeping a look out for suitable cars for some months, talking to members of the South Yorkshire TR Drivers and TR Register group to find out what their advice would proffer. I also concluded that there were a good many nice looking cars out there that were a long way from what I would call genuine and honest, with a large proportion of the ones that I cast an eye over hiding a great many mechanical faults under a pretty outer skin and paint job yet asking top dollar in terms of price.
Remember my mantra that the car must be worth what had been spent on it or at least vey near to that.
I also had the problem of getting rid (what a harsh term that is!) of my TR7 as I simply did not have the room for two cars nor the funds to maintain both. In all honesty the TR7 was not going to be worth much, in fact at one point I was tempted to trade it in under the Cash For Clunkers scheme that the government was running to entice people to buy fuel efficient new cars in order to get a respectable price, but in the end decided not to in order to avoid yet another car being lost to the crusher. So the search continued!
I must express my gratitude to all those who offered advice on purchasing my first TR6, sadly I reached information overload very quickly, computing all the advice collected clearly indicated that some critical decisions had to be made and key factors were
In the beginning or part 1 whichever you prefer!
I purchased my Persian Aqua TR7 DHC in April of 2003 having briefly considered what to buy to satisfy my craving for classic motoring. You may well ask, ‘what on earth possessed you to buy a TR7!’ and the simple answer would be nostalgia and price in that order.
The nostalgia element of the purchase harks back to about 1978 when I purchased my first TR7 a boringly white FHC that I loved with a passion, for unlike the other sports cars of the day it was nice to drive, it stayed dry and even got warm in winter, the ride was in a different league to the other contemporary British offerings and it was quick and went round bends. What more could I have wanted? Well as you clearly need to know, it would have been nice to have a more racy colour (red would have been good), it would have been nice if it sounded like a 6 cylinder TR6 and it really, really would have been nice if the rest of the British sports car fraternity had accepted it as a proper sports car. After all it had an overhead cam engine which boasted over 100hp, there was no separate chassis and it had a modern shape with gizmos like pop up headlights blah blah blah!
Ok I can sense that you are still not convinced but I needed the trip down memory lane and this car looked the part, went well and was well within my very limited budget at the time. The intervening period has been a blast too, the car has been reliable and most of all, it has been used regularly and would you believe, it has never failed an MOT in all the time that I have owned it (notice that I refer to it as IT as I don’t believe that cars should be given names and certainly not the names of women, come to think of it that’s probably why it has behaved so well!!)
The Puchase
Having spent some few months looking around and journeying to odd places like Birmingham to view some real tatty offerings at really silly money it was suggested that I contact Yorkshire Triumph near Goole as the guy there had a couple of lateish models in stock and the price was in the right area, so off I went.
The two cars available were an 81 model which was totally original but quite untidy bodily and of course the 1980 model in Persian Aqua which I finally bought. Interestingly the vendor seemed very keen for me to take the 81 model as it was a more honest vehicle (for honest read, lacking in body filler) but it ran like a dog and looked like one too and as I needed more of a rolling restoration than a project car I resisted his bias towards the 81. I hated the colour as well, it reminded me of school ink, you know, the sort that resided in the dipping well on the top edge of the desk (this article is clearly aimed at older people and scholars of ancient history).
So off I went, having parted with my hard earned cash, and with my wife Sue in close pursuit in the Daily Driver, for a quick flirt down the motorway heading for home.
With hindsight and to be fair it was inevitable that such a pretty car would eventually show the signs of a previous restoration and sure enough after about three years all the usual places exhibited bubbling paint and rusty tear stains. At least I now know where to start digging and grinding when I am ready to start my own restoration, or will I, as I now have a hankering after a TR6, but that is another story yet to be told.
This story is not over by a long way, HOK 70W has covered some 6000 miles in the last 7 years and in that time has provided our family with hours of fun motoring at almost zero cost.
Over that period of time I worked steadily on the car improving and repairing where necessary and of course enjoying the pleasures of open top motoring at every opportunity, my repairs included replacing shocks at the front and at the same time replacing suspension bushes and track rod ends all of which improved the ride and handling which was getting a bit soggy to say the least. I then moved on to replace the clutch assembly to cure a slipping clutch when warm and also the noisy release bearing. This was followed by the removal of the viscous coupled fan and replaced it with a home spun electric fan which was made up as follows. The fan itself came from Rimmers who were selling off new and unused (but old stock) Rover Fans which just happened to have a diameter that matched the TR7s radiator size, the thermostatic switch was already in place at the side of the radiator because it turns out that someone had fitted a radiator off an American car that had air con fitted. I removed the switch and tested it in a pan of water on the gas ring with thermometer and circuit tester in attendance and was delighted to find that it switched at between 82 and 87 degrees Celsius. The switch was replaced on the radiator and wired in to the fan with a fused relay to take care of the power demands of the Rover Fan, I also wired in a manual over ride switch but in all honesty never had to use it as the thermostatic switch worked a treat cutting in and out at the perfect temperature, the relay doing its job of protecting the switch from current overload. It was difficult at times to leave the car in a car park after a run because as the residual heat dissipated from the block as I turned the engine off, the fan cut in and ran to keep the temperature down, this state of affairs only ever lasted a minute or two before the fan cut out as the water temperature dropped to acceptable levels. I, of course, finally got to trust the system and all was well until the day I sold the car in 2010. The electric fan also had the benefit of reducing the noise that the viscous coupled device makes even at low engine speeds.
One fateful day I decided to attempt to cure a small exhaust leak from the head to manifold joint and in so doing managed to break off two of the fixing studs and so decided to remove the head to effect a repair to the studs. This small job, as all small jobs do, lasted about two weeks as one after another the head studs either broke or refused to move in the head, clearly 30 odd years of never being moved had caused them to bond to the head and no amount of soaking in WD40 and diesel fuel would free them off. I finally had to pry the head away from the block enough to feed in a hack saw blade and cut the offending items in half. The head, I decided to send off to a specialist firm, Beckett and Garner, in Sheffield whilst I tried to drill out the threaded remains of the studs from the block. The removal of the head did allow me to confirm that the cylinder bores were still in good condition and also to diagnose worn rings particularly on number one piston causing some degree of piston slap when cold. Lack of funds did not allow me the luxury of removing the engine for a re-ring so it was decided to re-assemble as it was and see how things went. A good decision as it happens as the engine went on to perform faultlessly for several more years right up to the sale of the car in 2010.
Over the years I made extensive use of Robsport for supply of bits for the car both new, and in some cases, used parts, there was also no small measure of advice and guidance freely given by Simon.
The car was used regularly for classic runs in the Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Leicestershire area over the years and provided hours of fun and economical classic motoring for my wife Sue and I. My son Oliver also used the car for the last three years to take part in the Classic Runs that I organised, indeed some of the best pictures that I have of the car in action were taken when he was driving.
In August of 2010 I retired from 38 years of secondary teaching and decided it was time to acquire my next car and so the search was started for a TR6 to form a rolling restoration that I could occupy myself with in retirement.
It is worth mentioning at this juncture that I have very clear views about the types of restoration that I want to undertake, whilst I fully understand and admire those who are driven to concourse restorations I would not have the nerve to use a car that was in better than new condition and that had cost more to restore than it would ever be worth. This philosophy led me to formulate a stance on restorations that dictates that the car must look nice, it must run well, it must be capable of being used in any weather and it must be an individual like its owner and not some blue printed clone of a car.
So yes, I am happy to modify my cars away from the original spec, by doing such things as, upgrading fuel pumps on TR6s, improving brakes and suspension systems using new and technologically improved components, replacing original seats with more modern and safer designs. All these things fall into my acceptance of what a restoration should be based on but more than that I believe that for me to gain maximum satisfaction from the restoration I have to do as much of the work myself as humanly possible and farm out to so called specialists only those tasks that I am not able, or equipped, to do in my own workshop.
I believe in repairing rather than replacing where possible, I also believe that where items are purchased new they should be checked for suitability as many manufacturers of replacement parts are making sub-standard items that are not fit for purpose. A perfect example of which cropped up recently when I replaced an original throttle cable with a new one only to find that the new ones only lasted for a few miles before failing through faulty workmanship. (more of this later in the saga)
Back to the hunt for a suitable TR6 to form my rolling restoration. I had been keeping a look out for suitable cars for some months, talking to members of the South Yorkshire TR Drivers and TR Register group to find out what their advice would proffer. I also concluded that there were a good many nice looking cars out there that were a long way from what I would call genuine and honest, with a large proportion of the ones that I cast an eye over hiding a great many mechanical faults under a pretty outer skin and paint job yet asking top dollar in terms of price.
Remember my mantra that the car must be worth what had been spent on it or at least vey near to that.
I also had the problem of getting rid (what a harsh term that is!) of my TR7 as I simply did not have the room for two cars nor the funds to maintain both. In all honesty the TR7 was not going to be worth much, in fact at one point I was tempted to trade it in under the Cash For Clunkers scheme that the government was running to entice people to buy fuel efficient new cars in order to get a respectable price, but in the end decided not to in order to avoid yet another car being lost to the crusher. So the search continued!
I must express my gratitude to all those who offered advice on purchasing my first TR6, sadly I reached information overload very quickly, computing all the advice collected clearly indicated that some critical decisions had to be made and key factors were
· The chosen TR6 must have a good chassis and under body that would not require a body off restoration.
· It must be a 150 bhp fuel injected model (difficult to say why other than I fancied wrestling with the injection system)
· The drive train must be in serviceable condition with over drive working.
· Colour was not an issue as long as it wasn’t green. I really wanted a red one at first but there are so many of them around that I sort of lost interest in red after a while.
In September and October of 2010 I sallied forth and viewed a couple of examples that looked great in the adverts but in the flesh were as far from honest examples as it was possible to get, a situation that I found very dispiriting very quickly. I dragged myself all the way to York (some 60 miles from my home to look at a red 1972 example that was described as a private sale but which was quite obviously being sold by a dealer from home. It was a top price car which screamed its problems at me, it ran roughly on 4 or 5 cylinders, the inside smelled of fusty carpets and seat covers, the underside was dripping with fresh black waxoil, some of the instruments did not work, the key one of which was the oil pressure gauge, and the paint on the outside was freshly sprayed whilst the inners surfaces were tatty to say the least. The owner got very shirty with me when I lifted the carpets to look at the floor pan and kept insisting that everything was in good order. This car ticked none of my boxes so I left well alone and set off for the 60 mile drive home, much to the chagrin of the owner.
End of Part 1.
End of Part 1.
HOK 70W takes a bath courtesy of Tony’s son Oliver.
Tony gets six appeal at last seen here part restored in Sept 2011