Project Rusty Triumphs in Scotland - A diversion from automotive tat - 31/01/2025

[trigger]

Nice one! These are fun things to drive about in, if quite small!, Please remove and set fire to those tinted rear lights though!

[flat4alfa]

Looks brill, that's just a MOT station's bit of welding patch. Even my Rover 75 has one of those right there.  And that's not 35 years young either.

 

I'd forgotten about the short nobbly wiper stalk on these

 

i was going to donate my spare HBOL AND brochure to your cause.  But you are already sorted there.

 

#35 and #42 please

[flat4alfa]

if quite small!,

 

They main reason mine was disposed of so quickly.

 

Why on earth didn't they base the Ballade Sedan on the Wagon wheelbase?  It's the (shorter) hatchback Civic wheelbase on these.

[DSdriver]

fitting a condensor on the coil should cure radio crackle if it changes with engine revs 

[captain_70s]

Top stuff, looks cracking. You going to leave the awards on the parcel shelf for extra giffer points?

 

Lets have a shot of that coin holder to the right of the wheel?

Of course, nothing says "great car" like a participation rosette. My Dolly has a few on it's parcel shelf as well...

 

 

(The rubber bung transpired to be a cap for the bumper bolts).

 

Nice one! These are fun things to drive about in, if quite small!, Please remove and set fire to those tinted rear lights though!

 

It actually feels smaller inside than the Doloshite somehow. I'm not sure if it'd be possible to change gear without accidentally fisting the front seat passenger with your elbow either.

 

 

fitting a condensor on the coil should cure radio crackle if it changes with engine revs 

 

I think it's more down to the fact it's shit. It's hard to tell what's radio crackle and what's my solitary speaker dying...

 

I actually do some work on it today, extracted the snapped off downpipe flange from the manifold so hopefully can have it fixed or a new one made up... While fucking about down there I did note that the inner front valance thing has largely ceased to exist and what's left is as rigid as tinfoil. Meh, it'll be reet.

 

 

It certainly fits in with my other cars...

[plasticvandan]

Buys acclaim to solve broken car syndrome... ^ that picture^

[Isaac Hunt]

Feck me, you don't see many of thems these days.

 

A guvnor of mine had one new, he gave me a lift one day, he wasn't a petrol head or in possession of any mechanical nouse. We're down the motorway at full chat and he mutters something about getting the Acclaim in for a service. Conversationally I ask a petrol head question about what the service intervals are on these new Acclaims. He responded that he didn't know, it was its first service.............it had done 60,000 miles, yep, 60,000 and the bonnet had never been opened. I clenched up on the anticipation it was about go bang in the next five minutes and insisted that should we make our destination, I would check the oil and coolant for him as an interim measure.

 

That was my intro to the then generation of Rhonda's engineering. His was 83 on the Y as we use do say, Oporto Red Metalic iirc.

[Asimo]

There is one of these near here, a right shed it looks and it has a fantastic mot history: massive amounts of welding, endless bits and pieces year on year on year. And it's still going.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Well purchaseded.

I still have visions of an identical blue, Y plate Acclaim which twice tried to kill Pete - resident welder and general metal bodger at a garage where I used to be a weekend grease monkey in the earlyish 1990’s. The car would only have been around twelve years old at the time.

The first time was when Pete had dropped the tank in order to do some welding. I’ll never forget the look of sheer panic on his face as a welding spark dropped into the filler neck (as the tank sat close by on the ground), ignited the vapours in the neck, and led to Pete doing everything he could to put out the flames before the tank went up properly. I reckon he nigh on shit himself.

The second time was what the Acclaim did overnight. Pete foolishly left the car in the air overnight, held up on axle stand propped under the chassis rails. Next morning, when we entered the workshop, the Acclaim was on the deck. Pete assumed I’d dropped the car to wind him up. When we established the rails had collapsed and the tops of axle stands were inside the footwell, he realised that it had been a potentially lethal choice to work under the car with the stands under the rails. Luckily it hadn’t collapsed when he’d been working on it.

 

Fortunately, your Acclaim looks tidier and more loved than the blue Acclaim of my tales from years ago. Just be careful if you’re working underneath it

[georgeinabz]

Home from work, armed with daylight and my camera. Let the photo show commence:

 

First an overview:

 

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Actually looks half decent! It's had a really half arsed blow over, the exhaust is at speed bump attacking height and the front fogs and reverse lights don't work. Fuck it, £850 car yo.

 

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100% British m8. No.1 BREXIT-mobile.

 

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The interior is actually plush as fuck, has a clock and everyfink. Original pushbutton radio to listen to loads of interference and not much music on.

 

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The engine is there and does engine things. Sounds pretty normal but you've got to remember this is a Triumph.

 

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Original dealer sticker and metal plates? Damn fucking straight, son.

 

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Quality* metalwork repairs show this car was clearly loved during it's 30+ years in Aberdeenshire.

 

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A word of warning, Acclaim petrol locks turn the opposite way to Dolomite ones. Not knowing this on a rainy night in Dunfermline could see you snap your only door key in the fucking thing and require you to butcher it to retrieve the bits...

 

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The cause of my LOUD. No idea what's going on here, looks like the pipe has fallen out of the manifold (after being held in with GunGum), how does this work?

 

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Boot contains goodies inc un-smoked lights.

 

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Max flapage.

 

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Modern shit.

 

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Anybody got a pair of these?

 

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Documentation and random glovebox stuff.

 

Overall 7.8/10. Am very pleased with car, would buy again.

great choice , I had one snapped the timing belt , no damage done , good old honda

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Alusilber]

They main reason mine was disposed of so quickly.

 

Why on earth didn't they base the Ballade Sedan on the Wagon wheelbase?  It's the (shorter) hatchback Civic wheelbase on these.

 

 

Now you come to mention this, I checked out the statistics and the Acclaim wheelbase is all of 2.5 inches more than a Metro!

[egg]

I'm going to ask a question I've asked before, why are Acclaim's always a little bit down at heel? I'm sure there are a few minters left, but most seem a little unloved.

 

So glad to see this one already getting TLC.

[captain_70s]

Acclaims are cheap and popular with giffers who tend to be a bit past the point of regular car fixage. So they either tend to be minters with low miles or fucked with 120k on the clock with little inbetween.

 

Went under the car today for a poke about, couldn't make holes in any structural bits and the car was even held up on stands on the factory jacking points! The exhaust features many old repairs and sits terribly. The downpipe isn't rusted through, I reckon it's snapped due to the front mount being missing entirely and the centre mount being... This:

 

 

I also blacked the bumper corners up with linseed oil, because priorities:

 

 

Two new door keys arrived in the post as well so I can now actually lock the car, such luxury!

 

It then snowed so I fucked back off inside and taxed it.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

It's a thing of loveliness that. Health to drive and all that

 

Sent from my F3211 using Tapatalk

[captain_70s]

Couldn't resist, went for a spin to the post office to post off the V5C...

 

 

Starter motor is a bit sluggish. Might be that the battery isn't getting charged properly (the belt squeals), the alternator/starter is tired or something is draining the battery overnight. The last owner did say it'd had two new batteries very recently and he'd assumed the first was faulty and got it replaced under warranty. I also think the tyres are over inflated.

 

It is a sexy beast though...

 

[D Spares & Tyres]

I've got one of those (well it actually belongs to the Mrs,

it used to be her every day car)

 

Nice cars, should be 1000% more reliable than a Dolomite. Other than all the obvious, check for play in the wiper spindles. Mine is worn here and haven't got round to fixing it as it isn't used.

 

I also banger raced one years ago. I rolled it due to the rear suspension mounts being rotten and the car developing rear wheel steering

 

Mine* is an HL (badge snobbery)

 

Usual story. One lady owner from new. Car got locked away for a decade then unearthed when she died. We bought it about 6 years ago off the second owner

[vulgalour]

Overinflated tyres = giffer PAS.

[wuvvum]

Lets have a shot of that coin holder to the right of the wheel?

Pervert.

[flat4alfa]

I've got one of those (well it actually belongs to the Mrs, it used to be her every day car) IMG_20170517_140138.jpg

 

Looks lovely in the red.  Is that the Opporto as mentioned earlier on in the thread?

 

The Interweb has a slightly* better photo of its beauty

 

[D Spares & Tyres]

Yep that's not long after we bought it. Just after I refurbished the wheels but before I did the paintwork on it. Despite how it looks in the photo, I have welded the sills, floorpan and front valance. Also repaired the rear quarter after a Defender hit it. It had two new front wings before we bought it.

 

The colour is Ember Glow

 

Really must get it out and polish it, there really is nothing wrong with it other than the floppy wipers, its just a bit dusty.

[D Spares & Tyres]

Oporto red is darker and metallic. I had an SD1 in that colour that's how I know that.

 

Monza red is similar, that's what I thought this was initially

[M'coli]

Starter motor is a bit sluggish...

Sluggish starter could also be a poor earth between engine and battery - easily tested with a jump lead or some chunky wires bodged between engine & battery.

[flat4alfa]

Really must get it out and polish it, there really is nothing wrong with it other than the floppy wipers, its just a bit dusty.

 

Do not polish!   Sell it to me as it is 

[purplebargeken]

That exhaust was bloody low.

 

Not a bad little Acclaim that.

[D Spares & Tyres]

Some bar room bore type info for you:

 

Did you know the carbs are the same as Honda Goldwing ones

[M'coli]

^^^ and that neatly links to the Norton RCW588 using the same SU carb as the Metro 1.0HLE.

[D Spares & Tyres]

Do not polish!   Sell it to me as it is 

Bran find m9

[RoadworkUK]

I bloody love these.

 

ELR90Y was my first car, an Acclaim HL in Champagne. One owner before us - our neighbour who bought it when he retired from working as a carpenter for Harrods. It had about 27k miles on it when his widow gave it to my mum as a Christmas present in '93 - she had just passed her driving test.

 

Five years later it was mine. It still had all the dealer Mann Egerton stickers - but, like the 17-year old twat I was, I removed them in favour of Max Power stickers. Also painted the front valance black and fitted projector fogs, as well as a Dixons "Wharfedale (!!!)" CD player, two Wharfedale Valdus front speakers and a pair of Argos Goodmans boxes on the rear shelf.

 

I know it's natural to love your first car, but the Acclaim was verified as being bloody awesome by everybody I knew who drove it, some of whom had 306s, Astras and a Focus. Third gear, across country, it was really, really nippy. Incredibly reliable, too, and mine only every contracted rust from stone chips.

 

Alas, it was 'just an old car' in '99 when I sold it in favour of my first 800. Rather keen to have a go in one again, for old time's sake.

[Rod/b]

My grandad bought one (RMC396Y) when he retired, and splaffed his lump sum on a CD with dealer fit sunroof and vinyl roof. It was many luxury. He sold it to my dad when it was 2 years old because he wanted a Sierra, so he got a 2.0 Ghia (B454OLX) which made the luxury of the Acclaim look a bit naff really.

[captain_70s]

I am liking all these Acclaim tales.

 

The response to this car has been overwhelmingly positive wherever it's been seen or heard about!

This is unusual as generally my car purchases tend to result in tales of catostrophic mechanical failures, electrical fires or cars crafted out of chicken wire and cardboard...

 

Hoping to free the downpipe from the rest of the system and stick weld the flange back on. I've got a non-fitting Dolly 1300 downpipe to provide replacement sections...