Project Rusty Triumphs in Scotland - Continued Crestaing - 31/10/24

[plasticvandan]

Though I believe they are now unobtainable,Reliant 850 tensioners are of a similar design,but have a hard rubber pad bonded on in the middle which the chain rubs against,surprised to see the triumph just using bare steel

[captain_70s]

13 hours ago, plasticvandan said:

Though I believe they are now unobtainable,Reliant 850 tensioners are of a similar design,but have a hard rubber pad bonded on in the middle which the chain rubs against,surprised to see the triumph just using bare steel

There is some sort of coating on the steel, presumably to reduce friction.

Depending on your point of view it's a simple design that shouldn't really go wrong, provided it's made correctly, or an indicator of how BL gained their reputation as building badly designed cars long past their sell by date.

[captain_70s]

So, the 740 was successfully MOT'd. So it did Shitefest, due to doubling as accommodation it's the obvious choice.

On the way it did develop an incontinence.

Ah, yes. The rad hoses I'd diagnosed as being fucked many moons ago. Turns out that buying new hoses and then not fitting them doesn't fix the problem.

It made it home fine with a coolant top up. I also spied some oil spilled down the side of the block that definitely wasn't there before and checking the oil level saw it significantly below the min mark! Topped up but a full service and investigation is on the cards.

The Acclaim hasn't seen any use at all aside from being driven around to swap things over on the driveway. It is currently in the garage and I should probably start welding...

So, that leaves the Dolly.

The grand plan was to get it, @MrsJuular's '75 Toledo and @blackboilersuit's '72 Toledo lined up at Festival of the Unexceptional. Given we all live within 20 miles of each other in Scotland and the show is 320 miles away in Lincolnshire this presses the endeavour more towards the "adventure" end of the journey scale. However, both Toledos had made it previously without issue. The Dolly disgraced itself at the final moment after weeks of running fine I swapped the straight water in the coolant system for proper anti-freeze which then caused an air lock which caused the car to overheat and blow it's head gasket a giddy 26 miles into the trip.

This year the car had been running very well, indeed it'd been the daily car for most of the summer. The sole problems were a crusty radiator that would seep coolant and the odd rattle from the timing chain area.

The weird issues with the tensioner were documented on the last page. I bought another, giving me three to compare. The worn out new one, an old one from a spares Spitfire engine and the brand new one. All of them were different in terms of profile and length. The most significant difference seemed to be the older (likely factory) tensioner was tight on the mounting pin, whereas the newer ones were loose and could pivot left and right a significant amount. A bit of creative clamping the new one in the vice saw it a nice snug fit and the assembly was refitted.

I also checked the chain slack against the workshop manual, it was within spec, but not by a massive amount.

A test start and run showed the weird rattle had gone! Success!

So I changed the oil.

One day I'll change the oil and it won't be full of magic sparkles, but today was not that day. Given the amount of tensioner and ground away timing cover I wasn't expecting any different.

The radiator ideally needed a re-core but time didn't allow, and given the car had never overheated under normal use (not hammering up hills in Weardale at 6,000rpm) I decided to file that under "pretend it's fine".

I also had a pair of Jaguar silencers for @Captain Slow which I'd meant to take to FOTU for him last year and never quite managed it in the chaos so I was determined to finally get rid of them. Not in the least because they're heavy and bulky and I kept knocking them over in the garage...

Obviously they weren't small, certainly too big to comfortably go in the Dolly, which would already by crammed with tools, parts and suitcases. However I remembered that @320touring had a gutter mount roofrack he was going to put on the Morris Oxford but had been thwarted by a snapped bolt, so I asked if I could borrow that.

Drilling out the broken bolt and retapping the thread saw the Dolomite wearing a stylish* period correct hat.

Amazingly this made 0 difference to the wind noise, because apparently 100% noise is as high as you can get.

I then enlisted Girlfriend_70s to help me re-hang the sagging driver's side door. Apparently only using half the nuts means it doesn't stay on right. Who'd have thunk it? This allowed me to fit...

SPROTS STRIPES.

Rather than spend money on the very good Dolomite Club set I opted for some random, significantly cheaper, ones from eBay that said they were for Dolomites and Stags. Which, given they never had the same stripes, was a good start.

They came in a pre-set roll but I wasn't happy with the gap between the two stripes as it looked too wide. So I cut it apart and laboriously aligned them by eye, one panel at a time. At first I was tempted to just leave it as the single thin line, which I'd applied first which was very classy. However the temptation of fully late 1970s chintz got the better of me so...

I also rectified some wiring to the headlight switch to solve an issue that had been present ever since I bought the car over a decade ago. Namely that the sidelight position would also turn on the headlights, but without the option of full beam. Not important, but mildly irritating.

I also mocked up some aux lamps, but I'll need to make up some brackets to avoid drilling holes in my bumper...

Finally I stuck the nose badge on with 3M tape. SHOW READY.

Convoy commence at about 11:00am Friday. Progress south was effortless and trouble free at a steady 65-70mph. We stopped at Southwaite Services for use of the facilities and to burp some air out of the Toledo's coolant system.

We diverted off the M6 to avoid a crash and a 1+ hr delay. Fun stopped as the A66 went from dual carriageway to single and we got stuck in stop-start traffic.

The Toledo suddenly cut out and wouldn't restart. We worked out this was a fuel delivery issue and suspected a duff fuel pump. I had a spare which we swapped in. However while my car was idling and providing hazard light duties it overheated!

This was not fun. The best part of an hour was spent at the roadside being yelled at by passers by, although luckily the traffic speed was low due to the congestion. A Range Rover Sport almost caused a pileup as the driver was so busy staring at us they didn't realise the traffic ahead was stationary and came to a screeching halt just in time.

We then very nearly made it to Scotch Corner before, again, the Toledo cut out. This time we managed to scrape into a layby. By now we'd summarised it must be vapour locking so set about rerouting the fuel line to be as far from the engine as possible. The factory route takes it right over the back of the engine, because Triumph hated people. Even trying to keep it up to the top of the transmission tunnel the outlet of the fuel pump sends it straight into the back of the engine block/bellhousing and it just isn't fun to keep it cool. However it actually turned out there was a glob of silicone or something inside the carb. Presumably it'd ended up in the spare pump, which had been kicking about my garage for ages.

We kept limping onwards with the Toledo sporadically dying until somewhere around Pontefract where I had to fuel up, as if I take the tank over 3/4 it leaks... Shortly after this I started getting pinging. "Shit fuel" I thought, despite the car usually running E10 from my local Gulf anyway. I'll just retard the timing a bit and all will be well.

All was not well, I could retard the timing to the point the car would barely run and it'd still ping. There was also a nasty sharp metallic clacking towards the front end of the engine when suddenly picking up the revs and a distinct rattle as they dropped. I tried richening the mix by a couple of flats (!) as well but the plugs were still pale after a run. I was now suspecting that the timing chain had stretched and the mechanical timing was drifting beyond a viable spec.

While I was faffing with ignition timing and carb mix the Toledo would inevitably vapour lock. I'd then have to disconnect the fuel line to the float bowl on the Dolly and stick it in a plastic bottle, run the Dolly off it's float bowl contents to fill the bottle to use to fill the Toledo's float bowl so it could dredge fuel up from its tank without killing the battery. At one point we only made it about 200 yards between breakdowns which caused maniacal laughter, but fatigue was setting in.

By now cruising speed on the flat was 50-55mph, to prevent my car pinking and the dreams of the pre-booked table for dinner at 19:30 were shattered. The Toledo had also ran hot again and in trying to burp the coolant it had covered everything in a 10 mile radius, including @juular with a fountain of coolant.

At least @Idriveaclassic got some good photos in passing as we plodded on.

As darkness set in a call came out over the walkie talkie "car is running hot, I think we'll have to stop".

We managed to make it to a layby but in the process the Toledo completely boiled over, leaving a trail of orange froth behind it.

It took an hour for the car to cool down enough to top up the coolant and limp it to a truck stop a few miles away and sitting in the dark with traffic flying by was pretty shit.

It was at the truck stop that @davidfowler2000 arrived with pakora and chips and @blackboilersuit arrived with a pragmatic attitude and reassurance life was worth living.

This 11pm photo taken by @juular sums it up best. 

Bizarrely, while we were parked up there in an otherwise deserted truckstop, a very enthusiastic American turned up who had planned a trip around England around FOTU. He may not have caught us at quite the best time, as British dry wit can be a bit beyond the Yanks at the best of times and tired Scots are a breed of their own. After asking @juular what the Toledo was he was majorly puzzled as to why a car would be named "Apieceofshit" although he was impressed that we'd made it there from Northern Ireland after we said we'd come down from Glasgow...

Shortly after we retreated to our respective hotels, thankfully our final few miles were uneventful aside from @davidfowler2000 doing a slalom to avoid a wayward deer.

SO finally. We all made FOTU.

The show was good. We were tired. The Toledo overheated on the way into the show field and had to be recovered home.

We were the last people to leave the show at 19:30 with @blackboilersuit giving @juular and @MrsJuular a lift home we convoyed as far as Harrogate. Where Girlfirend_70s and I were staying for the night.

The following morning we awoke and plodded north to Beamish. I filled up with super but the car was still unhappy and pinging under load so going was slow.

I made my own parking space at Beamish museum as it was heaving. After a day there we went and checked into our hotel just up the road and then went out for food. Upon parking the car I was greeted by this:

Coolant absolutely pissing out the weep hole on the new water pump that barely has 1,000 miles on it. Naturally.

I elected to ignore it. Ate dinner, topped it up, drove back to the hotel. Went to bed.

Following day, back to Beamish. Pretty confident I'll not be driving home today...

Called in the breakdown at 15:00, block in van arrived at 16:00

Took the pump off, agreed it couldn't be bodged for such a long trip. Beavertail was called in. All engaged. Bollocks. Next driver doesn't clock on till 20:00. Ugh.

The car was moved to a car park for some country walks just around the corner as Beamish shuts the gates at 18:00. There was a pub local so we went for dinner.

Car was picked up around 20:45.

Home just around midnight.

Work the following day was great*.

Anyhoos I've since pulled the radiator out to get it recored. Pulled another pump off the other 1300 engine I have kicking about, which seems older and maybe more likely to last more than 17 seconds. I've also ordered another repo one, as there is only one supplier so it's just luck of the draw as to whether one lasts...

I've also ordered a new timing chain kit. So when that arrives I'll get to measuring and try and work out what's going on in that department...

Cars eh? Not even once.

[Dick Longbridge]

Congrats on finally making it to FOTU, along with Juular's Toledo. I seem to remember you sharing photos of your Dolomite left out to pasture to probably end it's days in the same spot ages back. The fact you've not only resurrected the ungrateful old bastard but also managed to drag it to FOTU deserves a special award, I'd say. Hopefully the next set of repairs will finally reward you with reliability*. 

*Probably not

[Zelandeth]

Apparently Triumph and Rover shared notes on fuel line routing.

On the P6 it follows the offside exhaust downpipe up into the engine bay to the reserve selection valve, then jumps onto the back of the offside head, over the flywheel housing, then runs along the nearside of the block under the exhaust to the pump.  It's like they wanted to make absolutely sure the fuel was pre-heated as much as possible on the way to the engine.

Having it recirculated to the tank just about keeps vapour lock under control so long as you never stop the engine.

[juular]

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

Apparently Triumph and Rover shared notes on fuel line routing.

On the P6 it follows the offside exhaust downpipe up into the engine bay to the reserve selection valve, then jumps onto the back of the offside head, over the flywheel housing, then runs along the nearside of the block under the exhaust to the pump.  It's like they wanted to make absolutely sure the fuel was pre-heated as much as possible on the way to the engine.

Having it recirculated to the tank just about keeps vapour lock under control so long as you never stop the engine.

The daft thing is the Toledo made it to FOTU last year via all the doors (a 3 day 900 mile tour)  without a single hiccup. And it was much hotter last year. And it was getting absolutely hammered at 70+ constantly, and on back roads the throttle pedal was a binary switch.

I'm wondering if there's another reason, perhaps the inside of the metal fuel line is getting a tad frilly. But that doesn't explain why it would only happen after a stop / in crawling traffic. It does have all the symptoms of vapour lock.

[Zelandeth]

9 minutes ago, juular said:

The daft thing is the Toledo made it to FOTU last year via all the doors (a 3 day 900 mile tour)  without a single hiccup. And it was much hotter last year. And it was getting absolutely hammered at 70+ constantly, and on back roads the throttle pedal was a binary switch.

I'm wondering if there's another reason, perhaps the inside of the metal fuel line is getting a tad frilly. But that doesn't explain why it would only happen after a stop / in crawling traffic. It does have all the symptoms of vapour lock.

Increased ethanol blend in the fuel?

Hard to say, as E5/E10 just means *up to* that %age, and of course the additive/stabilisers that go with the ethanol.  So it may be that there's more volatile content in there now than there was a year ago/at whichever filling stations you used last year.

Possible timing/mixture has drifted a bit which is resulting in the under bonnet temps just getting pushed over the boiling point, or that the pump has got a bit weaker.

Tiny, tiny leak somewhere allowing air to be drawn in?  Normally the pump is able to keep up, but in that situation it's just one thing too many?

Coil breaking down at high temperature?

I agree that this is one of "those" problems which can make you tear your hair out.  Having similar fun and games with my Rover, and it's nigh on impossible to tell if it's just boiling or if it's also pulling air in from somewhere (which *shouldn't* be possible with the way the system is laid out).

Hope you do get to the bottom of it!

[Yoss]

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

Apparently Triumph and Rover shared notes on fuel line routing.

On the P6 it follows the offside exhaust downpipe up into the engine bay to the reserve selection valve, then jumps onto the back of the offside head, over the flywheel housing, then runs along the nearside of the block under the exhaust to the pump.  It's like they wanted to make absolutely sure the fuel was pre-heated as much as possible on the way to the engine.

Having it recirculated to the tank just about keeps vapour lock under control so long as you never stop the engine.

For some reason on the FWD Triumphs the fuel line runs from the front of the fuel pump, along the block, over the top of the water pump, behind the thermostat housing and in to the front carb first (if you have two). On the RWD cars the line comes out of the rear of the pump, behind the block in to the rear carb first. 

I've no idea why and both come quite close to the exhaust manifold on their way in to the carb. Going round the back is shorter so maybe it was just a money saving exercise. 

I have a heat shield on mine between the carbs and the manifold which isnt original but seems like a sensible idea when you consider the float chambers sit right above the exhaust manifold. 

[captain_70s]

The Acclaim is to be sold.  It's reliable but I just don't use it enough and it just sits around and dissolves.

Speaking of which, it needed a sill. I didn't want to sell it in too rough a condition so got it in the air and started work today.  Should have it largely wrapped up by Sunday, I mean it's just a sill... Right?

Ah.

Yes, well.

Time to accept defeat and cut my losses with this one really. There's no point in going to all the effort just to sell the thing given the values of scruffy Acclaims...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to the waste of time Olympics. I'm going for gold.

Yeah, no. I'm welding it up. Again. Doing the bits in between the bits that were done 3 years ago.

Running out of gas stopped work today but I made a good pile of rust for a few hours work...

It's all good welding practice anyways... Not that I'll need such things going forward... It's not like something far crispier and far older is supposed to be going in the garage soon or anything...

[Dyslexic Viking]

How long has it been since it was painted? Because I guess it was pretty solid then?

[captain_70s]

Painted December 2020, passed it's MOT in February 2021 So 3.5 years?

@GingerNuttz did say when we did it that it'd only be a matter of time before it'd need more work.

A bit part of the problem is the car has a thick undercoating that's almost like a layer of seam sealer. Wherever it's cracked or peeled back it's let water in. So areas that look fine and can even take a hit from the pointy hammer are actually bran flakes held together with 1.5mm of rubbery shit. It's also a nightmare to remove.

Then the floor has tar style sound deadening on the inside too. So rust sandwiched between that and the undercoating.

Most of the car is 0.8mm steel as well, so it doesn't take much for it to rot through. 

It passed it's last MOT in Feb '22!

[Dyslexic Viking]

I'm guessing there aren't many of these left when they're this bad. And a check on how many left confirms that.

Which is a shame. I find these interesting as they were never sold here and are a car I never knew about before I started reading here.

[somewhatfoolish]

28 minutes ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

I'm guessing there aren't many of these left when they're this bad. And a check on how many left confirms that.

Which is a shame. I find these interesting as they were never sold here and are a car I never knew about before I started reading here.

It's a badge-engineered Honda Ballade which in turn is a posh Civic with a boot; the Ballade wasn't sold in europe, you may have had Civics in Norway but probably not in large numbers.

[grogee]

1 hour ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

I'm guessing there aren't many of these left when they're this bad. And a check on how many left confirms that.

Which is a shame. I find these interesting as they were never sold here and are a car I never knew about before I started reading here.

I had one. 

Positives: peppy twin carb engine, Honda reliability, nice gear change, OK to work on, cheap parts. 

Negatives: Kind of 7/8ths the size of a 'real' car. I once took two six foot blokes in the back and they looked ridiculous. Woolly handling, quite basic suspension. Some things were marginal (brakes, cooling) although mine was ten years old by the time I got it. Wiper mounts rust out. Chintzy interior was very Japanese and not 'Roverized' until the replacement 200 series. Mine ate two head gaskets.

I don't think I'm being unfair, am I @captain_70s? By the way, that is a Sysiphean weldathon you have there. Good luck. 

[High Jetter]

Ace cars. I was loaned the demo to go either to the Montego/Maestro launch,  or my Unipart training course at Studley Hall. Wheelspin in 2nd, from a 1.3.

[GingerNuttz]

All the bits that weren't touched were gonna need doing at some point.

You can weld on it every year but the bits next to the new metal will need done soon after, just the circle of rust.

 

[Dick Longbridge]

Most UK Acclaims were rotten by the mid 90s at the latest. The fact this one survives and lives in the Scottish climate is a double whammy of kudos to the car and it's owners, particularly Captain 70s. 

Remember the tidy, burgundy turbo stickered Acclaim which featured on here with an enthusiast owner a few years back? At the last sighting, around 18 months ago if I remember correctly,  it was a rusty mess, and only just hanging  on. 

I hope this one is taken on by the right owner when it eventually goes on sale - it deserves to keep going a while longer yet. 

[captain_70s]

On 23/08/2024 at 22:04, grogee said:

I had one. 

Positives: peppy twin carb engine, Honda reliability, nice gear change, OK to work on, cheap parts. 

Negatives: Kind of 7/8ths the size of a 'real' car. I once took two six foot blokes in the back and they looked ridiculous. Woolly handling, quite basic suspension. Some things were marginal (brakes, cooling) although mine was ten years old by the time I got it. Wiper mounts rust out. Chintzy interior was very Japanese and not 'Roverized' until the replacement 200 series. Mine ate two head gaskets.

I don't think I'm being unfair, am I @captain_70s? By the way, that is a Sysiphean weldathon you have there. Good luck. 

That more or less sums it up, it's a tad wider than the Dolomite and a bit shorter but significantly lower in the roofline. @sdkrc couldn't even sit in the front without his head against the roof.

Engine is great in typical revvy Japanese fashion, 70bhp in a very light car. Gearbox is good with 5th being good for cruising at 70mph - It'll get 40mpg+ on a run. Handling is wooly but once you get used to it you can hustle it along quite well - As anybody who's followed me can probably attest. The ride is a bit crashy, although it's hard to say if that's just due to mine having 93k on the clock and 40 year old components. Since I replaced the rad it has never gotten above 1/3rd on the temp gauge even when ragged. Brakes are average at best, handbrake never works for more than 5 mins.

I do like it, as a turn key car you can't do much better. Mechanically I've barely had to do anything to it outside of basic servicing. It's a shame the rot like fuck, but everything rots like fuck up here anyway. As I was scraping the underseal off I was getting wet due to the amount of moisture under it.

[captain_70s]

A bit less work managed today as I was on a parts run and had to rearrange the spare  bedroom room to accommodate them...

Boxy Volvos are good.

Finished seam welding the floor patches, replicated the fucked outrigger crossmember thingy.

[vulgalour]

Sometimes you have to wonder what you did to deserve Triumphs.

[captain_70s]

10 hours ago, vulgalour said:

Sometimes you have to wonder what you did to deserve Triumphs.

War crimes in a previous life.

Decanted the contents of the Volvo into various locations and sorted it. The spare bedroom is now inoperable...

More bits of Acclaim cut out and replaced.

Not my best work, frankly, but it does connect the floors and sills together - which is all it needs to do.

[captain_70s]

So. NEW CAR STORY.

I've been looking for a 1950s cars for a couple of years ( I actually originally wanted a 1950s car back when I first got interested in classics, but budget and practicality led me down the 1970s route). This was cemented after driving @320touring's Morris Oxford and @juular's Volvo Amazon.

I like British porridge (was initially heading down the Standard Vanguard/Jowett Javelin direction) but really I wanted something a bit more Americana if I was going to be spending real money. A '54 Chevy would be ideal, but the ones in the UK are expensive, and usually the dregs that aren't wanted in the states. So I started looking at UK cars that had a bit more US influence. I also decided I'd like a 6-pot, as I've been promising myself my next car would be a six banger for the last three 4-pots I've bought...

Zephyrs and Zodiacs tend to be pricey, because FoMoCo and cheap ones are usually mega rough after decades of wannabe rockabilly owners running them on a shoestring. Standard Vanguard Six is rare as anything and usually crafted from filler. Austin Westminster, rare and I always think they look a bit too narrow to pull off the styling.

European offerings like the Opel Kapitan or Mercedes Ponton were well out of budget and would all be LHD.

I narrowed down on the E Series Vauxhall as being another GM product it was a close to a Chevy as I was going to get. Naturally these were renowned for rust, most barely scraped 8 years old, and the survivors are usually £10k minters or £5k wob chariots. I also didn't want another project. I wanted to buy a decent one to start with.

Obviously most UK examples are in England, so a fair trek just to see one. I also looked at the idea of importing one from Oz or SA, although SA cars are often not much less rusty than European examples and Aussie cars would still be £6k+ for a nice one by the time it was shipped over.

Then a post came up on the E Series FB page, a car for sale, the owner had made a website to document it and it's history - As posted in the collection thread by @D.E. I had a glance and it was a Scottish car! In fact it seemed it was still in central Scotland... I fired off a text and found out the car was in Glasgow, not 5 mins from where I was working that week. Well, it'd be rude to not at least go and look...

Well, I had a look and the car was worse than hoped, maybe a bit worse than expected. While it had been in amazingly good nick in 1983 it'd been stored in a railway arch garage and used as storage for over 30 years, about as close to storing a car underwater as you can get, and then living in a slightly leaky timber garage for another 15 years. I actually went and viewed the car twice to get a good idea of it's condition before I pulled the trigger and agreed to buy it.

So, the A pillars, sills, rear wheel tubs and spring hangers are shot, as are all the door bottoms and various other weird places. the front of the chassis was professionally rebuilt a few years ago, the floorpans and boot floor have been replaced in a more DIY style but are acceptable.
Most importantly there isn't 50 years of MOT patchwork and 25" of underseal on the thing. What you see is what you get, and is as it was when it left the factory nearly 70 years ago. This is basically unheard of for a car this kind of age, most were restored in the 70s/80s in the fashion that was standard at the time. With a stick welder and trowels of body filler.
You can also tell why these things rotted as there isn't a trace of rustproofing anywhere and if you can't see it then it probably wasn't getting painted either.... I think if you showed a 1950s Vauxhall engineer a tin of seam sealer they'd have had you hanged for witchcraft.

I actually agreed to buy it early last month, and the seats and various bits of brightwork and misc components have been here for a while as I tried to organise transport, I've dropped a few photos of parts in with my recent postings to see if anybody spotted. @vulgalour actually clocked what I'd bought and pm'd me the other week to confirm!

So, a lorry was hired and today an action team of myself, @davidfowler2000, @jaypee and @blackboilersuit descended on a semi-detached house in the West End of Glasgow and set about decanting a mid century Vauxhall into my work van in the pouring rain.

With nothing on it the shell could easily be pushed around.

It got chucked on the lorry and unloaded at home. Where @dome also stopped by to help.

I'd borrowed an engine crane from @juular but it turned out four people could lift the 2.3 six-pot way easier than any of us expected.

the panels are in my top secret storage location I started renting specifically because I agreed to buy this damn thing...

It is a big welding project, so obviously my welder shat itself on Tuesday. I think I'll take a while to though the parts and sort/organise stuff first though anyway while trying to get parts to fix it. I've been going mental on the Acclaim to get it out the garage before this thing arrived...

I've promised the PO I'll take the car back round once it's on the road!

[plasticvandan]

Will be nice to see you get your teeth into something with metal thick enough to weld to 😊 

[320touring]

This is gunna be epic! Well bought @captain_70s!

[jaypee]

it certainly was a splendid way to spend a (wet) Saturday morning and early afternoon! 

 

[brownnova]

I was highly interested when I bumped into the Juulars yesterday and they said you had a Cresta arriving! What a lovely car it will one day be! Great buyage, and I look forward to reading all about it! 

[Matty]

Definatly something to get excited about even vicariously. And so rare and unusual too. 

[Sunny Jim]

Epic! Surely this earns you promotion to major_50s now @captain_70s?

[vulgalour]

You'll probably still have this finished and roadworthy before I get the Lanchester sorted.

[captain_70s]

Just in case anybody was under the illusion I'd bought something good:

Both A pillars are grim.

All four spring hangers are toast.

Rear wheel tubs are toast.

There are some decent bits...

The entire front of the chassis has been fabricated by a restoration business.

All the floor pans and boot floor have been repaired. DIY but no worse than I'd do.

The centre of the chassis and outriggers are all very good.

Rear inner wings have all been repaired.

The interior is present but the door cards are very tired. Warped and the vynide is incredibly brittle.

Seats are original and intact aside from the rear squab which I suspect has had something leant on it.

Loads of chrome/stainless. Some fucked, some decent, some NOS.

Some bits are generally just very cool.

I also have all the literature...