Operation Triumph Herald 13/60

[GingerNuttz]

My old boys first motor was a Herald 13/60 but when my mum was pregnant with my sister he had to get rid so I decided to build him one as a present about 3 year ago, galaxies and many other cars put it on the back burner. He landed in the hospital other week and it really brought it home that I need to finish it and give him it before anything happens so I'm working on the Manta then spending a half hour every day just fixing a door or a boot lid on the Herald.

This is the pos I got for £300 in all it's hammerite glory 

I decided to do a nut and bolt rebuild with all brand new parts so it wouldn't give him any bother

Paint stripping

stripped right down to a chassis and new floors put in the bulkhead

His was mobiltiy blue and I wanted something a bit more modern so Riviera Blue was picked although I'm kicking myself for not going Miami blue so next one will be Miami.

 

At this point I got the itch to modify the engine so I ripped it back out and threw in a Kent TH3 and got the head and block skimmed to lift the compression a wee bit, threw on 4 carbs and called it a day.

The cam is a higher power band rally spec and it's got a little bit of a lighter flywheel so it spins up well enough, wide band and megajolt/speeduino to be fitted once it's painted and on the road.

Tub was a riot and needed a ton of welding .

Bulkhead and bonnet was done next.

This is where I met Captain70's so I never really did much after this apart from veneer the dash panel and put pedals etc in.

There's a sound system and new seats up the loft for it so he can hammer about in it listening to some bands from his youth.

I could have bought one for what I have in it between the hours and parts but it wouldn't have meant as much I reckon so lets hope he bloody likes it 🤣

[davehedgehog31]

That looks like superb work.  

Love that meeting Tony and his appreciating* classic vehicles was what derailed progress .

[hairnet]

@Six-cylinder this is where you send yours ken?

 

[juular]

1 hour ago, GingerNuttz said:

This is where I met Captain70's so I never really did much after this

Genuine lol.

[purplebargeken]

Oh excellent! Love the colour. I had a Toledo in one of the Ford blues, very similar. Really wish I had kept it now. Really do. Looks like the original colour was Valencia Blue.

Fabulous stuff.

[2flags]

I'm sure he'll love it. You are rebuilding this with love. It will be a very special car. Hope your dad is soon feeling better and out and about again. 

[JMotor]

Top work. 

Be awesome wee car when it's finished.

[High Jetter]

Epic! Who wouldn't want that when finished, he'll be well proud of you.

[egg]

Amazing stuff. I think a Herald 13/60 saloon is the Triumph I'd most like to own these days, despite never even so much as sitting in one. Like their simplicity. 

[GingerNuttz]

34 minutes ago, egg said:

Amazing stuff. I think a Herald 13/60 saloon is the Triumph I'd most like to own these days, despite never even so much as sitting in one. Like their simplicity. 

I was never really into them until I started building this one. 

Supercharged herald estate next I think. 

[danthecapriman]

That looks fantastic! Love the colour choice too, it’ll certainly stand out.

[SiC]

6 hours ago, GingerNuttz said:

I was never really into them until I started building this one. 

Supercharged herald estate next I think. 

I wasn't either at all until I had my Spitfire. However I do quite fancy a Herald convertible now. 

[HMC]

I love these, it was the first old car i wanted to daily drive when i was about 15. I even rang up rimmer brothers and ordered a catalogue for the herald- sad case!

The classic and sportscar cars 1945-1970 book i had, pre internet, was heavily thumbed through and i remember their assessment of the 13/60 even now-

“A splendid hack that will hold 75mph all day”

still fancy one, id love a saloon as runabout.

[GingerNuttz]

4 hours ago, SiC said:

I wasn't either at all until I had my Spitfire. However I do quite fancy a Herald convertible now. 

I'd like to build a GT6 at some point but put a duratec in it or sommit.

[SiC]

1 minute ago, GingerNuttz said:

I'd like to build a GT6 at some point but put a duratec in it or sommit.

It'd sound awful, especially going from a straight 6!

[GingerNuttz]

Just now, SiC said:

It'd sound awful, especially going from a straight 6!

They're just too slow and heavy imo.

The straight 6 is a pos like the 1500 😂

[RayMK]

A colleague used to unbolt the roof of his Vitesse saloon in the summer months if the weather looked ok for a few weeks.  It was great fun and sounded marvellous.

I had a Herald estate for a while and enjoyed its Meccano-like construction - separate chassis, mostly bolted body bits and lots of holes until I filled them.  It was reliable and drove remarkably well.  I remember being confused and frustrated when rebuilding the rear brakes.  It transpired that a previous owner had used a different  diameter or width drum  on one side (can't recall the exact details).  Although the drums looked superficially identical, shoes would not fit properly.  The reason became obvious after I ran out of curses and  measured each side.  I went back to the motor factors with the old bits from the troublesome side and he matched them up.  Braking was fine afterwards despite the anomaly.  I even enjoyed the handling.  It was nowhere near as tricky on the limit as the motoring journals of the day tried to make out.  A slight change in technique and all was predictable (i.e. don't lift off in a corner!).  It was good training for the Skoda Estelle that I owned many years later.

@GingerNuttz Nice to see another thorough, high quality restoration on the forum.

 

[Back_For_More]

Great work fella..... Looks a fantastic job so far. - he'll be chuffed for sure. 

I've been tidying the garage here in Belgium amd found an ally lowering block for the rear with extended bolts if you're interested. Never used..... Brand new. Yours if you PM me your address and I'll send it once I'm back in UK next week. 

[barrett]

18 hours ago, HMC said:

I love these, it was the first old car i wanted to daily drive when i was about 15. I even rang up rimmer brothers and ordered a catalogue for the herald- sad case!

The classic and sportscar cars 1945-1970 book i had, pre internet, was heavily thumbed through and i remember their assessment of the 13/60 even now-

“A splendid hack that will hold 75mph all day”

still fancy one, id love a saloon as runabout.

I was about to take exception to that, but then I remembered Michael Sedgwick had a series of Heralds as his every-day cars, so he should probably know better than most people. I'm still not quite sure I believe the 13/60 could be so much faster than the 1200. I've got lots of letters from Sedgwick in my files, and its surprising how often he makes reference to the Herald(s) he was driving - always speaking very highly of them. My one wasn't a great example, but even so I don't think they're particularly 'good' cars, but I'd probably have an Estate or an early Coupé if somebody offered me one as I reckon they look great...

[somewhatfoolish]

They were a popular choice for driving instructors, so I suspect they're a pleasant place to be as well as a better drive than the objectively flawed suspension design has a right to be. The 1300 is probably the best of that engine, 1500 was too much and 800 too little.

[bezzabsa]

never really been on my radar, but this looks to be an interesting build..

[GingerNuttz]

They're so bad if you park the drivers wheel on a kerb you can't open the passenger door 😂

I've stiffened this chassis by boking a lot of it in and adding gussets but it's still gonna be a death trap. 

[RayMK]

When I demonstrated my 'new' acquisition to my dad, all was well until I applied youthful heavy braking.  The brakes worked so well that one of the rear radius arms tore the outrigger from the main chassis member, thanks again to a previous owner's enlightened approach to repairs.  The outrigger was just lightly brazed, not welded into position.  One sided rear steer was the result until I had it welded.  I did not notice any lack of stiffness in my estate's body/chassis.  The doors and bonnet had gaps approaching Renault 4 levels.  Compared with more recent cars, yes they were a bit floppy.

[GingerNuttz]

Mines had some cracking repairs.

wasn't even gonna bother fixing the wings so I just bought two new ones.

[captain_70s]

On 8/22/2023 at 4:21 PM, GingerNuttz said:

This is where I met Captain70's so I never really did much after this

Me circa July 2020: