Excellent news indeed - I am quite sure you have made the right decision to get the TR back up and running.

Look forward to seeing pictures of its return to the road under its own steam.

 

Great news MQ, looking forward to following the story

 

I was telling a colleague who is a Triumph Stag fan and restored a white one to new about this. He recommended this website:

http://www.tr-register.co.uk/

It may be of some help/interest

 

Thanks mate.

Our TR used to be on the register. We'll probably get back on once she is restored.

Wonder how the guys are getting on with sourcing the parts that they need?

 

You'll have to ask them, and let us know!


Quite exciting thinking about Thelma and Louise driving off down a lovely road in a beautifully restored TR

 

Greenwood Motorsports phoned to say that they have the engine out of the TR as they are working on the clutch and asked us to visit to discuss the level to which we want the car restored.

My first thought was that an empty engine bay is ripe for sticker bombing. My second was, taking heed of gad’s warning about over restoration, should we go for rat look? I quite like the idea of rust as a feature, especially if it is a patina built up over time. Not so keen on the idea when it is artificially created using paint stripper. Saz was into air-cooled VWs with her first boyfriend, used to love Bug Jam and lusted after Karmann Ghias. I think this 1959 specimen, “The Zombie”, original colour cognac, looks with its completely natural patina.



There are few smooth and flat surfaces in the engine bay of the TR so it does not really lend itself to being sticker bombed. We were given the option of having it painted black or going for body colour. I’m not into primping and polishing, all I care about the engine is that it runs. I’m ashamed to say the engine bay of my S is a repository for fag ends and all sorts of rubbish. However, I am aware that enthusiasts love to throw their bonnets open, so we have gone for body colour. We do not plan to replace any components under the bonnet that work even if they do look scrappy.



Think the boot lid looks quite good sticker bombed.



Will be even nicer against a new coat of powder blue. I’ve gone for a 60s theme. Mr Q bought the car new in 1961 and courted me (with my bare feet, mini-skirts and flowers in my hair) in it during the second half of the decade. Thanks to Angela at Hippy Motors for the larger stickers. She doesn’t believe in driving quickly and actually sells go slower stripes. She likes to tow her caravan for a while and then stop to make a cup of tea.

We are keeping the original domed dials and fascia, which will just get a coat of paint. The trimmings around the cabin will be cleaned and replaced but are never going to look pristine. Got to have new carpets as the rats didn’t just look at them. Plan to keep the original seats and as much of the leather as possible. This restoration is being done for nostalgic not speculative reasons with the emphasis on fun.

Pleasing rusty patina in the boot well.



Wonder if anyone here could have identified this?



I’ve certainly never seen nor heard of the marque before. It is a Facel Vega III built in France around 1963/4. It has a 4 cylinder P1800 Volvo engine. The earlier Facel Vegas were bigger, had V8s and at one time were the quickest cars around. Stirling Moss used to prefer to drive his HK500 to events rather than to fly. I think Mercedes was influenced by the FV design rather than the other way around, as one might have expected.

The fascia was painted to look like burr walnut. It is peeling off on this specimen. Wonder how they are going to restore that?

http://www.volvoadventures.com/facel.html

 

For some reason a couple of my pics have been omitted from my latest post. They are showing in the reply box. I'll try again.

 

Facel Vegas are overrated but have a certain glitz

Did you know the dash isn't wood, but painted with a feather?

Body colour is the right choice for your TR's engine bay and you just want a 'gun finish' which essentially means no polishing or any crap like that

You'll be much happier with a usable classic rather than a Pebble beach garage queen with a better than oem finish

You should bring it to the Goodwood Revival

 

Very few bodyshops achieve a gun finish in reality. They might achieve the finish without runs, but its very hard to achieve a totally inclusion free finish when painting a car unless doing a complete strip down and bare metal respray to the shell alone. Even the most carefully cleaned car will carry some dirt into the booth with them that will get disturbed when its painted.

MQ please tell me the sticker bomb and rat look comments are tongue in cheek.....

 

I had read that the burr walnut fascia is faux and actually painted steel but didn’t know that a feather is used to get the effect gad.

I have looked into it and it wasn’t unusual for cars from that period and before to have ersatz wood effects. This guy does restorations. Barried but not as we know it. http://www.barrysmithcars.co.uk/what...x_woodwork.htm

Now that I think about it, painted wood grain effects were all the rage when I was a child. People used to employ it hideously on their front doors. I am told that my MIL had a perfectly nice black lacquered piano stripped and given the knotty wood treatment, all in the name of fashion. The guy used a comb to create the grain.

The paint job for the TR is not going to be cheap but we have been impressed by the finish they get on ancient vehicles. We are certainly not looking for OEM or better. The car is naturally distressed. Provenance is all.

I do think that rat look KG is a head-turner lower but I was just having a bit of fun and thoroughly enjoyed it.