Saturday afternoon and I'm still here!

I'm just putting the finishing touches to a differential for the local TVR specialist, which means I'm still here long after the shop closed! He's desperate bless him, car is on his ramp in bits and in the way, punter is on the blower every 5 minutes, etc. Not really sure what sort of TVR it's from? In another life I recognise it as a 3.89 4 stud Spitfire diff, with a strange fabricated front carrier on it? The diff he brought along that was taken from the car wasn't even worth starting with as it had been run dry. As you can imagine it was a bit of a mess inside and fit only for the scrap bin. I have to get a move on because I'm under strict instruction to get home at a reasonable time as we have tickets booked at the picture house for that film the D'vinchy Code or something, seems like a good excuse to catch up on some sleep to me!

Undiscovered 'works' 2000 turns up?

Well not quite! Actually it belongs to a good friend of ours former 'works' Triumph race & rally driver Bill Bradley. Bill brings along his 2000 every year for annual check over and MOT. In the same family from new, it's a nice low mileage example, and drives like a I remember them driving when they were nearly new. I seem to remember Bill doing a 'Tour de France' retrospective type event a few years ago in this very car, and quite competitive it was to apparently. So does that qualify it as a 'works' car?

Hmm, TR5's nice!

We have a rather nice TR6 in the workshop for a gearbox and clutch. Gearbox wasn't to bad for a left hooker that looked original to the car. Usually all the running gear in imported TR's is trashed, or buggered about with by (lets be diplomatic) unsympathetic grease monkeys. Anyway nothing to serious with this one, just the usual layshaft/laygear wear, should be back together tommrow and off my bench ready to go back in. So what's that got to do with TR5's I hear you ask? Well prior to taking the box out of the 6 I had a little test drive to see how bad the box was. The nice owner had thoughtfully delivered the car here with roof folded, the sun was out, the birds were singing, oh it were nice! On return I realised that its been some years since I last had a convertible on the road of my own, and with all of this wonderful global warming, and pleasant summers in prospect then now was the time to think about dragging one out. Easiest candidate is one of our TR5's, the car I bought when I was 15, the one that kick started this whole Triumph thing I have off. I know it only needs a couple of hours work for an MOT, so no excuses, the other TR5's are all much more involved projects. My original car isn't the best looking TR5 you will ever see, but that's good because it rubs up all the concours freaks, and speculators that have turned nearly every other 5 out there into tarted up precious things. It's very much as I had it in the 70's, paintwork has suffered though, but then again I did spray it in my Dad's garage with Mum's hoover! Oh and I was only 16 at the time, and there was no one out there to give me advice. Restore a TR5 in the 70's, what do you want to do that for? Just scrap it son and buy a Capri was all the advice I got from the 'experts'!

http://www.canleyclassics.com/triumphmuseum.asp?article=tr5twp956f.xml

Another show/demonstration chassis!

Where are they all coming from, and how many did Triumph Publicity Division commision, build? I'm refering to the ubiquitous Herald show/demonstration chassis, that every college of merit had on their books in the 60's/70's, and it seems right up until recently. We already have a MK11 type demonstrator here courtesy of Chris Allen, and have had another 3 or 4 partially stripped examples go through our hands over the years. This new one aquired last week is the rarer MK1 variety, and the build plaque lists it at number 40. It's funny but we were offered another MK1 last month previously to be found in Cardiff technical college. This one however up until recently was to be found at the Studley Castle headquarters of MG Rover (or whatever incarnation of British Leyland they had become by then). In a bit of a state having been left outside for some time, it is however restorable, and should find a home in the museum extension/refurbishment (work recommences next week!).

HCR latest!

6.40 AM and I'm still here on my own at Canley Classics! I'm sure we had one or two entrants back here by this time on last years HCR (or 20 Counties Challenge as it was then?).
Everyone got away OK last night, OK so there were a few last minute fixes, like a starter motor change in the workshop on a nice Spitfire. Then there was the PI strip and check in the car park. Oh and I nearly forgot the knackered quill shaft extension on another saloon requiring that particular team to be split up and share with other crews.
Thanks to Fred Nicklin (former Triumph Test Driver) who came along to wish the crews the best. Fred spent a couple of hours with us moving amongst the various crews/cars chatting as he went. Fred is no stranger to Club Triumph events as he did the inaugural 1966 Round Britain Reliability Run as a 'works' driver, in a 'works' car (press car I think?). Fred went on to do several other RBRR's with the 'works'. Tim Bancroft the present organiser of the RBRR chatted to Fred about those formative runs.
In typical CT endurance event last minute crew formation style a customer of ours who had come along to collect his Vitesse convertable quickly formed a crew with some 'spare' bods and entered, great stuff!
I wonder how long before someone turns up? That reminds me best fire up Betty the tea urn.

Stolen Ginetta

I know its a bit of a long shot but if you hear or see anything of Tonys Ginetta let him (Tony works here part time),or us know. Tony is understandably gutted, keep em pealed!

The following is Tonys description:

This G27 was built from a kit and has competed in the Ginetta Speed
Championship with some success for the last 5 years or so.

The car was taken on a Brian James trailer from Solihull in the West
Midlands on Friday night.

Spec:
4.5 Cross-drilled Rover V8 with early french blue rocker covers.
2x White 4 into 1 tubular exhaust manifolds
4x 13" x 10" Compomotive ML's (Scratched rims due to tight trailer fitment)
Fitted with slicks. (from memory 2 x Hoosier, 2 x Avon)
Rover SD1 gearbox with close ratios
4x Weber DCNF 38 carbs, (matching serial numbers)
Bespoke one-piece tubular steel INLET manifold, painted red.

If anyone sees or hears anything which may be relevent please PM me.

The car actually loosk somewhat more tatty than in the photo, here is what
it looked like when stolen...



Thanks,
Tony

Life after Mars!

Well that's it, all done and dusted, I think? Clare spent a further two days up in Manchester this week with the 2.5 on location with the Life on Mars production people. Filming went on well into the night on Monday (finished about 1 AM!) necessitating a night in the local Travel Lodge so that she could be back on location bright and early on Tuesday. Apparently the 2.5 was required most of Tuesday for filming, again requiring a 'late one', Clare not starting off back down South till gone 10 PM bless her. A minor scare occurred whilst she was driving home with a fairly major missfire spoiling the trip home. AA card at the ready she pressed on with the missfire getting worse by the mile. Finally at just after midnight she limped back onto the drive, totally shattered! To late to do anything about it then I decided to swap motors in the morning and limp the 6 miles or so to work in the dark and empty roads. From that short trip I had deduced that the fault was ignition related and probably something to do with the distributor baseplate/vacuum operation. A quick check later in the daylight confirmed a detached condensor/LT wire from the contact set changed the week before, no names no pack drill! Coincidently exactly the same thing happened to me a day or two before in a customers GT6 on the way to an MOT.
Anyway back to life, back to reality, whats going on in and around Canleys I hear you ask?
Finally getting around to finishing that Museum extension we started last year. You know what it's like, builder go's off to do a quick extension for someone else, don't see builder for a couple of months, builder comes back in the middle of the winter when funds are tight so nothing gets done. Anyway it's all back on, all the roofing materials turned up here yesterday, builder is due to make a start in a week or so, exciting stuff!
Also with a healthy amount of excess funds floating around we have decided to commission a nice set of fancy wrought iron gates for the car park/driveway entrance. They should be here and fitted towards the end of next week, should give a much more handsome vista to our frontage.
After being effectively closed for the past two or three years the workshop is back in operation, we might even put a telephone back in! Don't all rush to try and book your car in though as I have already filled the place with customers cars! Have now done 4 MOT's in the past few days so am well aquainted with the new computer generated MOT system and it's teething problems! Sid and Tony my old mates at D & R's (our preffered MOT station for the past 15 odd years) have been dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century, and they don't like it one little bit!
Going to spend a fair bit of money in the workshop over the next couple of months, so need to clear a few cutomers cars to give us room for improvements. Always fancied a rolling road, that day can't be to far off!