The member who had agreed to buy this car from me has had to withdraw from the purchase because of unforseen issues which I entirely understand and sympathise with.
However, I am in the middle of moving house (literally!), and the car must be sold. So, I am offering it here first and will then go the inevitable eBay route if there are no takers.
This is a well known car and the recent rolling restoration of it has been well documented on this board, but I will recap the main points briefly.
The previous owner carefully removed all old underseal from the rear of the car, up to the rear footwell area. The entire rear axle and suspension were dropped out in this process and EVERYTHING replaced. New rear brakes, new handbrake cables, even the little clips and collets were all replaced. The rear floor was expertly re-finished in a stone chip resistant epoxy paint. The whole rear suspension was polybushed throughout.
The front suspension and steering has also been rebuilt. There are new track rod ends and the entire front end is again all polybushed, including the steering rack mounts. The combination of polybushes with standard springs and dampers gives a nice taut ride that is not boneshaking at all, but the thing handles beautifully, and in a delightfully predictable way.
I have fitted a replacement engine with only 43,000 miles recorded from a later Toledo, after blowing the original engine on the motorway returning from TDCIR last year. The replacement engine has a new head gasket fitted, and has new points, plugs, condenser, distributor cap, leads and rotor arm. A new coil is fitted and new horns. In order to avoid a repeat of the blow up incident, but to allow the little 1296cc engine to rev as Triumphs engineers intended, a brand new oil cooler is fitted, together with a rocker oil feed kit. The engine runs beautifully and will pull 90 mph in top gear on the original standard single SU and airbox. It benefits from the later type gearbox which is smoother and quieter.
The rear axle has also been replaced with that from a 43,000 mile donor after the original diff became excessively noisy. The car is now quiet and comfortable. The propshaft was removed, dynamically balanced and all three UJ's replaced with brand new.
The car has been fitted with a set of nicely refurbished Spitfire 4 wheels with chrome wheel nuts which are shod with brand new tyres. A spare set of steel wheels with good tyres will come with the car. The exterior has been mildly, and in my view tastefully customised. Aside from the wheels, a Sprint front spoiler is fitted. The grilles have been changed for the later Dolly 1300 black items and the sills have been painted black.
The bodywork is in generally very good order. Three small patches were welded to the nearside sill as part of the restoration but this work was done correctly (and photographed) and the pieces were cut from a donor car so are the correct profile. They are almost un-seeable. There is some very slight bubbling to rear wheel arches. The underneath is exceptionally clean and solid as you would expect given the attention that has been lavished.
The paintwork is an older respray, but in the original and increasingly rare ice blue. The paint job won't win any prizes, but it looks good and polishes up well. The chrome work is all excellent.
The blue vinyl interior is particularly striking and everyone who sees the car remarks on it favourably. The carpets are replacements and are good quality. The sills are painted black. The dashboard veener is good and the dash itself has been modified to Toledo TS specification with central fuel and temperature gauges and straight ahead speedo and rev counter. The later loom has been fitted including hazard lights and everything works as it should. Inertia reel rear seat belts are fitted.
This car looks good and drives beautifully. It has had sums of money lavished on it that far outweigh its value.
It will be sold with a new MOT and if I get near the asking price I will throw in six months tax. Being a 1300, it qualifies for the cheaper tax rate. Running costs are low with these cars with cheap insurance and a typical 35-40mpg.
Since the pictures above were taken, the boot lid badge has been refitted, a "Triumph" pad has been fitted to the steering wheel in place of the Dolomite item, and the marks visble on the rear seat have been cleaned off.
The car will come with a number of spares. As well as the wheels and tyres mentioned, there are four good chrome hubcaps, some new service items, a spare dash, a rear exhaust section (new), and 1500 stylee twin SU's with linkages airbox and manifold in case the new owner wants to go down the road of the TC conversion that has been discussed on this board so frequently.
I am located in the south east between south Croydon and Caterham, about 6 mins from Junction 6 of the M25.
I am seeking around £850-00. I think I have covered everything, but if you want more details please use the PM facility or e mail me at martinbellinger(at)aol(dot)com
This is a good car and I would like to see it go to a good home.