Since I bought it on ebay for £200 in 2007, it has been a hoot, fun to build, if a little frustating at times, but an overwhelming pleasure to own and drive since I got it on the road in 2011 and utterly reliable. There have been very few times when firing up the motor did not bring a silly grin to my face, even if I was only popping down the village to buy fags or driving to work.
But by late 2021, with 10 years of daily driving in all weathers behind it, the body resto I did in 2012 was beginning to show its age and it's ability to pass an MOT in April 2022 without a fair bit of steelwork doing was doubtful. The Dolomega was on the road by then and had taken over daily driver dutiesso I consigned the Carledo to the back of the garage to await another mini resto and upgrades in performance, and maybe even the body conversion to "shooting brake" which I have long been plotting.
However, "life is what happens when you are busy making other plans" I bought the Grey 1500FWD in August of 2020 because I intended to use my large stock of Vauxhall spares and parts to build a "Carledo replica" into it's shell. This plan has now come to fruition, at least mechanically, but not by using all my spares, instead, for speed, I gutted the Carledo of all it's running gear and fitted it all to the 1500, reasoning that the engine was probably redundant and I could buy new and better stuff to re-do the Carledo in it's next incarnation.
Now I find that I need to be realistic. By the time I could finish the Carledo's reincarnation, i'll be over 70 and in possession of a fire breathing 200+bhp out-and-out race car for which I have no real use. And which is too harsh, noisy and uncomfortable for my disabled wife to travel in.
The final straw that broke the camel's back is that SWMBO is increasingly reliant on a wheelchair for mobility and last year purchased an electric one, which, though compact and foldaway, will fit in neither the Carledo OR the Dolomega. If I want her to accompany me ANYWHERE in MY car, I need something a tad bigger!
To which end I have agreed to buy THIS!
It's not much more than a rolling shell at the moment and will need some welding (don't they all) but at least it has the capability of being a decent load lugger and comfortable with it, The current plan involves a Toyota/Lexus 2JZ-GE 3 litre 24v 6 cylinder DOHC which gives between 212 and 228bhp as stock and has the ability to take a turbo conversion for up to 500bhp (though i'll be more than happy with 350-400) along with it's matching 5 speed autobox and BMW sourced LSD for which kits are already available for the big 6 Triumphs.
All this work (and I can only realistically do one at a time) means that the Carledo has effectively reached the end of it's road in my care. It's been a big part of my life for a long time and I WILL miss it, but it's time for someone else to have the fun! It's far too good a shell to scrap (though it DOES need work) so I'll shortly be posting an ad for it as a "rolling shell" in the cars for sale section with about 50 pics featuring both good and bad bits.
If any of you fancy taking the project on, drop me a PM
Cheers, Steve
i have not looked back ever since.ive had so much fun and enjoyment in the dolomite you would not believe.....should of bought a dolomite first time round and left the mk1 2000 estate well alone(expensive money pit bewarned)...but we live and learn