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It was May 2002 that I decided that I would like an old car to restore and eventually drive and enjoy. I chose the Vitesse for its ease of construction and the fact that it has a separate chassis and the body could be restored in sections, I have also restored a 1969 Triumph Bonneville motor cycle in the past so do like things Triumph even though that are not the same makers. I only have a 7 x 14 foot garage so this would also be easier than trying to roll a whole monocoque bodyshell in such a confined space. It had to be a MKII Vitesse convertible with overdrive, I did eventually find a 1971 one that had sat in a barn for the previous 10 years, we nearly set fire to the barn trying to start it with all the corroded fuel lines, it did try to fire so we left it there. We dragged to car outside (brakes were seized on) and I trailered her home. I gave £600 and some people thought I was mad as she was very rotten indeed. Still I didn’t mind as I had always intended to do a complete body-off nut and bolt restoration. This car must have been in the last lot off the production line because of the 1971 date and the fact in has a factory fitted Waso steering lock with no ignition key hole in the dash board, I will have to try and find out some how. On proper inspection the car was really bad: doors and boot lid were scrap as were all valances front, rear and sides, windscreen drip rails, tread-plates, A and B posts, front floors, rear seat base in both corners, both body mounting points in boot, spare wheel well and loads of other small areas, the hood header rail was scrap too. The good news was the bonnet was very good as was most of the interior. Every outrigger on the chassis was scrap as well, the outer ones had completely rotted through and the car was sagging, still it was easy to adjust the door gaps with a trolley jack underneath. Angle iron was quickly welded here to try and get some rigidity back into the car. While the body was square again and still on the chassis I set about welding for England, I promptly replaced the everything listed as rotten above, some were new panels and other bits were from a non rusty saloon that I was allowed to cut bits from (Thanks to Les and for his endless help and advice), I did not want any plates on my car so every section was cut and carefully grafted in, nothing worse than plates and lumps and bumps.
I then took the body/bonnet off of the chassis and split the body up, Each body section was completely stripped and repaired top and bottom using my home-made dolly so I could move each section around easily. I did encounter a few trips to eye casualty from my grinding and welding, yes I was wearing goggles; a hot spark went through a goggle air hole and landed in my eye. I ended up wearing goggles and a face-mask after having metal scrapped off my eyeball with a needle, this seemed the easier option. The undersides were then treated with rust converter, re-seam sealed, coated with red oxide, hammerite and loads of waxoyl ready to be reassembled onto the chassis, I wanted it to last and hoped it would do better than the sealing/rust-proofing done at the factory. The chassis was stripped and every outrigger was replaced and jigged, they were the boxed-in type to add more rigidity to the body. The chassis was then stove enamelled, filled with waxoyl and all new running gear was bolted onto it, discs, drums, shocks/springs, rear spring, steering rack, brake and fuel lines - you name it everything was new, which all cost a small fortune and didn’t look much for the money. The body was reunited with the new rolling chassis with a new body fitting kit, It took me 2 weeks of jiggling about to get everything lining up with each other and nice panel gaps, hopefully much better than the gaps it left the factory with. People say don’t take the body off you will never get it lined up again, well it is possible as it’s the only way to repair body and chassis properly but it does take huge patience to get it right, I nearly gave up a few times but with careful jiggling it is possible to do it.
The engine I decided to replace with one from a 2500s, it was good fun finding out what to use from which engine (thanks Dave for answering my many queries regarding this) The sump obviously has to be adapted to clear the longer stroke of the 2500 unit and the steering rack and leave room for the bonnet to shut. I had to machine the 2500 inlet manifold at an angle to get it straight as the engine in the 2500s sits at an angle, this also helped with under bonnet clearance as well. I changed the camshaft and distributor for the Vitesse one as it is slightly hotter and enabled me to keep mechanical rev counter drive, as the 2500s distributor does not have a manual drive take off it has an electronic rev counter. It runs on the standard 2500s 1.75in twin SUs with K & N air filters, it also has a spin-off oil filter conversion and a stainless steel full sports twin box exhaust system.
The gearbox was a new unit put in the car just before it was laid up in the barn, same for the differential (I got the receipts with the car) they just needed a good clean and a basic check over. The overdrive was broke and full of coconut matting, so I sent it off to be reconditioned. All this was fitted into the car and test run.
In May 2005 the bare body/rolling chassis went off to the paint shop (I didn’t fancy killing myself with 2 pack fumes) I had to fit an old steering column and wheel so I could at least steer it, I had no brakes because there was nothing on the bare bulkhead. The shell was sprayed inside and out as it was completely stripped of everything like the dashboard, wiring loom etc. A month later and it was back with me and it did like great, the first thing I fitted was the new minilites/tyres, this really set it off and enabled me to get rid of the old over-sprayed dirty wheels.
I really spent the next year slowly putting it all back together, fitting the dashboard and wiring loom takes a while to get it right including getting all the electrical items working. I also plumbed-in the last of the petrol/brake and clutch pipes and bleed all the newly rebuild Master cylinders. The best thing was putting on all the external trim and bright-work on as it really contrasted against the new Triumph white 2 pack spray job - it all started to look worthwhile and a finish was insight. I fitted all the refurbished interior, I only needed new door cards and carpets, the rear quarters and seats were all fine. The new refinished work wood did look nice, it had taken me days to chip all the old lacquer off with a really sharp chisel and goggles, 14 coats of yacht varnish later with rubbing down in between and they looked brand new. I did it myself after being quoted £200-£300 depending on veneer repairs by the professionals!! an £8.00 tin of varnish and patience is all it takes. I had to wait 6 weeks for my mohair hood to be made so I did have a bit of a rest, I fitted the hood which was more scary rather than tricky, you have to double double check before you make any of the holes through it or it could be an expensive mistake
The car was finally finished in May 2006 and flew through its MOT, The guy wandered underneath with his light and said “I wish all cars were like this it would make my job easy”. Its great fun to drive and the whole family (being a 4 seater) had a lovely day out at its first show at Bromley Pageant. I did enjoy doing it and did all the work myself except for the respray and the overdrive rebuild, It cost around £6000 (it would be 3 times this for a professional job) to do it, the biggest chunk being the £2000 spray job, If I had smoked a packet of fags a day for the last 4 years it would equal the same amount, I know which I would rather have!!! I am hoping to now have a rest (apart from the usual stuff to look after with old cars!!) and enjoy it. Any more information you could aways visit my website on the whole restoration: www.triumphvitesse.webs.com