Roger440 Posted January 31, 2017 Posted January 31, 2017 3 minutes ago, SteamyTea said: What is the kit car? What he said. We need to know - and pics of course
joe90 Posted January 31, 2017 Author Posted January 31, 2017 Right, it's not my fault this thread digresses but here goes, it's a gentry, a copy of a 1953 MG TF. Built on the mechanics of a 1968 triumph vitesse 200 ( straight six) and we think it was built in about 1974. Original owner and builder died and it was inherited and put away for years. The gentry has a good reputation as a "good" kit car that does not look like one. Also good is the fact it has my favourite engine, six cylinder triumph, and disc brakes. History here for those interested. http://www.gentrycars.co.uk/documents/Gentry.pdf And pic of what I bought. I intend to put it on the road ( it has a new MOT) but completely rebuild from the chassis up over winter AFTER the house is finished. Purists will sneer as it's not an MG but frankly with the better mechanics and the fact it costs a quarter of an original it ticks my boxes ( and I can mend it with spanners ?) 2
Roger440 Posted January 31, 2017 Posted January 31, 2017 Excellent And yes, you cant beat the sound of a triumph straight six! If it was me, i doubt the house would get finished before i was tinkering.
SteamyTea Posted January 31, 2017 Posted January 31, 2017 (edited) If it stays in the garage, then the summer will be a good one. You can tell it is based on a Vitesse by the way the rear wheels point; inwards. Better turning circle than the TF though. Can you squeeze a Triumph 2500 PI under the bonnet? my Father had a TR6, seemed quite fast back in the day (Probably no faster than my C-Max TDCi). Edited January 31, 2017 by SteamyTea
joe90 Posted January 31, 2017 Author Posted January 31, 2017 (edited) 36 minutes ago, SteamyTea said: If it stays in the garage, then the summer will be a good one. You can tell it is based on a Vitesse by the way the rear wheels point; inwards. Better turning circle than the TF though. Can you squeeze a Triumph 2500 PI under the bonnet? my Father had a TR6, seemed quite fast back in the day (Probably no faster than my C-Max TDCi). 36 minutes ago, SteamyTea said: If it stays in the garage, then the summer will be a good one. You can tell it is based on a Vitesse by the way the rear wheels point; inwards. Better turning circle than the TF Can you squeeze a Triumph 2500 PI under the bonnet? my Father had a TR6, seemed quite fast back in the day (Probably no faster than my C-Max TDCi). Yes, planning to do little this year but the house. If you saw how tight the engine was I think there is no way a bigger one would fit although it's probably the same block, however 2000 in a lightweight kit car will prove more than enough I think. Regarding the back end the early herald and vitesse had a reputation for rolling over but the latest version had a much better setup which this has got, shame it came about just before the car went out of production. Edited January 31, 2017 by joe90 Can't remove double quote!!!
NSS Posted January 31, 2017 Posted January 31, 2017 (edited) I briefly owned a Vitesse convertible in my youth, and my brother had one of the last GT6s for many years. Edited January 31, 2017 by NSS Bloody predictive text!
jack Posted February 1, 2017 Posted February 1, 2017 9 hours ago, Roger440 said: Excellent And yes, you cant beat the sound of a triumph straight six! If it was me, i doubt the house would get finished before i was tinkering. Exactly why my dream car(s) continue to be theoretical. I've wanted an Alfa Romeo GTV 1750 since I was in my 20s: I've watched them double in price in the last 10 years. Maybe 5 or 6 years ago, I realised you could get a Ferrari (/Dino) 308 GT4 for £20k: I absolutely love that car (I know they rub some people up the wrong way), and decided maybe it was worth splurging and getting that instead of the Alfa. But the Ferrari has doubled in price in even less time than the Alfa! Sorry for the derail Joe. I seem to recall that this happens whenever anyone mentions cars in a thread!
ProDave Posted February 1, 2017 Posted February 1, 2017 Not in the same league as all those sports cars, but I have a 1972 Landrover. I could unbolt the hard top and have some open top motoring in the summer if I wanted to. Even that, the value is going up and costs nothing to tax it and very cheap classic car insurance. Mine is mechanically sound and has been rebuilt on a new galvanised chassis, but it's in desperate need of a re paint, that will have to wait until after the house is finished (though some might say an old Landrover is meant to look tatty with peeling paint?)
Jeremy Harris Posted February 1, 2017 Posted February 1, 2017 I built a Marlin Roadster around 1984, can't post a photo as at that time I was in to only taking slides, for some odd reason, and I don't have a slide scanner. In 1995 I built a road going single seater, though, a Hudson Mystic, powered by a Renault Gordini engine. With an empty weight of around 400kg it tended to be reasonably quick. Here's it parked in front of another one of "my" toys at the time: 1
Roger440 Posted February 3, 2017 Posted February 3, 2017 On 01/02/2017 at 08:27, jack said: Exactly why my dream car(s) continue to be theoretical. I've wanted an Alfa Romeo GTV 1750 since I was in my 20s: I've watched them double in price in the last 10 years. Maybe 5 or 6 years ago, I realised you could get a Ferrari (/Dino) 308 GT4 for £20k: I absolutely love that car (I know they rub some people up the wrong way), and decided maybe it was worth splurging and getting that instead of the Alfa. But the Ferrari has doubled in price in even less time than the Alfa! Sorry for the derail Joe. I seem to recall that this happens whenever anyone mentions cars in a thread! You have outstanding taste. I had to sell me GT4 last summer to fund my house Pic here:
jamiehamy Posted February 3, 2017 Posted February 3, 2017 (edited) My Corrado is in getting some tlc this week. I've barely had time to do anything on it since build started. Looking promising tho... And... What's it about the colour red?,! Edited February 3, 2017 by jamiehamy
Roger440 Posted February 3, 2017 Posted February 3, 2017 10 minutes ago, jamiehamy said: My Corrado is in getting some tlc this week. I've barely had time to do anything on it since build started. Looking promising tho... And... What's it about the colour red?,! Was that just mopping it, rather than painting it. If so, great result. Very satisfying when you get that level of improvement!
joe90 Posted March 27, 2017 Author Posted March 27, 2017 I don't do blogs but here is a picture of the building work so far, as I said before I am very happy with my builder who is going to start the roof this week and I am going to do all the fiddly work with lining, insulation and eaves construction. 6
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