yoke Posted October 8, 2005 Report Share Posted October 8, 2005 Gentlemen could you help me out please. Don't hold it against me but I am a big TR7 fan with several cars to keep me busy, but I have always wanted a TR2 or TR3. Recently I have come across a car that needs a total ground up restoration, I have been told that there is rust in the usual places but the car is complete except for one seat. The asking price is $3500 CAD does this seem reasonable? Any feed back in this matter would be greatly appreciated!! Joachim Quote Link to post Share on other sites
marvmul Posted October 8, 2005 Report Share Posted October 8, 2005 The seat will be the most obvious missing part, almost certainly the car is missing a lot of smaller parts, and a lot of parts that can't be reused. Rust in the usual places : totally rotten? Sorry to be pessimistic, but I think you have to prepare for a car that is almost unrestorable. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Nigel Lay Posted October 8, 2005 Report Share Posted October 8, 2005 It depends how much work you want to do, sills, floors, boot floor, spare wheel tray are not too much of a problem if you have restored cars before, the book 'How to restore the TR2 etc' has some good chapters on body restoration, some of the rest of the contents are not too clever. All engine parts are available. What is the bulkhead like, it is important than no more than the bottom edges to the floors need replacing, if there is much more rot in it I would walk away. Are the inner wings capable of just having the edges replaced, outer wings - can they be reused. The problem is cost, it can VERY RAPIDLY get out of all proportion. Virtually any sidescreen can be restored from any condition. Buy as good as you can possibly afford, don't worry too much about the mechanics but make sure it is complete. Get hold of the book, the first few chapters make sensible reading. One more thought - check as far as possible for damage on the chassis, look for buckled corners, especially at the front. Also I would not buy a car on 'spec' give a good look over first. The price seems fair but the car should be complete for this with a reasonable bulkhead, repairable front inner wings and possibly a couple of outer wings that can be reused. If anything more than one seat is missing I reckon it is too much money. One more thing, instruments and hood frame must all be there and good plus all engine ancillarys. Also has it an overdrive gearbox. Again for that money it should have. Good luck - Nigel (with TS952) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
unclepete Posted October 10, 2005 Report Share Posted October 10, 2005 Yoke Being across the 'pond' what about picking up a dry state US example? Usually pretty good as far as rust goes, but take care of accident damage to the chassis. I may be biased but if you want a sidescreen go for a 3a or (if you can find one) a 3b. Got all the braking, axle and engine bits pretty well sorted out by those models, they also made more of them so spare panels and fittings are easier to source. Plenty of Triumph nuts out there who will probably help! Let us know how you get on. Good luck Unc Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kiwifrog Posted October 11, 2005 Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 Yoke It is impossible to say wether the price is right or not as I do not know the Canadian market. What I will say is that these cars can be very expensive to restore if you can not do the bulk of the work yourself. Beware of missing small items as well, a lot of the little parts, dials gauges handles etc can be very hard to find and expensive, its amazing how much they all add up to at the end of a restoration. It is usually best to buy the best car you can afford unless you are like a number of the people on this forum and have masichositc tendencies. Having said that, rebuilding a ruin can be fun and satisifying just dont expect to be able to drive it in the next decade Alan :blues: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
j-eichert Posted October 11, 2005 Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 Yoke, without a close look at the car no decision can be made. As the others already wrote, be prepared for a whole lot of work, more than you expect before. It can be very satisfying. Kiwifrog is completly right, i'm one his masochists probably.... If the most expensive car is the best? I'm not sure. I preferred a "basket case" to a "runner" as I suspected, that the amount of work is almost equal if you are on the route to a full body off restauration. Maybe you get more (re-) usable parts, but the abvantage may not be to high (there may be a lot of rot under a coat of paint or presto, you can't look inside an engine or gearbox...). The frame seems to me another important point . Nigel is right as well, take tge book "How to.." and you have some ideas what & where to look (or ask somebody who nows the sidecsreens to have a look at "your" car....) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rex Wyer Posted October 11, 2005 Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 Yoke, where abouts do you live ?:cool: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mychael Posted October 11, 2005 Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 Get the most complete can you can even if it's a bit tired. My TR3A was a runner/driver. Full registration and all that. One of the most expensive excercise for me was to locate all the correct small gauges for it. The ones in it worked fine but were TR4 era. Took me considerable time and money to get it back to original. What's that saying? "The devil is in the detail". This car of mine was perfectly safe and usable and could have been kept like that with considerably less expense but I wanted all the correct stuff and bills mounted up at a frightening rate. Mychael Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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