People’s thoughts on TR4

[monty]

Stuart’s comments would be enough for me to politely decline the car. There are several others out there & I would be looking at the actual car first, rather than the colour for example. Choose the right car & maybe respray at a later date?

[ianc]

I don't think that there can be any doubt that Stuart (Watermill Carriage Co. in Cornwall) has more experience of restoring TRs than anyone who normally contributes to the Forum, so his advice should be taken seriously.

Fixing this problem is NOT a minor job, (and it needs to be fixed) and it raises questions as to what else might not be right with the car.

Ian Cornish

[TRTOM2498PI]

I would be walking away with this one.

If they have not got this right on the car, what else may be a miss ?  At £27k or £33k, this is not a cheap car, considering the brackets have been omitted.

 

There are some rough cars out there, masquerading as shiny ones.

 

Good luck in your search.

[james christie]

As they say here ‘au marriage la mariée est belle, c’est quand on lève la jupe, il y a les surprises’

=at the wedding the bride is beautiful, it’s when you lift the skirt you find the surprise

james

 

[Malbaby]

3 hours ago, james christie said:

As they say here ‘au marriage la mariée est belle, c’est quand on lève la jupe, il y a les surprises’

=at the wedding the bride is beautiful, it’s when you lift the skirt you find the surprise

james

 

Depends on what the surprise is...

[Malbaby]

21 hours ago, Neilson said:

Hey, thanks again for the advice.

The car’s priced at £33k, but I wouldn’t pay that. Would £27k be a good offer?

Apparently the bodywork and interior are amazing, and panel gaps are spot on. The engine and gearbox were overhauled by Revington.

The car had a close to bare metal paint job too.

Someone who went to see it, had viewed 16 TRs over the course of 3 weeks and said this was one of the best out there.

The seller has given me his mechanic’s details, so I can talk to him about pricing up the work. If it amounts to thousands I’ll definitely leave it and carry on the quest!

 

"The car had a close to bare metal paint job"  is also of a concern...Does the seller have pics on what was actually done...As I said before, the paint job requires very careful inspection....Looks good on the pics, but is it?

If the paint job is perfect, then it comes down to price.

The seller's mechanic/engineer is a big worry......Apart from his problematic comments, even a very small thing like the fitment of the clutch hydraulic line in the engine bay is amateurish.

UK members would have the most experience regarding  pricing.

Edited October 17, 2023 by Malbaby

[ntc]

Show me a car that I could not find faults on I will eat my hat including some of the posters cars on here I personally think this is not a good idea to ask a forum for opinions but it seems to be a good idea for a mod to encourage it. Just my personal opinion.

Edited October 17, 2023 by ntc

[SuzanneH]

7 minutes ago, ntc said:

Show me a car that I could not find faults on I will eat my hat including some of the posters on here I personally think this is not a good idea to ask a forum for opinions but it seems to be a good idea for a mod to encourage it. Just my personal opinion.

I agreee 100%

[ntc]

Just now, SuzanneH said:

I agreee 100%

Thanks Sue and belated happy birthday 

[SuzanneH]

1 minute ago, ntc said:

Thanks Sue and belated happy birthday 

Thanks Neil.

[John Morrison]

 

Show me a car that I could not find faults on I will eat my hat including some of the posters cars on here

Fully Agree

 

 I personally think this is not a good idea to ask a forum for opinions but it seems to be a good idea for a mod to encourage it. Just my personal opinion.

Totally 100% categorically disagree, but then why miss a chance to swipe at a mod?

[Neilson]

Hi all, firstly let me start by saying - thanks to everyone who’s had an opinion on this topic.

As a novice it’s been incredibly helpful and has saved me from buying a couple of duds, but at the same time increased my knowledge of fault finding and issues that can arise from owning a TR.

I totally understand and absolutely agree that owning a 50+ year old classic car comes with its own set of issues, and something will always arise during one’s ownership. That’s why forums like this are such a valuable resource, and hopefully encourage new owners to embark on owning their first classic car.

What else are forums for, but to advise and share tips and offer a wealth of knowledge to newcomers like myself.

If I hadn’t started this topic I could have been £27k down, and a £5k bill to put it right. I’m always a firm believer that if someone has experience and expertise in a certain area, I’d be a fool not to listen.

This being the case I’ve decided to not purchase this particular car and carry on with the search. I really hope I can start another topic, and get advice from all of you if I find the right car. Until then my search continues.

Thanks to everyone who’s participated and contributed in giving me such help and advice.

[Neilson]

For anyone that’s interested - here’s some shots of the chassis and missing strengthening brackets, along with some other shots…

 

[Neilson]

[Neilson]

[Neilson]

 

 

 

Edited October 18, 2023 by Neilson

[Neilson]

 

Edited October 18, 2023 by Neilson

[Neilson]

The car itself to my untrained eye is outstanding, the bodywork and paintwork excellent.

The interior was extremely good, with the chassis, floor and engine bay in amazing condition.

if only the brackets hadn’t been omitted, this would be my dream car. 

Negatives - the steering and column didn’t sit straight and was positioned slightly over the left. The temperature gauge fluctuated and rose to nearly 80 although the water was fine with no loss. The clutch was incredibly tight and of course no strengthening brackets.

 

Edited October 18, 2023 by Neilson

[John Morrison]

Ultimately Neil, its your money.

It has also undoubtedly had much spent on it, probably the seller trying to get just a bit too much back.

Just curious but did you get to the point of making an offer, and if so was it accepted?

Yes please, come back here to us with detail of any other car you find.

John.

[Neilson]

3 minutes ago, John Morrison said:

Ultimately Neil, its your money.

It has also undoubtedly had much spent on it, probably the seller trying to get just a bit too much back.

Just curious but did you get to the point of making an offer, and if so was it accepted?

Yes please, come back here to us with detail of any other car you find.

John.

Thanks John, really appreciate that!

Overall there was a lot spent on the car, but this was reflected in its condition. We did agree at £27k, but he wouldn’t drop any further. I said I need a couple of days to process.

Best

Neil

[Michel Higuet]

18 hours ago, james christie said:

As they say here ‘au marriage la mariée est belle, c’est quand on lève la jupe, il y a les surprises’

=at the wedding the bride is beautiful, it’s when you lift the skirt you find the surprise

james

 

It's hard to believe that there are men who get married without having looked down the skirt before...
Previously it was only dangerous in Thailand but it seems that nowadays this danger is present everywhere...

I personally think this is a very good idea to ask a forum for opinions...  (of course not on the future wife of course :-) ).

 

[Neilson]

Haha - Now wives were going to be my next topic…

Thanks Michel

[stuart]

FWIW the rear brakes are assembled wrongly too.

Stuart.

[Neilson]

1 minute ago, stuart said:

FWIW the rear brakes are assembled wrongly too.

Stuart.

Thanks for all the advice Stuart, this is definitely not the car for me.

Neil

[Andy Moltu]

All "rebuilt" TRs will need a fair amount of sorting. Even those restored by TR specialists. Those rebuilt by non-specialists will likely need more sorting as they won't be familiar with what goes where and 6 months later when you go to put it back...

If I could have had a quid for every metric bolt I found in the 4a I could have been recovering from many mighty hangovers.

The question you have to consider with this car is whether the price reflects what it is worth given the work required?

What is a near bare metal respray? I am not saying it is always necessary to go back to bare metal but near means that it isn't. All replaced metal will effectively be bare metal but what about the rest? 

The price is high for a car that needs work. Whilst you could weld the missing brackets in situ, to do a proper job with rust protection would mean lifting the body as Stuart has said.

This is the real world and the cost of restoration and sale price will have a considerable gulf. The vendor is trying to recoup the restoration price on a car that still needs significant work. 

There are likely to be better cars at a lower price that doesn't need significant work.

The engineers report is worthless. He didn't just miss the absent brackets or he didn't know they should be there, he doesn't know why they should be there. It's not like confusing a black screw or chrome screw which is forgivable.

It's easy to get attached to a car but it's wiser to be dispassionate. This is not your car so don't get sucked into buying it an anything like the price asked and have no concerns about walking away.