This was my TR3A when bought in 1989. I was looking for a car to completely restore, and that is certainly what I got here! It was a Californian import and I was completely won over by the relatively rust-free condition of the car. I knew that it required a total re-trim, new outer sills and repairs to the boot floor and floor pans, and I expected to have to restore most of the mechanical side of the car.
Unfortunately, though, it turned out to have bent chassis and the engine block and crank were beyond repair. Other interesting features were the gate hinges holding the bonnet on, a length of wire and six inch nail for a choke cable, short lengths of hose pipe used as suspension bushes and an MGA rear bumper on the front of the car.
The chassis was repaired by welding in the front of another chassis. A new boot floor was welded in and various repairs made to the floors. The outer sills weren't too bad, but they were removed and replaced in order to check out the condition of the inner sills. The car was then re-sprayed. A replacement engine was fitted and virtually every other item was either replaced or overhauled. I re-trimmed the car and fitted a new top, side-screens and tonneau cover.
Eight years later I had completely rebuilt the car, but by then I had bought another TR3, which was meant to be a temporary fun car. However, I decided that it would be more sensible to sell the rebuilt car, which I felt was almost too good to drive. I sold it in 1997 at a great loss, but I enjoyed the experience of completely rebuilding a car! This car is now in a private collection in Denmark.
No comments:
Post a Comment