A mid-life crisis car?


Well not really but it does kind of feel like it seeing as I am no spring chicken anymore.

So, 2.5PI saloon sold and I've bought a TR6. I went over to the workshop where it's stored today and did the final deal. I am going to have a few paintwork issues that the car picked up in storage corrected by the resident painter there and then pick it up in a couple of weeks. That'll give me time to get the documents in my name and tax it whilst gathering the parts to rebuild the seats and possibly a light refresh of the interior trim.

It's not tax free and it's not Sapphire blue, two of the things I set out to get when I started looking but it was a good price and it is sound. Mimosa yellow has always been a favourite of mine but this is the first yellow car I've owned, I wonder how I will get on living with it? The engine has had some performance work done including a gas flowed head, a full lighten and balance of the rotating parts and the addition of "stress relieved" rods - I think that means they were shot peened. It seems to drive well, gearbox and over drive operation are slick and all in all I think it was well worth the money. There's some work to be done to it before I collect it including a little tweak to the door fit and painting the back panel the correct satin black, I hope to collect it in about a fortnight.

The car has a fresh MOT and needed very little to get one despite being stored and unused for quite some time. The owner has only lived in the UK for 2 years out of the past 20 so the car hasn't seen much action. He had owned it for a total of 27 years but has now left the UK permanently for Australia.

On the do list already are
  • New seat foams, diaphragms and headrests. The covers themselves are all good.
  • Change the steering wheel, it's got a wood rim on that is not to my taste, I prefer leather.
  • Remove the roll over bar, will sell that, I prefer the clean lines and instant death in a roll over accident.
  • Rear trim is a bit tired so I will re-trim the vinyl over the wheel arches and possibly the rear panel
  • The inlets are worn so I need to refurbish those, unless I can find some excellent second hand ones that come with a guarantee (that's a tall order!)
  • As some of the under bonnet rubber was looking perished I will renew all hoses
  • I need to find or make a retaining strap for the washer bottle, the original has perished badly
  • Brake and clutch hydraulics seem good but I'll get rebuild kits and keep as spares.
  • I'll probably replace the brake flexi-hoses too
  • In the near future I suspect it'll need suspension bushes so a Polybush kit is on the list
  • One rear bumper corner is a little corroded so I may try and find a better second hand one, I know I can get new but that will not match the patina or the rest and I don't really want to shell out on a full bumper.
  • I managed to buy a single pipe large bore stainless exhaust system for it, as you do, so now I need a decent manifold to join that to. It's got wheel barrow handles type exhaust on it at the moment and whilst I can live with it, I much prefer a single pipe.
  • The hardtop is fitted at the moment but it was done without a full fitting kit and I think it's missing the rubbers that seal it to the deck - will have to investigate that and get the right hardware and seals. The hood its good and fits well.
There will doubtless be more to add to the list and I am being picky as I do like my cars to be in good order. The trouble with a TR is that you can get almost everything shiny and new, at a price!

If anyone reading this has any of the above for sale or wants to buy any of the bits I am going to take off (roll over bar, steering wheel) then give me a shout.

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