A Trip To Brighton

Tomorrow I set out in a LWB van to pick-up my newly acquired rear tub. yes, I've actually managed to find (and buy) one. PLUS - I'm also getting a new bulkhead - so that should save hours and hours of welding (and cost).

Unfortunately it's in Brighton, and due to having to attend an event tonight, it means I'll have to drive to and back there tomorrow. Wish me luck!!!

It's just a bit of prep work, and then some paint....

This car will be finished by Christmas (in my dreams)!

I hate eBay!

Well no progress at all since the last post!!!

The TR7 bloke just asked if the Vitesse was for sale, I said no, he didn't reply about his lowest price. So thats a 'no go'.

The bloke with the rear tub for sale ignored all my correspondence and hasn't put it back online - so that looks like a 'no go' too!

Priced up repair panels for the tub at Rimmers - somewhere in the region of £600. That tub looks good value now - especially considering the naff 2x herald rear tubs on ebay at the moment which look worse than mine!!!

Neither Lincoln Council or NKDC have replied to my questions requesting a garage - so that's probably a 'no go' too.

Grrrrrrrr!

Progress?

It's been two weeks - and nothing new has happened!

I took a trip to the TSSC club shop this morning, and picked up a CD-ROM with all of the workshop manuals included. Whilst there I had a chat with Garth (who runs the club shop and is also my local area organiser for the TSSC) about the tub situation.

His idea was to get hold of a tidy saloon tub (if possible - but probably easier than finding a convertible one) and cut the bottom off and attach the top half of mine to it. Seems reasonable to me!

So it's just a saloon tub and a mig welder required.....

Watch this space!

First Inspection

Yesterday, I rolled the Vitesse back out into the sunshine following a few weeks being forgotten about in the garage. It gave me a chance to look through the parts that came with the car, and finally take a good look at the state of the bodywork.


As I prodded and poked a bit more, it became obvious that the rear tub was beyond anything my skills could achieve. I have posted a message on the TSSC website for inspiration.





In the end, I decided to start stripping the car down, salvaging anything that might be worth holding onto and discarding anything broken, bent or completely rusted. I will post pictures of the stripdown in my next post.

I also took a flying visit to Triumphland in Doncaster on the off-chance he had something in his yard. Two bulkheads in the same condition as mine for £120, and a rotten tub - almost as bad as mine. The search for the holy grail of a pefect and primered (dreaming again) rear tub has started....