History of My Old Car
Introduction
The car was registered in Reading, Berkshire on October 1975. This date and its commission number place it relatively near the start of the 1500 mark, which was the 5th and final mark.
It was originally painted White with black trim, but I had it resprayed in March 1999 to it's current Carmine Red - seemingly a popular colour for Triumphs.
The car has had owners in Reading (Berkshire), Chiswick (West London), Walton-on-Thames (Surrey) and whilst I had it you could see it round the streets of Woking in Surrey. I was the 5th owner and the car had done 116,000 miles when I sold it on what I believe is the original engine (albeit with an unleaded head) and gearbox.
Whilst I owned the car I had the following work done:
- New clutch slave cylinder
- New clutch (The original had worn down so much that it wouldn't fully disengage)
Conversion to lead-free petrol with a new TSSC cylinder head - producing a definite improvement in fuel consumption. (Visit the page on fuel consumption.)- Differential removed, restored and rebuilt
- New universal Joints at back of car. (Got rid of that funny clonking noise at low speed).
- New floor pan and sill on the driver's side
- Full body restoration including bare-metal respray (Visit the restoration page)
- New brake cylinders at back
- New brake disks and pads at front
- New soft top
- Driver's seat re-upholstered and re-covered (Produced a much more comfortable ride)
- New shock-absorbers
- New radiator
- Kenlowe electric fan. (The car was now so much quieter and warmed up much faster in winter)
This was a tricky photo to take but it shows the new radiator, Kenlowe electric fan, and a nice clean replacement radiator expansion bottle. (The air intakes for the carburettor intrude menacingly top left).
