First Restoration 1980/1 - The Bodywork

TOGGLE MENU


The car as originally purchased in March 1980:

You need to upgrade your Flash Player and enable Javascript to view this content »

The car was found to be in a much poorer state than initially thought on it's purchase (see below the rear RH wing after much poking with a screwdriver).

The sills were equally shot (a copy of The Sun was found in one), so a visit to the nearest British Leyland dealer (Heron Tractors in St. Asaph) elicited the following panels (see below): new sills for both sides, rear RH wing and inner wing, and a battery box. These were welded on by my next-door neighbour (Ken Evans, Ruthin) with the exception of the battery box which I riveted in myself.

During the first restoration quite a few other panels were replaced over the period 1980/81 prior to the total respray carried out in the winter of 1981/82 (see list below).

PANELS REPLACED
Description Part No. Supplier Paid
Rear Wing RH 576409 Heron Tractors £22.77
Inner Wing 911604 Heron Tractors £4.60
LH Sill 903097 Heron Tractors £7.48
RH Sill 903098 Heron Tractors £7.48
A Post Filler RH 706289 Heron Tractors £22.77
Battery Box 806707 Heron Tractors £10.04
RH Outer Wheel Arch 911604 Heron Tractors £3.68
Rear Wing LH 576408 Heron Tractors £25.88
Filler/Closing Panel - A Post Lower - LH 706288 Heron Tractors £1.50
Front Lower Panel - Valance 811676 Heron Tractors £40.54
Bracket 813951 Heron Tractors £3.28
Bracket 613045 Heron Tractors £2.53
Rear Valance 719030 British Sports Cars £16.91
Boot Floor 815279 British Sports Cars £29.76
RH Floor Panel 908900RH Taylor Pressform -
LH Floor Panel 908900LH Taylor Pressform -
Windscreen Frame Assembly 950119 John Kipping -
Bonnet Assembly 908116 J S Chinn £100

Suppliers:

1. Heron Tractors (BL Dealer), St. Asaph, North Wales.
2. British Sports Car Centre, London.
3. Taylor Pressform, Warwick.
4. John Kipping Triumph Spares, Coventry.
5. J S Chinn, Coventry Rd, Exhall, Coventry (they pressed GT6 bonnets for Triumph).

Welding was carried out by Ken Evans, Llwyn Menlli, Ruthin / Brian Williams (Yam-yam), Station Road, Ruthin / et al


The floors, which were very rusty (and caused a MoT failure), were replaced. I visited John Kipping at his home near Coventry. John was then the spares secretary of the TSSC, and his home and garden were full of Triumph spare parts. He took me in his Herald convertible to a body panel maker in Warwick (possibly Taylor Pressform). I then drove to a friend's house in Luton to attend a Party. My GT6 was stolen from outside my friend's house in the night. The floor panels, which were in the back at the time, were thrown into the road. I recovered them and my friend took me home with the panels. Later the car was recovered and I had to collect it from the Luton Police Station pound. According to the Police the car had been to Scotland! In Ruthin I knew a master welder called Brian Yam-Yam (Williams) who used a MIG welder to seam weld in the new floor panels, repair the windscreen frame (also from John Kipping), and later fit new door skins. Repairs were also done to the rear (the valance was replaced) and a respray in Triumph white was undertaken at a friend's house in Lancashire, see below.

You need to upgrade your Flash Player and enable Javascript to view this content »

The newly resprayed car can be seen below.

You need to upgrade your Flash Player and enable Javascript to view this content »