Overview

This 1971 Triumph Vitesse  is owned by Pam and is a cherished family heirloom having been originally restored by Pam's husband Neil as a project. Unfortunately Neil passed away over ten year ago however Pam has continued to maintain and run the car. It's been a regular on many classic car runs from Shelsley Walsh hillclimb however, sadly, it badly failed an MOT test with serious chassis and bodywork issues. Whilst its a classic vehicle not requiring road tax or MOT, Pam wisely chose to have the car regularly inspected. Back in 2019 the MOT test was a bridge to far as a result of corrosion.

This is the story of the how the car was returned to the road.

History

The car was purchased in for £1000 in 1991 as a project. It was, by then, 20 years old and a non-runner and included a replacement engine and gearbox.

Neil rebuilt the car and it became a regular at Classic events at Shelsley Walsh.

A classic event at Shelsley Walsh circa 2000

 

All ready for duty at son Tom's wedding in 2016.

Scrap or repair?

Following the MOT failure, a decision was needed on what to do. Pam and her family had too much connection to the car to scrap it so entrusted the bodywork and chassis repairs to Body Beautiful in Bridgenorth.

On its way to bodyshop

The repairs turned out to be extensive, requiring removal of all bodywork and pretty much every panel requiring some attention or replacement. 

The body and chassis work have resulted in what must be one of the best examples of a Vitesse - with exceptional paint and body alignment quality. Certainly better than anything that came from the factory. A small selection of the thousand or so pictures taken during in the body shop period follow which emphasise the extent of the restoration:

Engine bay prior to strip down

Door peeled for internal inspection and treatment

Evidence of some previous MOT patching

Pitting on the door sill - all needing replacement

This flange was cut back and a replacement welded in

New wheelarch

Repair to corroded bump stop

Paint job inside the doors is pretty good too!

Chassis repair

Cut out for replacement footwells

Even the headlamp covers are a work of art

Final inspection at paint shop

The original plan was for Body Beautiful to complete the full rebuild, but after 18 months and ever increasing issues list it was decided to stop the refurbishment at the point when the body and chassis work were complete. 

The car was transported home along with many boxes of very well labelled interior and exterior body fittings while Pam pondered how to get the car rebuilt. Pam's son James is an engineer and car enthusiast and would have taken it on but he is based in Australia.

Ready for trip home

Home from the paint shop - looking stunning

Pam: "I think it just needs the interior fitting !!"

This is where I came in. Having know Pam and her partner Trefor for many years I had a keen interest in how the refurbishment was going and was able to offer Trefor help with the reassembly.  Thus we agreed to tackle the project 1 day per week provided Pam and Trefor supplied tea and biscuits! There have been a lot of biscuits!

James made it back from Australia over Xmas to join in and has been keeping a distant eye on proceedings.

Assembly plan

Given the excellence of the body and chassis repairs it would have been tempting to try and refit to show-car level, however Pam was really keen to maintain much of the history or patina so we aimed to refurbish and repair parts where possible.

We established a rebuild plan to try and avoid installing stuff then having to remove it later - that said the fuel tank has been in and out 3 times..... 

The general plan involved:

• Wiring loom and connection to all major accessories. Replaced the indicator stalk assembly and indicator flasher unit as both faulty.
• Fuel tank install and new fuel pipe.
• New fuel sender unit.
• New fuel pump (old one was faulty)
• Brake and clutch pedal assemblies and master cylinders. Clutch master cylinder had to be replaced.
• Brake pipe to master cylinder connections
• Clutch slave cylinder to master cylinder connection
• Install remote bleed nipple for clutch slave
• Handbrake lever and cable install
• Heater
• Wiper motor and rack
• Windscreen washer system
• Dashboard install
• Door locks
• Door windows plus internals - a surprisingly tricky job!
• Bell housing cover
• New carpets fitted
• New inertia reel seat belts fitted
• Seat bases
• Seats  -included re-stuffing one of the seats that had a resident mouse!
• Windscreen refit
• All exterior brightwork.
• Soft top refit
• Fitting a new soft top cover

Its fair to say that Rimmer Brothers have done quite well out of this refurbishment given they have supplied the majority of the parts and fittings.

Hoping this is the last time we have to fit the fuel tank!

The workshop

Fuel tank fitted - hopefully for the last time!

Master cylinder and pedal assemblies fitted

New carpet set

Heater assembly refit.

Dash fitting

New soft-top cover fitted

Original seat before re-stuffing with new padding. 

Seats and door trims

Engine cleaned and painted

Testing and commissioning

A full service was done with oil/gearbox/filters and lubricated the trunnions with EP90 oil.

As it had been standing for 3 years, the plugs were removed and some WD40 sprayed inside the cylinders before turning the engine over.

Tappets checked.

The engine fired quite easily but ran very roughly, then the starter motor gave up the ghost so was replaced with a new one, along with a new battery.

Once the engine was warm a pressure test was done on each cylinder - all good.

The rough running was resolved by dismantling the carburettors, cleaning then resetting/re-balancing. No carburettor parts needed.

The distributor rotor arm was replaced from the original rivetted type to a moulded red one from the distributor guys.

On a longer run we found the battery getting very hot so decided to service the Control Box.

Then finally  - Trefor took the car for an MOT and  - it passed!!!

Back on the road

First official outing

One of many events the car will be attending over the coming years.

In summary, its been an absolute pleasure helping to return this car to the road.