Fleet update & potential new retro daily - Pic heavy

Lashout_UK · 6 Jun 2010 at 21:55

Well, at the moment my fleet's seen some sharp changes. I recently sold my very trusty (and absolutely fantastic) Jeep Cherokee, which has done me very well:

I also very briefly dabbled with:

A 1.7 'VCT' Ford Puma, great fun to drive but very not me...

.......and I also have currently as my daily, which I've been hacking around in for a fair few miles now:

The Pinifarina penned 406 Coupe, a 3.0 V6 'SE'. Suffice to say it's a lovely machine and drives beautifully, and has all the toys (heated electric memory leather, rain sensing wipers, cruise, climate etc), but it'll be moving on soon to make way for a more period daily. Sounds great though and is fantastic through the corners.

At this current moment I'm working on this as a project:

It's a 1975 P6, a 3500 'S' with the 3.5 litre Rover V8, and a few choice mods - SD1 heads, electronic ignition, Facet fuel pump and a 5 speed LT77 gearbox. The car's had a full engine and gearbox not many miles ago so is in fine fettle mechanically. It has, as original, PAS and 4 wheel disc brakes (with the rears being inboard) too, so it's pretty well kitted out.

I'm almost at the point of getting this MOT'd, so I'm hoping that with some luck and preparation I'll be able to get it on the road and see what it's really like - because I am quite taken with it and wouldn't mind using it on a regular basis - but it does need a fair few things doing, nothing major though. I had a P6 before but this one with the manual box is just a bit more sporting and entertaining - plus it's in my favorite colour....

So far I've rebuilt the master cylinder, sorted some of the cosmetic and rust issues, bled the brakes, got the handbrake working, tweaked the rear brakes, sorted some of the electrical faults and worked on some of the interior. It still needs further work on the rear brakes and maybe rear subframe mounts (or something like that, bit of a clonk sometimes on takeup of drive) but it's getting there. Real solid motor though

Lashout_UK · 6 Jun 2010 at 21:57

Anyway, I digress - I've always fancied a Triumph 2000 but finding a good one can be a bit of a chore, or at least, one that's a solid base. This particular car had been around for sale for a while now, so I took a chance and bought it without seeing it and got my transporter to collect it for me - you never know unless you try and this seemed like a good bet.

Getting it transported turned out to be a smart move (it was a good few hundred miles away) as it very quickly developed a chronic misfire once here! Wouldn't have been fun on the day. Oddly enough, it cost as much to get it collected as it would have to go down and drive it back myself, so not really any great loss there.

I resolved the misfire very quickly by changing the plugs and fettling with the new leads (poorly fitted) - as the car has had a recent new distributor, leads, cap and electronic ignition, so I took a gamble on it being the plugs. It's running a bit rich too but I'll sort that when I get the correct tool for adjusting the Strombergs.

In short:

After that, I was rewarded with this:

It's a 1970 Triumph 2000 automatic, a Mk.2 "Innsbruck" saloon.

The car's done 60,393 genuine miles, had 3 previous owners and is in pretty good shape, to say the least.

Pictures:

I thought this was a pretty neat period touch!

Oh yea!!!!!!!!

All it really needs is a new set of front carpets, a new steering column bush and a decent tune - but it runs and drives very sweetly as is.

I'm half tempted to make it my daily but I just really need to give it a decent road-test (which I'm not going to do until I've fitted the new bush) and see whether I could live with the relatively low output - as I'm a bit concerned that I'll have to spend a fair bit to get it up to a standard I'm happy with - things like lower springs, front ARB, a bit more power and so on.

On the flipside though, it's a fantastic shell, with good paint, and a great interior, and 2500 engines, or even PI systems, aren't hard to come by if I wanted to soup it up and keep it "Triumph".

I'm also collecting parts (only need a block & crank now) to build a really nice Chevrolet V8 at the moment - with the intention to put it in a Triumph - and it did cross my mind that this would make a great starting point, with a mild 350/350 combo or a 5 speed manual T5 box......but that'd be some time in the future and I'd have to think twice about hacking something like this about!

Well, maybe twice

Opinions and suggestions welcome

[TW]Fox · 6 Jun 2010 at 21:58

Lashout_UK said:

That is SUCH a good looking car and in my opinion has barely dated at all.

Lashout_UK · 6 Jun 2010 at 22:03

Thanks Fox! It's only done 42k as well, and has one previous owner! I don't really have any good pics of it yet (never cleaned it properly) but I'll give it a wax and a polish soon and get some decent shots

DM · 6 Jun 2010 at 22:04

A manual Rover 3500S, wow they were rare, lovely.

griffo_001 · 6 Jun 2010 at 22:10

How about a 3.5 V8 Range Rover 2 Door as well? You know you want to

Peerzy · 6 Jun 2010 at 22:10

[TW]Fox;16698563 said:
That is SUCH a good looking car and in my opinion has barely dated at all.

The V6's must have such a bad auto box to knock it from 7.5 seconds to 60 to 9.3 :eek:

Also mega WTF on 6k service intervals for the derv.

Lovely looking car though.

Locky · 6 Jun 2010 at 22:11

Was just about to say that the 406 coupe is such a great looking car even today.

Dogbreath · 6 Jun 2010 at 22:11

That brings back memories! A friend of mine who was up in Bath Uni at the time saved a 2500 Estate from the hands of the banger racers, and it was a fantastic machine to cruise around in. It was a manual with overdrive operated by a small switch on the gear knob, so there was a running joke about "dropping a button" prior to an enthusiastic overtake. We did have to spend a whole weekend cutting the "powder blue" paint back by hand though...

Your's looks like it's in very good condition, a bit of work fettling up the engine bay and new (if available?) carpets would make it an excellent and very original classic. I would think twice about modifying it as well, even though it has a slushbox and the rather underpowered 2.0l engine; there can't be very many ones that original left these days.

The Pug Coupe is a lovely looking machine as well.

Lashout_UK · 6 Jun 2010 at 22:15

A 2.5 estate, that's a very rare beast these days too! Good save

You can get pretty much everything new for them, including carpets - there are only a few bits that are unobtainium or NLA from new sources, but there's so many people supporting them you can usually find even the tricky bits without too much effort

I need to get new front and rear windscreen seals for it too, forgot that - they're a bit perished and let it down really.

RE originality, yea, that's what I was thinking about - few and far between and it is pretty much factory barring the Stag alloys - but they'll be staying, I'm not putting the steels and cross-plies (!) back on that came with it!

Jonny69 · 6 Jun 2010 at 22:19

Didn't know you had a Puma. Always had a soft spot for them.

Lashout_UK · 6 Jun 2010 at 22:23

Only briefly - I had it for about 4 weeks I think, bought it from a very nice lady just down the road from me as a stop gap between the Jeep and, well, whatever next (turned out to be the 406).

Really sharp car to drive though and man, that engine really liked to go!

Terrible rear visibility, and awkward rear styling killed it for me, personally, though

icysniper · 6 Jun 2010 at 22:36

Lashout_UK said:

I live so close to that old factory/work shop, heard many things about it, just never thought I would see one of its products :eek:

agw_01 · 6 Jun 2010 at 22:45

Gotta say, I chuckled when I saw the Puma. Not very you at all

The others, while not my choice, are very nice examples. I always read your threads with interest so keep it up

Oh, does the 406 have Brembo callipers up front? Can I have them?

Lashout_UK · 6 Jun 2010 at 22:48

It does indeed have Brembo brakes - they stop it very nicely!

I will get some sound clips of it soon, sounds pretty lively to my suprise and makes for nice cruising with the windows down

Robbo · 6 Jun 2010 at 22:51

[TW]Fox;16698563 said:
That is SUCH a good looking car and in my opinion has barely dated at all.

My dad had one that replaced his regular 406 a long time ago, it was a fantastic car. Diablo red I think it was

He spent ages searching for one, driving around all over the place, then we found one about 1 minute from our house, that had been kept in perfect condition by a Peugeot mechanic/enthusiast!

3.0 V6 as well.

GSXRMovistar · 6 Jun 2010 at 23:01

Lashout_UK said:
Really sharp car to drive though and man, that engine really liked to go!

Terrible rear visibility

Agree with that, I had a couple of Pumas when I was younger, cracking little cars and so much fun to drive. As for the rear end I also remember visibility being crap and the fact that the boot was flooded with water whenever you opened the rear hatch if it was wet/rained on.

Lashout_UK · 6 Jun 2010 at 23:03

Yea, I remember that - did it a few times after I washed it, opened the boot to find water sluicing in everywhere. Most infuriating

Clarkey · 6 Jun 2010 at 23:12

What happened to the Supra then?

Lashout_UK · 6 Jun 2010 at 23:19

I sold that to a guy in Ireland, just before the end of December I think. The Jeep replaced it, just in time for more snow, although I did have several entertaining escapades using the Supra with its manual box and LSD on a daily basis in the ice and snow

Fleet update & potential new retro daily - Pic heavy

Man of Honour