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The
Rolling Restoration of Gremlin - My Spitfire4 A long, long time ago I owned a Mk1 GT6 from 1967. I loved her. Owned her for many years and gradually rebuilt her to a good and useable standard. This meant firstly, in the first week of ownership, changing the clutch and fitting more than the five bolts that had been used to attach the gearbox to the engine, by the previous owner. Or should I say when a garage fitted a Triumph 2000 engine, badly! The whole car shook when I pulled away! I was only 18. The year was 1984. Torquay is a resort town by the
sea. I love the place, my dad, brother and gran still live there
and Natasha, Daniel (now seven months old) and I go down there often
and stay on our boat. David and I pulled the car out of the field with his Vitesse and set about repairing the damage. This we did by stretching the car back to shape with a horse transporter lorry, a steep hill, steel barn post and some very heavy-duty chain. New rear wings, inner and outer, boot floor, valence, exhaust,
lighting etc. sorted her out nicely. You wouldn’t have known.
Ish! Needless to say, my present Triumphs are all now fitted with 1500
swing spring and roll bar set up. Also, I drive very carefully now
as I think of that mortgage that I must keep on paying. Another
way of making sure that you drive sedately is to buy yourself a
Citroen Xantia Diesel. Anything else, including a Spitfire will
feel like a Lamborghini. Ughhh it’s slow! Sadly the GT6 had to be changed for a sensible car when I went to University. Some time later my brother Stuart, who has always had a Spitfire, (he managed to roll a Mk3 onto it’s soft top whilst on his way to a shout. He was a retained Firefighter). bought a signal red 1967 GT6 with wire wheels. She ran but hadn’t got a floor and was very rusty all over. Stuart decided to live on his boat in Dartmouth and I volunteered to garage the GT6 until we had the time to restore her. I became a teacher and moved around the country several times
going up the ladder of promotion and the GT6 followed me. I was
reluctant to start work on her until I had the space and time and
when I was sure that I wasn’t going to move for a while. The
thought of having loads of bits of car all over the place horrified
me. How would I remember where it all went?
I moved the GT6 into her new home and the work began. Well actually it began by assessing the cost of the replacement panels. The chassis and engine were good but the body was dreadful. Looked nice from a distance but every panel except for the centre of the bonnet would need to be changed. The doors were totally shot; even the roof needed welding. I decided that the best course of action would be to try to get another body. I could repair the bonnet with new wings, front panels and wheel arches. I phoned around the dealers but the prices that I was quoted were a joke. Most of what I was offered seemed as rusty as what I already had. I tried an advert in the Freead (everything for sale, advertise for free) paper and the TSSC Courier. I was surprised to be inundated by loads of calls. Most people offered “I have an excellent GT6 (or Spitfire) body that you can buy”. Great I said. “Oh but you have to have the rest of the car too”. I went to see lots of unfinished projects, out of curiosity and for fun. For some reason I ended up buying four extra cars! Was I mad? Had those kids tipped me over the edge? Each car was a lot better than the one that I already had and were all too good or complete to break. I sold two for what I paid for them, kept a trailer that I bought with a Mk3 Spit and kept Gremlin my 1965 (February) Spitfire 4. I was born in Feb 65. I also kept a Mk1 GT6 bought as a dismantled, mostly finished restoration project. Mark, a doctor from Eastbourne had run out of time and space for her. He had spent loads of money rebuilding the engine, chassis and fitting a recon Overdrive box. Loads of mods were done. These included 1500 swing spring and roll bar, polly bushes and new shocks, tuned head, 6 branch manifold, K&N’s, Kenlowe fan, every conceivable bearing and fixing, many body panels nicely welded into place, headlining, braking system and lots more. The chassis and running gear had been painted and everything roughly reassembled for moving. Sadly Mark had been unable to finish her off but I have kept in touch so he will see the end product soon I hope. Back to Gremlin. She had an MOT when I bought her from Derek of Bournemouth. He had also ran out of time and he had a bad back. He is a tall man which didn’t help and he needed a bigger car, Gremlin had been his only car at that time. I enjoyed her for a winter and during the following Spring time
but some work was needed. Again she looked fine from a distance.
I didn’t think that a full body off resto was needed but I
was wrong. I bought a brand new Mig welder and set to work. Stuart,
my brother and I decided to go the whole hog and ended up replacing
both sides of the floor, both rear wings, repairing the inner wings
(fantastic job by Stuart), boot floor, sills and rear valence. With
every thing striped out a nice bear metal respray was possible.
When I have the time I shall replace the front wings and paint the
bonnet. Bit busy with young Daniel and my new job at the moment
though. I get the kids at school to give it a T-Cut and polish every
now and then. Well better than a detention for not doing their homework!
Gremlin already had a 1500 Swing Spring and Anti Roll Bar. I borrowed
the wire wheels of the GT6, had them stove enamelled and I fitted,
as a temporary modification the engine and overdrive gear box of
my 1500 Spitfire. Another unfinished restoration project bought
from the Freeads. The bigger engine is great and the overdrive helps
with the trip to work but the original will go back in when I have
rebuilt it. The engine is tired and needs regrind and rebore etc.
I could have done with a bit more power so I might look into a tuned
head. Gremlin is so enjoyable to drive. Seat of your pants and responsive.
I personally think that the lower bumper Spits are better looking
but that’s just me. MTD 666K. (registration number) Alan Hanson’s car if you are British. Match of The Day, are you the Devil? I toyed with the idea of keeping the Stag but my credit card bill decided otherwise and we reluctantly sold her. She is white and looked stunning, Natasha looked even more stunning of course, sat on the soft-top cover with the bridesmaids occupying the seats. Chris drove her. Stuart (brother and best man arrived at the car in Gremlin but Swiss Judith, and the other bridesmaids and Russian friends took the Spitfire to the reception and then back to our house for pavlova on the veranda at our house. Five up in a Spitfire! Chris and Phillipa are great friends. They currently own a 1500 Spit, Herald and a Jensen Interceptor. Congratulations to them on the arrival of Madeline, born a couple of weeks ago. They are true Triumph nuts! Chris was spraying his Herald when we last went to see him. Madeline was five days old! I’m so looking forward to driving Daniel around in the GT6 or Gremlin. I hope he will like sailing too. I hope that he doesn’t become a Mosha! Perhaps the kids haven’t driven me mad yet. But I am Triumph
mad! |
In
fact I had bought the car from the garage which was next door to
where we lived in Torquay, Devon. Looking back I would imagine that
the previous owner had refused to pay the bill for such a botched
job but I didn’t know that at the time, I bought her in good
faith.
When
I moved to Salisbury and bought a nice house. Like many English
houses the garage was made for an Austin 7. My dad and I came across
a wonderful workshop. Quite by accident in fact. I needed to store
a small motor boat that I had bought to do up and asked friends
Lindy and Tony if they had a bit of space in their courtyard. Not
only am I renting the courtyard but they also rent me a superb 75’
x 25’ agricultural workshop. It’s got an inspection
pit, big doors and loads of power outlets. The gravel courtyard
has it’s own gates, fruit trees and a pair of peacocks. Loaded
the inside with a fridge, stereo, kettle and microwave and we were
well set up for some serious restoration stuff at last. I had some
practice on my Triumph Tiger Cub and off course many years of repairing
my own car. The workshop was a godsend! I could now fix my Citroen
in the dry! A novelty. Also great for doing up boats as your work
doesn’t get wet between coats of varnish.