Boot work

Well, after a bit of thinking, I figured something I could do without decimating the floor of the car and trailer: the boot. One of the car's previous owners had already started stripping the car, it would seem, as the carpet is missing from much of the interior and most of the chrome trim is as well. Most of these pieces were put in the boot. It's nice opening up the boot- after 38 years, its one of the few parts of this car that works perfectly. Anyway, I relocated all of the things piled inside into a heap at the side of the trailer. Included were the handle from the passenger-side window crank, a set of hubcaps, random pieces of wood, notes of the PO, and a nice new air filter.


Then I tried taking out the fibreboard insulation. The piece covering the petrol tank came out alright, but the one covering the spare wheel disintegrated in my hands.
Oops.





I took the spare wheel out after undoing the nut that holds it in place. The metal inside the car seems to be doing pretty well for itself, although i noticed a hole in the bodywork that was hard to see from the outside. Hopefully more work tomorrow.

Air filter and carbs

Well, i tried again in vain to remove the passenger-side seat. I can't for the life of me find the two bolts that hold it in place. They should be there somewhere, but I don't see them. So i took a look under the bonnet, just because it sounded like a lark at the time.







i took off the air filter (for the same reasons that prompted me to open the bonnet), and looked at the carbs. They're so tiny and cute! I am loving this car more and more each time I look at it. hopefully I'll figure out the seats soon, and startstripping more bits off the car.

Insulation and rust

i did, in fact, start removing insulation. it scraped off pretty easily, and, predictably, the floor was really rusted. What wasn't predictable was just how rusted it really is.
Example: i managed to shove the putty knife i was using to remove insulation all the way through it when it slipped.
Judging by the fact that there are holes in it, I'd say that the floor is totally shot. Oh well. It seems you can buy replacements.



This does, however, mean that I won't be doing much work until we can get the car out of the trailer, because I don't want to muck up the floor with bits of rust and insulation falling out the bottom.

Car picked up

We drove out to Emerson to pick up the Triumph GT6 which we bought on Ebay last week. Or the week before last week. Wednesday the 28th-whichever week that was.
Anyway, we hitched up the trailer and hauled ourselves to emerson.
In a truck without air conditioning.
In a 90-degree new jersey summer day.
Oh joy.
With few mishaps (snapping a tensioned cable out of place in the trailer, breaking a parking light on the car), we shunted the car into the trailer and drove it home.
For $501.00, its doing pretty well for itself. The interior looks ok, the panels are straight, and the car is complete. The engine doesn't work, and we have no idea of the condition of the diff or transmission, or anything else really. The past two owners have tried doing some work on the car- it's been painted in red primer by the first. the second evidently didnt have any time for the restoration, as he had a total of 15 cars. Whoa.

We need to get moving.... we only have 4 classics. 5, now.
The jags and porsches are already taking up garage space, so this is destined to stay in the trailer while we strip it out. We're planning on building a second garage in the back garden to hold more cars and big projects, so it'll move to there when its done.

I'm pretty psyched, I have to say... dad is too. Restoring a car is a dream for both of us, so this is quite an opportunity.

I'm hoping that once things are a bit cooler, i'll be able to start stripping insulation from the interior.

I'm really excited- i keep finding myself opening the trailer door just to look at it. I love the GT6... such clean lines on it... I wonder why they never really caught on...