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1981 Solihull build TR7 2.0 DHC
Undercoat!! We shall see....
Caveat
Emptor…….. 'Buyer beware!'
Back in 2000, having by now given up on buying TWC776W, I decided that
the only way I was going to get to own a V8 DHC was to go to mainland
Britain. A scan of the various steeds on offer in TRaction magazine,
the TR registers monthly mag., led me to a silver V8 DHC for sale near
Manchester (specifics are being omitted to protect the guilty). Photos
were posted to me, phone calls were made and I learned that the car
was in good condition having been restored. Now I just had to go and
see her in the metal and bring her home.
EasyJet tickets were bought for my mate Richard and I, Richard being the obvious choice of company as he had restored a TR7 DHC a few years previous, and a boat ticket was bought to enable us to get the car back home. Off we headed, cash bulging out of my pockets, to make the purchase. A little bit of light entertainment was provided on the aeroplane courtesy of Richard who was still somewhat intoxicated from a previous days/nights drinking when he got told off by a trolley dolly for talking loudly during her safety demonstration!
We met the vendor at a train station and he brought us to his house where the car was to be found. The second I saw the car my heart sank. It was that big a dog I almost waited for it to bark! The vendor had told me that the front wings had been repaired rather than replaced and that if he had to do it again he would maybe have replaced them. The truth was that it looked that he had loaded filler into a slingshot and fired it at the wings from 10 paces back then patted it down with his hands. The rear quarter panels were much the same and the line that runs between the fuel filler panel and the quarter panels was nowhere to be seen having been buried under filler as well. There had barely been an attempt to smooth the filler to match the contours of the wings, the finish was lumpy and obvious. The funny thing was the car looked pretty damn good in the pictures. The moral is never buy a car from photographic evidence only. The camera does lie.
Although by now I new the car was never going to be mine, we asked if we could see under the vehicle. I’m not kidding when I say it is a mystery to me how the rear axle was still hanging unto the rear of the car such was the state of the suspension mounting points (or at least the area where they once were). I was that gutted I wouldn’t go for the drive in her, letting Richard go instead while I knelt in prayer for his safe return.
Anyway, we said we would be in touch, got a lift back to the station & put it all down to experience. While in Manchester we headed to see S & S preparations in Ramsbottom to see if they had any suitable v8’s within my budget but unfortunately they hadn’t. It was nice to meet the guys though so the journey wasn’t wasted.
On the train back to the airport I rang a bloke in Poyntzpass (about 12 miles from my home!) about a 2 litre TR7 DHC he had that I had seen and virtually bought her over the phone there and then. A talk with Richard you see had left me with the conclusion that it is better to build your own V8 as 'you know exactly what you are getting'.
ALL
That Glitters is not Silver
RPC372X had a Viper bodykit that I wasn’t a fan off, had differences
in the colour of silver between the bonnet and the rest of the car and
was bubbling like crazy on the door skins. The thing was though that she
had the strongest cleanest looking suspension points I have ever seen
on a TR7 which is extremely important if you are building a V8 as there
is considerably more stress on these areas thanks to the extra torque.
Negotiations started and she soon became my property. Now to remove that
bodykit.
The Solid Bits:
Back bulkhead
Boot floor
Floor pans
Boot lid
Door inside
Door and skin
Drivers wing
Rear sill and arch
Drivers wing
Nose
