Colin Lindsay

It's from the Graham Robinson collection, they're selling a lot of his stuff off. I did find that photo on page 88 of his Herald and Vitesse book, it's the 'Kenilworth Dragster' Harry Webster's personal souped-up car that was owned and driven by him before the Vitesse became reality. It's a Coupe with a vanguard engine, and the bonnet was designed by Michelotti for the intended new Vitesse, so that might explain the left-hand-drive and the Italian numberplate to road test it over there.

It's soul-destroying some times; my daughter is currently house-buying and after waiting ages for something nice to come along, they view, bid, and then something happens (often seemingly like an under the counter brown-envelope deal) and it gets sold to someone else, not necessarily the highest bidder either. Then the process begins again. The car for you will come along, just keep an eye open. (And remember the perfect car will only come along after you've bought one already and you'll spend hours poring over photographs, ignoring the faults, and wondering why you didn't hold on... when in reality it's no better than the one you have already. Done that.)

I know the Australians broke factory rules and made their own Vitesse-bonneted Coupe for sale locally, I've no idea if that's an AUS registration number or not but the car looks the same.

Long long ago from Canleys, but I see they're NLA now. Rimmers still list them, for some reason I looked at them earlier in the week and I thought they were very expensive but I'm happy I read that wrong, they're just over £70 for the pair. Same as mine, they require gluing so I reckon I'll go with John's suggestion of cycle glue.

Should have; the short strips alone are about four inches too long. I know as usual I'm being overcautious but it's the visuals as well as the strength... maybe superglue with a smear of rubber sealer to look 'factory'...?

A bit more progress on the 1200 Estate (15 miles in the 13/60 at the weekend, but that was just to blow cobwebs off. I think the rear spring needs swapping over, it's a bit boaty) and since the roof went on things have flown along. Not that we're any closer to the road but there are so many little jobs to do there's a whole range of things to choose from. I tightened the roof down fully, and even managed to find the huge, very solid washers for the underside of the C-posts. Biggest step of the week was to fit the B-post pillars. These, like the sills, have been painted for more than 20 years awaiting refitting, and have (almost) managed to avoid damage since. There's a chip out of the driver's side, but not too visible. I also had a seal / fitting kit salted away, new top and bottom seals and stainless setscrews and washers, Lord only knows where I bought that. It seems to have gone ok so far. Yes, the door catch does require adjusted but I'll do that as one of the last few jobs once everything else is fitted and tightened down properly. It's amazing how those two pillars complete the car. It's funny but the thing that gave me most pleasure was fitting the small bottom seal. Still needs fettled a bit, but it's a sort of 'full stop' to the roof fitting, and those masking tape marks will clean off with petrol. They've only been there ten years or so. I also have brand new trims for the inside of the pillars, they're card with a vynide covering to match the headlining, so will require glued and cut to size. Next step will be that rivet - I've none of the proper size - and then the side windows, once I get up the courage to cut the seals and reglue, and the B-post trim has been refitted. It's a big step, measure twice, cut once, still get it wrong, and swear. The cost of replacement seals will no doubt guide my hand. (Speaking of which, I gashed my palm badly on the clip that holds the stiffening rod between the window runners on the passenger door. I scraped it once then went back and did it properly. It bled like a pig and even after a week is still sore. Don't do that again!) One of the most fun jobs at this stage is finding all the chrome trim, which again has been stored for many years and often has multiple pieces, some of which are scrap, some need fettled slightly regarding dents or scrapes, and some can be used straightaway with just a good clean. The estate pieces are unique to the model, but thankfully I have three or four sets of the larger pieces. Part number 6 in the diagram is a covering piece for the joint and I think I have only one of those, but duplicates of all the others. I'll be out buying rivets later so will get some Autosol and give it all a good clean, but keeping it in place may be the problem. All of the clips are long gone or rusted away. The required items are 610511, 'Clip, beading, side finisher' and 610510 'Clip, beading, finisher top' probably three of the latter and six of the former. The helpful diagram in the catalogue shows what they should look like: item 7 for roof and item 3 for sides. Sadly, this is what mine look like: Two roof clips on left and two side clips on right. They seem, in the way of most clips, to hold the trim by sprung tension whilst gripping the paintwork. This means it's not only very difficult to replicate, but the 'grip' is one-sided only, so there's nothing to tension any adhesive against, it will just slip off one side or if it sticks, will be held by one side only so a potential to fall off if any stress is encountered ie from bumps or road vibrations. I also don't want to drill and screw or rivet it as this will be quite obvious on the car. I may send samples of the clips to a few fastener companies to see what they recommend. They may have an equivalent, or other solution. The corner pieces are at least screwed in place, but here again I'm not happy with the currently available fasteners. The recommended solution is a No8 by 1/2 inch self tapper, notably a panhead pozidrive, which replaces the original YZ3404. I've tried a few as a test and reckon a countersunk or at the very least partial countersunk domed screw looks much better. Of course, once again the problem is going to be locating those particular screws. Chromed might be more difficult than stainless, but that's for tomorrow. I'll browse Spalding and Bresco to see what offerings they have. In the meantime it's Thursday, 9pm, I'm cream crackered so going to crack open a small glass and watch Classic Car Garage to spot more bloopers from my position of lofty moral superiority. Everyone's a critic!

I had thought of that, given that I've recently used some on the BMW. Do you think it would be tough enough?

Hi all - my 1200 estate window rubbers have turned out to be excellent quality, but requiring cut to size and glued together. The smaller straight section goes against the B-post and the long piece then goes right round the glass, and where the two join top and bottom they'll require glued together at right angles. Any thoughts on a good rubber / seal glue? I'm hoping that once in place they'll not move so little to no stress on the joint but it needs to be waterproof plus won't dry out or attack the rubber. Any good ideas?

Sadly 920 is the closest... for the car next door, maybe?

Not structural, so any good filler will work so long as vibrations don't shake it out again. Maybe some of the current 'chemical metal' type of filler?

Looks very nice, just for fun I tried to find any faults but it looks well done and the paint is excellent. (bar that horrendous clutch pipe!! Why oh why???)

That's the header rail. In convertibles it's the front edge of the hood frame itself and gives a solid rounded edge to the hood assembly, but in the Tristan it's a separate panel which appears to attach to the sunvisor mounts but as I've said, I've no idea of how the Tristan hood attaches to it!

Takes days to dry. I have a local bodyshop who used it, and they complained bitterly about it as it delayed every job they took on. Like many modern things, it takes care and more attention than the traditional easier method, so yes: you can use it and get it to work satisfactorily, but it's not as straightforward as the solvent-based paints.

A jack with a good flat suitably broad piece of heavy wood under the sump will support the engine enough to swap the mounts. As Johny says new ones can be a bit hit and miss, modern rubber is rubbish but NOS items could also have been on the shelf for so long that they have perished too. If you find that the current ones are scabby but perfectly serviceable you can clean and repaint the metal, and the rubber can be improved with a smear of black silicone on a glove fingertip to fill in any cracks.

If it is, it suits me... you mean the rhythm of false teeth snapping and joints creaking in time? It's definitely old, even older than many of the posters here, then. Seriously though, it's usually traditional and much preferable to a lot of the 'modern' stuff currently about.

I'm sitting here typing and some idiot is racing up and down the road in a car with an incredibly loud exhaust. Up and down, up and down, destroying the peace and quiet. What an ar&e. Just looked up as he passed by and it's a gold-coloured TR7 with the top down, possibly a V8 version. What a lovely car and a great exhaust note.

Cannabis is supposed to be good for you and cures all woes as well as easing all pain. It's cool, hip and trendy and if you don't understand that, you're just a spoilsport. Back in those days, too, criminals were actually guilty. It's only recently that enquiry after enquiry and retrial after retrial has let a lot of them off on 'technicalities' and found that a huge number were in fact innocent because, although they actually did the crime, a Policeman somewhere noted down a different time from his colleague. Of course nowadays we have trial by television show or movie. "Did you do it? "Yes I did, sorry." 50 years later: "Did he do it? "Audience: "Of course not, he was stitched up." I'm actually a great fan of old folk music and it's amazing how many of them were in fact 'stitched up by agents of the Crown' going right back to the Year Zero - the original (pun intended) broken record...

I have a drawerful if you need one, what's the chances of having the same number as your boot lock? In any case let me know if you want one.

Never saw those before (probably as none of my early cars seem to have had or used them!) but Paddocks list them for the Stag, and Rimmers for the Spitfire. Possibly to dampen vibrations? That would definitely be a faff fitting those along with everything else, unless you glued them in place first...

That part looks like a spigot bush / spigot bearing from the input shaft / flywheel end of crank?

I used a bolt for the first time ever on the 13/60; no alternative, as the first set of studs I bought from an eBay seller lost their threads once I even breathed on them. I managed to find a much better set, heavy duty from Spalding Fasteners (search the forum, there are entire threads about bronze / phosphor bronze and other studs) but found that the manifold itself was too rusted at one point to hold the stud, the original stud having sheared and therefore requiring drilled out. The bolt gripped very well and I'm tempted to say it's out of sight therefore fit-and-forget; I reckon it will take many years of my use before it causes any problems.

Last time I had a problem like that was the GT6 MK3, I adjusted the carbs slightly too much and they flooded after about 20 miles, then wouldn't restart util the fuel had evaporated again.

Keep all the spares you can, parts are becoming ever more rare and very expensive.

Check carefully, all of mine have - just not in the same place! Some of those were invisible until cleaned lightly.

A washer or two certainly wouldn't hurt in this location to spread the load of the bolt being tightened; however it's interesting that the 1500 manual clearly shows one at the nut end only. My Herald manual refers to 'nyloc nuts and plain washers' on the differential 'rubber bushed rear mounting lugs' but no photo. Most of mine show two bolts which can be even more of a faff! Can't be that much more difficult to have a washer on the head end of the long bolt before insertion, and the other end can be fitted once the diff has been installed by the bolt being fully in place?