steveo

I assume it just has Spitfire springs / shocks on it, rear spring is a Canley replacement, it looks like it sits lower than most Heralds, but it maybe just the weight of all the fiberglass & filler that the previous owner stuck in it ! Very nice bloke that knows Triumphs inside out, but no welder or bodywork expert ( or auto electrician come to think of it ! ) cant fault his mechanical skills as it runs perfect & everything looks like its done right. Cheers, Steve.

Talking to the previous owner last year & told me the engine has a mk 4 spitfire head, carb has been rebuilt, K&N air filter, stainless exhaust & all the suspension is also from the spitfire & GT6 anti roll bar. When we got it I was expecting it to be slow as 60 bhp is a lot less than we had before ( RS Focus & 5.0 Camaro ) but it really has some go in it for what it is, fun to drive, handles brilliant & keeps up with modern stuff ok. Brakes are a little lacking, but you get use to thinking ahead and leaving more space ! Was only meant to be a cheap temporary car as all our money was set aside for a house, but think we will be keeping her as we love it & its so cheap to keep on the road with free tax & £79 insurance. Cheers, Steve.

Not done a lot to the Herald for a year due to house move & waiting to get a garage sorted, she went in storage at mother in laws for most of 2023 & only came out for a quick run around the block and a few local car shows. Garage now sorted she is back home & getting the bodywork sorted, replacement drivers door fitted, tub moved back to give it some door gaps, new diff seals to stop it leaking on my new floor, new wing & n/s arch, the best bit a Vitesse front panel ( all the looks with none of the performance !) Removed 4 layers of paint from the bonnet & got down to a yellow bar coat, looks to be over the original paint, so hopefully the new paint will stick to it ok. Will keep everyone updated on progress, Cheers, Steve.

Yes Pete they are the brackets, after looking at every Vitesse ad for sale on the web it looks like only heralds have them. Good luck on fitting the wheel arches, just done mine, outers no problem but the inner repair arches from Rimmers were a very poor fit, nearside one was so bad I complained to them & got a replacement sent f.o.c. Rimmers may sell crappy panels but the customer service is excellent ! Cheers, Steve.

On the Herald the bracket is welded to the front panel between the headlight and the grill, then 2 bolts hold it on to the bracket on the tube, but with the Vitesse having the extra inner headlight I have no idea where it would attach to. My horns are long gone & now have a vintage aroooga horn below the rad ( put on by a previous owner not me ! ) Cheers, Steve.

Evening all, after a house move & new garage build I have at last started to convert my 13/60 to a Vitesse front. On the Herald there is a bracket coming off the bonnet support frame tube with 2 bolts connecting it to the front panel, my new front panel has no bracket on it, does a Vitesse have one? Any one got any photos of such a thing if it exists, or am I looking for something it never had ! Thanks, Steve.

I worked for 6 years as a MOT tester and I still get my Herald done, when I first bought her she had not seen the road for 3 or 4 years. To get it road worthy I done lots of welding, suspension & brake work so it was nice to get some else to look at it, also I don't have a rolling road brake tester or a headlight beam setter at home ! She is now getting the body work done and a Vitesse front panel so it will go in for a test when done. Chap on the Scimitar forum had his GTE nicked & the insurance company offered him a low price as he had no proof that it was a road worthy vehicle.

Spotted a grey Herald in Penponds around lunch time, think it was a 1200, copper spoked wheels, looked a tidy car, went in the primary school.

We had a handy tree in our garden !

Never seen this before, lots of money even for a rare car ! 1965 Triumph Herald hatchback prototype For Sale (carandclassic.com)

Yes Colin I have the glass (Perspex) it needs new seals & catches, got the catches second hand off ebay listed as from an army generator cabinet. Now we are moving house I will have the space to keep it, so quite glad it didn't sell back it the summer as it looks good on the car, gives it the coupe look. Was going to order the seals but when I measured the thickness of the fiberglass it ranges quite a few millimetres so its never going to be water tight without some work to get it even. Being in Cornwall put buyers off, had a few ask if I could deliver it but all miles away, did offer local delivery. Cheers, Steve.

I have a hard top with the rap around rear screen & sunroof for my Herald, but no idea who made it, needs a refurb, hopefully get it on next winter. Did put it on ebay but no bids !

My Herald has bee used quite a lot in recent months due to moving house, she has done dozens of trips to the recycling centre fully loaded with scrap metal, wood & plastic etc. Only had it on the road from the summer but done 2 shows & 1 vintage car run, not sure of the miles done as only fixed the speedo a few months ago but it got to be getting on for 1000 now, she ain't no show pony & gets used for everything in all weathers, I have loved every mile driving her. Probably one of the cheapest & tatty classics I have had but got used the most due to not having to worry about it, always brings a smile to other motorists ! Cheers, Steve.

I think what helps is the house has been in our family for 40 years & we have everything done and its as good as a 70,s bungalow could get, we moved in 9 years ago after my nan died at 101 years old & my mum & dad inherited it. Dad was a builder and always maintained it for nan & grandad (who was pretty handy but tight) so the bones of the place were good it just needed updating, as luck would have it the local Homebase closed down just before we moved in & we got a £4500 ex display kitchen for £800, lots of bits came from ebay like the fire place surround for £12, French doors for £130, guess granddads being "careful" with money has rubbed off on me! Got talking to the bloke doing the survey for the buyer when we sold our last house & asked him if he would do this one for me, when I told him it had been in the family from 1983 he told me not to have a survey as we knew the place & told me a few things to look for, like is the roof line straight, have any rafters been cut in the loft, any cracks around windows/doors, have there been any drainage problems etc. Estate agent said the place was a credit to me & wished all property's he went to see were as good, as I now only work part time I have the time to spend doing jobs on the house & making it nice, properly helps I have been unofficially diagnosed with OCD, this may explain why I feel the need to have everything perfect & wash/hoover my old pickup 3 or 4 times a week! Stopped snowing now so going outside to clean the pickup (not joking!) Cheers, Steve.

Our buyer is in so much of a rush to buy the house she is not having any searches / Surveys done, hopefully they will overlook the lack of paperwork for the fire!

Got an old oil burner in the house from the late 1990's (Heating world sorrento) really cheap to run, told by the plumber 9 years ago it was too old & needed replacing, never missed a beat in all that time, running 7 radiators. Due to selling the house we thought a proper service would probably be needed to make sure its safe for out buyer, tried 4 local firms, no one will work on it as its too old & no bits are available (I manage to get bits new from ebay) and it needs replacing at 4 grand. Looks like I will be servicing it myself as I have done for the last 7 years since the bloke that did it retired due to poor health, always thought if I can rebuild a car/motorbike from end to end I can service a oil fire, lots of info online as well. The thing that really bugs me is that the internals of the thing (Ecoflam minor 1 burner) are the same as newer Rayburns/Argas, still available new online, so this "no service parts" is bulls**t, they just don't like it as its in an old style box. Why does everyone want to replace old things that work well with poorly made modern toss that only last 10 years? Rant over, Cheers, Steve.

Always welded petrol tanks on cars & bikes with a good mig, just drained the tanks & left them outside for 24 hours with no cap & sender unit before welding. Last one I done was out of a Rickman Ranger kit car that used the tank from an Escort estate, loads of saloon tanks around but nothing for the estate, thing had sat in a field for 5 years & had about 20 pin holes in it, after welding/grinding/painting it looked like new. Cheers, Steve.

My old Marlin kit car had had a new gearbox fitted by the previous owner after he towed it home after having a fuel pump fail, turns out the box has a oil pump inside & runs dry if it is towed (Rover V8 with 5 speed manual box) expensive mistake!

Just had a quick look on ebay, loads for sale from £30 up, you may need to do some measuring & cross reference some part numbers from the Toyota bearing. I get everything for my 2001 Ford Ranger (made by Mazda) from ebay, had lots of parts from Thailand, all good quality, they love Jap pickups & vans so lots of bits available at a low price. Cheers, Steve.

Think I have two some plates off a Morris minor somewhere, will try & find them next week, can't remember the numbers but the letters are DEL & ending in C so quite nice plates. Hopefully moving house soon & will be building a new garage for the Herald so some old plates on the wall would be nice, have got a few already including a 70, s Canadian plate & MCO 11 off my old Bentley (previous owner kept the number as it was worth more than the car). Will contact you if I find them. Cheers, Steve.

I was told by a bloke that worked on car bodywork for years to align doors/boots remove all catches & rubbers, make the door fit the hole (this quite often involved bits of wood & a jack / twisting things) when happy with gaps re fit catches & rubbers. Cheers, Steve.

Fred Flintstone had one, think his was a series 2 😉

Went to look at a Landrover Defender 110 years ago that was ex Noel Edmonds, local dealer had it up at 13k, lot of money for one back then, he looked most surprised when I said it wasn't the one for me as it was a bit tatty & needed bodywork, it sold days later to some blobby fan. Also Edmonds is a t**t.

Will be fitting Vitesse headlights to my Herald soon, when I sell it I can say it's a Colin Lindsay replica!

Make sure you get good quality pipe, had an engine bay fire on a kit car when the oil pipe split & sprayed oil all over the exhaust, luckily it was running in the garage with the bonnet up & I had a fire extinguisher to hand, took days to clean up the mess the powder made. Cheers, Steve.