politeperson
The restorator
- Messages
- 159
- Location
- Boston
I found this picture of me and my friend Darren taken around 1991 with my 4TL.
I bought it for £35 and ran it for a while in standard form. It had 35k on the clock and a slipping clutch when I took possession. I changed the colour from white to a befitting French blue with a paint brush, 1 litre of coach enamel and 1 hour of free time.
The result was quite good considering.
I should have left the cars engine alone as it was really still in its first flush of youth and would do 75 mph on the level. It was perfect as it was.
It would do really long journeys on full throttle without using a drop of oil or complaining at all.
However being young and stupid I thought I would "improve" it be adding a custom built 1108 cc engine from an F46 van.
I remember buying a custom profile Kent cam, messing around with the head and fitting twin down draft carbs of some description and spending loads of time and money.
I remember fitting the new special motor and being rewarded with 4 reverse gears and one forward gear, as the engine span the opposite way to the original.(Ventoux vs Sierra)
However, I had an 1108cc gearbox so I remedied this in a morning. I also had a spare white bonnet to clear the new radiator position.
After a "running in" period of approximately 1 mile, I whizzed all over Lincolnshire, London, Suffolk and Essex for the next year.
I found that if I removed all the seats apart from the drivers, I could transport myself and at least 6 other people in complete luxury.
The car was quick and sounded ace. It would pull about 70mph in third and top a ton no problems. It revved like crazy.
The crease in the front wing was from an experimental high speed off round adventure resulting in me driving up the restraining cable of a telegraph pole at 30 mph. We all survived ok though.
I also remember transporting my Yamaha XT550 trials bike from the motor museum at Beaulieu to Colchester. It fitted very well with the front wheel removed, and only the drivers seat in the TL.
Another memorable experience was when I got airborne at 70 mph on a hump back bridge near Brandon in Suffolk. The car did not ground out on landing, which was amazing considering I was carrying a Rover V8 engine in the back (lucky it was strapped in).
Once on an exciting journey to London to pick up a lady friend I remember getting in to a race with a red Nissan Micra near Peterborough. I blew him into the weeds but, a few miles up the road, got stopped by road work traffic lights.
A few minutes later the Micra drew into view. Imagine my horror as the car pulled up behind me and I recognized the driver was wearing a police uniform and he was putting his hat on.
The officer must have been off duty and was frantically pointing for me to pull over, so I did. At the side of the road he asked me if I knew how fast I was going. I didn't know, as my speedo was not working at that time.
We walked around my car, It was not very pretty. After some consideration he looked me in the eye and told me to clear off. So I did, pronto.
Talk about a close shave. No sure what I was doing wrong but there was probably quite a bit of it.
Eventually the little ends gave up the ghost and I had moved onto 30's American hot rods, so the poor little car got abandoned on an airfield heartlessly.
Still one of the best cars I have ever owned though.
I bought it for £35 and ran it for a while in standard form. It had 35k on the clock and a slipping clutch when I took possession. I changed the colour from white to a befitting French blue with a paint brush, 1 litre of coach enamel and 1 hour of free time.
The result was quite good considering.
I should have left the cars engine alone as it was really still in its first flush of youth and would do 75 mph on the level. It was perfect as it was.
It would do really long journeys on full throttle without using a drop of oil or complaining at all.
However being young and stupid I thought I would "improve" it be adding a custom built 1108 cc engine from an F46 van.
I remember buying a custom profile Kent cam, messing around with the head and fitting twin down draft carbs of some description and spending loads of time and money.
I remember fitting the new special motor and being rewarded with 4 reverse gears and one forward gear, as the engine span the opposite way to the original.(Ventoux vs Sierra)
However, I had an 1108cc gearbox so I remedied this in a morning. I also had a spare white bonnet to clear the new radiator position.
After a "running in" period of approximately 1 mile, I whizzed all over Lincolnshire, London, Suffolk and Essex for the next year.
I found that if I removed all the seats apart from the drivers, I could transport myself and at least 6 other people in complete luxury.
The car was quick and sounded ace. It would pull about 70mph in third and top a ton no problems. It revved like crazy.
The crease in the front wing was from an experimental high speed off round adventure resulting in me driving up the restraining cable of a telegraph pole at 30 mph. We all survived ok though.
I also remember transporting my Yamaha XT550 trials bike from the motor museum at Beaulieu to Colchester. It fitted very well with the front wheel removed, and only the drivers seat in the TL.
Another memorable experience was when I got airborne at 70 mph on a hump back bridge near Brandon in Suffolk. The car did not ground out on landing, which was amazing considering I was carrying a Rover V8 engine in the back (lucky it was strapped in).
Once on an exciting journey to London to pick up a lady friend I remember getting in to a race with a red Nissan Micra near Peterborough. I blew him into the weeds but, a few miles up the road, got stopped by road work traffic lights.
A few minutes later the Micra drew into view. Imagine my horror as the car pulled up behind me and I recognized the driver was wearing a police uniform and he was putting his hat on.
The officer must have been off duty and was frantically pointing for me to pull over, so I did. At the side of the road he asked me if I knew how fast I was going. I didn't know, as my speedo was not working at that time.
We walked around my car, It was not very pretty. After some consideration he looked me in the eye and told me to clear off. So I did, pronto.
Talk about a close shave. No sure what I was doing wrong but there was probably quite a bit of it.
Eventually the little ends gave up the ghost and I had moved onto 30's American hot rods, so the poor little car got abandoned on an airfield heartlessly.
Still one of the best cars I have ever owned though.
