My MK1 1968 Estate restoration here in NZ

[hannah]

Alex has wanted one of these estates for ages. We had a MK2 version in England and it was a lovely car - really comfortable and very useful. They are thoroughly modern cars and very underrated/undervalued. Hello Collin!!!! ....here's old hoe...



Anyway, earlier this year a MK1 estate was posted up for sale here via a link on oldschool.co.nz which is a NZ based forum we frequent the most. Alex decided to buy it. Then somehow it became my car and "a good first project on which to practice my welding skills" (thanks, Alex!). We were ridiculously busy sorting out our new property so the car sat in a field near Woodend for a few more months then last Friday we braved the holiday traffic and did a day-trip to collect the car using a friends Isuzu 4wd to tow it on a trailer.

As seen on the advert...

[hannah]

We arrived and got stuck in pumping up the tyres.



One of them had a puncture so we had to retrieve the spare.



Look at all the goodies we emptied out of the boot:



Including a brand new wing and bonnet!

[hannah]

After a bit of shuffling using we had the car on the trailer and were back on the road







Now the car is in our new workshop we have been assessing the good and bad points:

[hannah]

The good bits - amazingly the headlining is mint




The car is also pretty much complete with the added bonus of two spare bonnets, a full set of doors (from a saloon but could be modified to suit), a wing, a spare overdrive gearbox and most of the trim.


The bad bits - lots of rust and disintegrated rubber. Plus the engine is most likely stuffed.


It's definitely all repairable but will take lots of time. I'm determined to do everything myself with a bit of guidance from Alex (it's his turn to be the assistant). My aim is to have it road legal in time for the oldschool Nats 2016. I'll be on the look-out for a replacement engine (2.5) plus power-steering set-up but there's no hurry as the rust repairs are going to keep me very busy. It's going to be such a cool car - I'm very excited.

[Lloydpiestate]

good on ya hannah, look forward to your progress and updates !!!

[CAR]

Hi Hannah, good to see you and Alex back into the Triumph world.
That will make a great car with some work, luckily you have the perfect mentor to help with that.
It will make very interesting reading as you build the car back up, the new workshop should help as you and Alex are so used to working outside or in very confined space, is the workshop yours?
What are your plans for the car apart from the 2.5 engine and PAS, what colour on the outside, wheels etc?
First bit of advice I would offer is that the rear door window frames do not sit at the same angle on estates as they do on saloons, the roof narrows more towards the rear and the door frames lean inwards more. I'm sure Ale would have noticed this as you swap themon to the new doors, now you can impress him with your foresight and observation!

Good luck and good to see you on the forum.

Colin and Amanda

[johnnydog]

Looks like a worthwhile, although time consuming, restoration!

Also looking at the weather (compared to our snow here at the moment!), the land and the unit where the cars stored! Love to have all three here in the UK...!!!

[tony]

Hannah,
If you haven't already done so , have a look at Trademe. Lots of good Triumph stuff there from time to time. Where about's are you ?
Quite a few Triumph related clubs around who can help with bits.
Tony.

[yoeddynz]

Hi Hannah, good to see you and Alex back into the Triumph world.

Colin and Amanda

Hey Colin! Hello Its been ages. Sorry people for late replies on this thread- we have both been flat out trying to sort out our new workshop we have built so I can start taking on work. Sadly both Hannahs Trump wagon and my new project, an equally rare Viva HB wagon have to wait for a while until Ive finished making benches etc

I have a quick question- how easy are the front wings to remove? IE - where are the hidden hard to get to spot welds that Hannah might not spot straight away. Luckily it looks actually very solid arund the head lights and the inner wing rst appears at first glance to be mainly localised down near the bottom. I do remember some of the nasty little bits hidden on old Hoe by carefully placed and riveted in sections fitted by the previous owner that we found. Hopefully there will be none of that here.

[CAR]

The front wing to nose cone welding is difficult to redo when fitting, no idea on the potential hidden spot welds when taking them off, I guess if the wings are rubbish you can cut the bulk away and leave the flanges in place for better access/removal.

The alloy plates and rivets on HOE have long gone thankfully and remember that the facelift mk2s like HOE are known to be poorer quality steel, mk1s are not quite so rust prone I'm sure.

Great choice on both of your cars btw Alex

Colin