Fotoshoot

 

The start of a new adventure

Project Lenham

Today My son and I bought a Right hand driving Triumph Spitfire Lenham '64. in The Netherlands.

Although the engine and base are in good condition, there is plenty of work awaiting.

Small detail: We have absolutely no experience with car restoration.

Challenge 1: Bring the car home.
As the previous owner said the car was "drive ready" I decided to drive the car home. (60 Km)

According to google I would quickly get used to the right sided steering wheel...

The spit had been standing still for almost a year. 

It took 5 minutes and a jumpstarter to get the engine running, and so... the trip home could start.

The right sided wheel was no issue but... shifting... The gear stick went in all directions without any resistance. It was hard to find the right gear. I had, more than I wanted, creaking sounds.

It is clear that something is wrong. I hope it's related to the stick and not to the gearbox.

Another issue were the breaks. The car had a very long brake distance. As I have no experience with a car from '64 can't say if this normal or not... but I assume the brakes are in a bad condition. (What can you expect from a car which stood still for a year) At the speed of 20 miles per hour a traffic light 50 meters in front of me, changed to orange. I had to go full in the breaks. The wheels blocked and I slid the last 10 meters causing the car to skew to the left. OK perhaps driving the car home wasn't the safest idea...  

Due to the abrupt braking manoeuvre one of the brakes jammed. I stranded 5 Km from home.
Luckily, after carefully making a couple of meters, the brake released.
Under the loud creaking sounds of wrong shifting I managed to drive my Triumph spitfire Lenham home.

The start of a new adventure...