The Triumph Herald Convertible
The ad for the 1200 herald said it was structurally sound. I thought, why not, and planned to do some kind of rolling restoration. That was in 1992, when I willingly handed over £750. It was then running on three cylinders - I later discovered the rings were cracked allowing oil to foul the plugs. It soon transpired that the seller's idea of structurally sound was somewhat different from my own!
The North East Triumph Sports Six Club came to my rescue with advice and encouragement. Because I was facing a dire shortage of space, fellow member George Charlton kindly lent me his garage. Working logically, I decided to replace the rear end ot the car with a rust free estate car rear, welding the convertible deck on top. Practical Classics had recently carried out the same conversion on a Vitesse and this proved to be a great help. The bonnet was in need of repair and the cost of new panels led me to a rust free bonnet from California. With the body separated from the chassis, a friend who owns an engineering company was enlistes to make new chassis members.
The engine came with twin SU carbs and a four into one manifold, inside was a Vitesse 6 dashboard. These were a period conversion, so consequently the dash was retained even though the wiring harness had been somewhat butchered to accomodate the extra clocks and switches.
In August 1997, the rebuilt Herald passed the MOT test and the following Saturday was used to ferry bridesmaids to church, where it received more attention than the bride's white Rolls Royce! The car won best Herald of Show at the TSSC rally at Beamish for a total outlay of £2500.