• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Post-War Other Any thoughts on this Herald?

Share this page

I am always a bit suspicious when a car is listed with "fresh paint", never know what is lurking underneath. Better to have a paint job a couple of years old - enough time for all the rust & poor repairs to bubble up. If this car is rust free as advertised, seems like it would be worth a look. These are a really fun car, and so easy to work on. Don't expect too much in the way of performance - the U.K. spec twin SU 1200s only got about 55HP. Rust is the only enemy - anything else is easy to fix or replace.

From the pics the rear end seems to have a bit too much -ve camber. A new rear leaf spring?

Rob.
 
RobT said:
If this car is rust free as advertised, seems like it would be worth a look.
Click to expand...

That's what I figured, but the over-spray made me worried that the paint job wasn't done with any kind of care involved and so probably was just an attempt to hide problems.

Oh well, with the 308 I just bought, the TR3 in the other garage bay, and the MGB under the tent, it's not like I've got room for anything else anyway. But always thought the Herald would be a fun, quirky Triumph to own.
 
The overspray doesn't bother me all that much, although I'd probably try to clean it up were I to buy the car! I will say that panel fit looks pretty decent...much better than on the other red Herald currently on eBay, and a fair bit better than my own! In the case of my car and possibly the eBay car, it's not always so much an attempt to hide problems as it is well-meaning but very poor attempts to fix them.

Like any other Herald, though, I would not buy sight unseen; it is critical to look closely at the car and determine for yourself the amount (or lack) of rust.

The rear camber doesn't worry me; many Heralds seem to exhibit a pretty obvious amount of positive camber in the rear. Sometimes it's nothing more than a spring crying out to be oiled as per the factory's recommended maintenance schedule.

Rob is correct about performance; this one (judging by the manifold) is probably the 40hp earlier version of the 1200 engine. But the car has the later chassis, so it's strong enough to handle an upgraded Herald engine, a full-spec Spitfire 1147 engine or even a larger 1296 (although, at that point, some diff. and other upgrades should be considered). Meanwhile, I've long found the 40hp to be quite adequate even for Interstate highways, so long as you don't feel compelled to challenge Dodge Vipers.

I'm a bit curious about the owner's (or a PO's) fascination with black paint, which appears to have been used over the original white rubber bumpers AND the wood facia! Again, to each his/her own.... /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

IF the car checks out ok in person, I don't think the "Buy it Now" price is too outrageous.
 
Andrew Mace said:
I will say that panel fit looks pretty decent...much better than on the other red Herald currently on eBay, and a fair bit better than my own!
Click to expand...

Which would indicate that the frame is most likely in decent condition. If the frame were really rusty, I doubt it would be possible to get the panels aligned that nicely. The trunk which was not painted looks to be in fairly good condition.(rust wise)
Yisrael
 
70herald said:
If the frame were really rusty, I doubt it would be possible to get the panels aligned that nicely.
Click to expand...
Correct! Not that a repaired frame is cause to run away, but such repairs are often done hastily and poorly. Impact damage in front, even minor, can also cause no end of poor panel fit unless properly straightened and repaired. Not to pick on anyone, but check out the bonnet and front valence fit on the other Herald currently on eBay. I'm not quite sure what's going on here, but chances are there was some impact in front that wasn't properly fixed.

Back to the first car, a couple other interesting observations, neither of which would detract from the car. The spare wheel looks to be a very late Spitfire 5 x 13" (or possibly even the rare-in-the-US 5.5" wide) wheel. I can't quite tell what's under the cheesy pseudo-wire-wheel covers, but they might be TR7 or Spitfire wheels. I also see what appears to be an early GT6 or TR4 brake master cylinder; that actually could be a nice improvement over the original, as the bore size is larger (not to mention the reservoir being much larger as well).
 
Certainly my first impression is that the car has been quickly painted to tart it up. However, close inspection of the pictures shows all the seams to be there and not covered by filler and areas such as the door openings above the sill, the area infront of the rear wheels and the "D" plates on the bonnet look very good.
I agree that I am not too fond of the black paint on everything, but that would be easy enough to rectify.
A few minor things - the front Triumph badge us upside down, the interior door handles are missing and that bungie holding the battery would never pass a British MOT!!
 
I've been looking for white Triumph for a year or so.
It's on my watch list....

Edit: Wrong Herald!!!
White Herald
 
Buying a car sight unseen is asking for trouble.My idea is to use the power of this forum to find a fellow member to go over and actually inspect it in person(for gas/beer$)..
What do you all say lads?? surely somebody is close enough to this car (where-ever it is) to pop in and kick a tire or two.
MD(mad dog)
 
Back
Top