Hey Guest!
Hello everyone,
I just posted over the in the Spitfire/GT6 section before I realized there was an introduction thread. I celebrated the 4th of July this weekend by buying my first British sports car, a 1971 GT6 MkIII. I posted some details over in the other forum, but bringing a GT6 home has been something I wanted to do for a very long time. The trick was finding the perfect level of "crusty" that split the difference between major restoration project and affordable, and I think I found it. This one is certainly a long way from concourse, and certainly has some bugs to work out, but I'm very much looking forward to getting it back on the road.
Some highlights:
- The second owner held the car from 1972 - 2023 (51 years!). It started life as his car at the Air Force Academy, then was passed down to his wife as a commuter car, where it received the majority of it's 138,000 miles.
- It started life Maroon, but was torn down, restored, and repainted to a (triumph correct) blue by owner #2 in the 1990's. It looks as though rockers and door bottoms were addressed at that time.
- It was left in a barn by owner #2 from about 2013-2023, where it was sold to owner #3, who got it running again, and had the driver's floor patched. He also added a plastic transmission tunnel, spin-on oil filter, replaced the starter, along with the clutch and brake master cylinders, along with new tires.
- I am owner #4, who very nearly dropped it through the center of the Uhaul trailer trying to back it down the ramps...
The car runs, drives, and stops. No smoke from the engine, and no discernible thrust bearing play, at least at quick inspection. It's fairly original. The interior is rough, but all accounted for. The gauges all work, except the gas gauge, which works...sometimes... Lucas electric is in full effect, with all dash lights flickering anytime you hit a bump. The repaint is show it's age, and the rust has started to re-appear in the usual places (front roof seam, rear wheel wells). It is in desperate need of a tune up - idling at about 1400rpm, dieseling at shutdown, and slowly overheating, with a significant bog off the line - so I'll be starting with a crash course in timing, and Zenith Stromberg carburetors. My Uni-Syn gauge and mixture adjustment tool are in the mail... There's also an intermittent rotational grinding at idle that goes away when the clutch is depressed. I haven't been able to fully diagnose yet, but I suspect the transmission input bearing, or, again, the thrust washers... so I'll be double checking.
From there, I plan to focus on safety - probably new brake lines, and a suspension rebuild (though the rotoflex couplings seem to be in good shape). The plan is to drive it while I repair it. It will eventually be in the garage, once I clear the space for it, which will hopefully keep the rust at bay for a little longer. Luckily, it won't be a daily driver for me. It will share weekend cruiser duties with my FJ40 Land Cruiser.
Looking forward to getting this GT6 dialed in, registered, and back on the road!
I just posted over the in the Spitfire/GT6 section before I realized there was an introduction thread. I celebrated the 4th of July this weekend by buying my first British sports car, a 1971 GT6 MkIII. I posted some details over in the other forum, but bringing a GT6 home has been something I wanted to do for a very long time. The trick was finding the perfect level of "crusty" that split the difference between major restoration project and affordable, and I think I found it. This one is certainly a long way from concourse, and certainly has some bugs to work out, but I'm very much looking forward to getting it back on the road.
Some highlights:
- The second owner held the car from 1972 - 2023 (51 years!). It started life as his car at the Air Force Academy, then was passed down to his wife as a commuter car, where it received the majority of it's 138,000 miles.
- It started life Maroon, but was torn down, restored, and repainted to a (triumph correct) blue by owner #2 in the 1990's. It looks as though rockers and door bottoms were addressed at that time.
- It was left in a barn by owner #2 from about 2013-2023, where it was sold to owner #3, who got it running again, and had the driver's floor patched. He also added a plastic transmission tunnel, spin-on oil filter, replaced the starter, along with the clutch and brake master cylinders, along with new tires.
- I am owner #4, who very nearly dropped it through the center of the Uhaul trailer trying to back it down the ramps...
The car runs, drives, and stops. No smoke from the engine, and no discernible thrust bearing play, at least at quick inspection. It's fairly original. The interior is rough, but all accounted for. The gauges all work, except the gas gauge, which works...sometimes... Lucas electric is in full effect, with all dash lights flickering anytime you hit a bump. The repaint is show it's age, and the rust has started to re-appear in the usual places (front roof seam, rear wheel wells). It is in desperate need of a tune up - idling at about 1400rpm, dieseling at shutdown, and slowly overheating, with a significant bog off the line - so I'll be starting with a crash course in timing, and Zenith Stromberg carburetors. My Uni-Syn gauge and mixture adjustment tool are in the mail... There's also an intermittent rotational grinding at idle that goes away when the clutch is depressed. I haven't been able to fully diagnose yet, but I suspect the transmission input bearing, or, again, the thrust washers... so I'll be double checking.
From there, I plan to focus on safety - probably new brake lines, and a suspension rebuild (though the rotoflex couplings seem to be in good shape). The plan is to drive it while I repair it. It will eventually be in the garage, once I clear the space for it, which will hopefully keep the rust at bay for a little longer. Luckily, it won't be a daily driver for me. It will share weekend cruiser duties with my FJ40 Land Cruiser.
Looking forward to getting this GT6 dialed in, registered, and back on the road!
