Cars owned by Club Members and Enthusiasts

If you would like your car added to this page then please send me an e-mail with a JPEG image and a brief description e.g. year, model, annual mileage and interesting comments to the web site editor at bob_triumphtr6[a]yahoo.co.uk

Michael Hölz from Germany sends us these pictures of his Triumph 2000 classic race car:

Hi all,
Attached you´ll find some photos of my T2000 racer. The car is a T2000 MK I, build in 65, full Koni race / rally running gear and a slightly tuned 2 liter MK I engine. (setup with 3 Webers, rolling road tested at 142 BHP - gives me 10:30 min at the Nürburgring). For shure the only T2000 racer I´ve ever seen on the continent.....
Warm regards
Mike

Robert Bromage writes:
Hi there Bob, being a new member [ 7425-01/08 ] though I might add a photo to your to your members list of cars. I bought the car in Jan this year, it is a 1969 mk2 in white, 1 lady owner + 18 years in garage showroom. has rm of just over 20,000 miles incl all old m.o.t.s and is in original condition. Thanks, Rob.

Les Dolan from the Wirral writes:

Thought I'd mail a few pics of my car for the website.

It came to me with all of the hard work done, just a few issues with the conversion to sort out. It's 1968 Mk1 2000 Auto that's had a Rover 3.5 V8 installed. It's been resprayed in Land Rover Azure blue.

I've owned it for around a year, I have some cooling and suspension issues to sort out, but thanks to advice from other helpful members of the forum I can get these sorted over the next few weeks.

Jan Waling Huisman tells us about his cars:

I bought the blue/green car as a 2000 in 1997 and a few months later it was back on home ground, during a visit to the spring Beaulieu autojumble. It was running on LPG, with no conversion to the head. This resulted in a blown engine, so this was replaced with a rebuilt 2500 engine. Together with the one silencer sports exhaust it tore the tarmac from the street, with a sound to match. This picture was taken on a trip with the whole family to the Bourgogne in France. It performed impeccabily, but some rustspots made me decide to take it of the road in 2000. It was replaced by the brown 2500. I got it for free, it only needed a new distributor and two tires. Despite having been idle for three years it started first time on the petrol which was still in the tank! This car served us for about a year. Then the autobox started to play up, which made me decide to make someone else happy with the car. It soldiered on for years, after a minor adjustment on the gearbox.

In the meantime the first car was completely dismantled and the bottom gritblasted. This revealed severe rustdamage on the whole floorpan and all the wings. Due to this it still standing on a carlift in my garage, for five years. I cannot bear to part with the car, but repairs will be very involving and tricky. So now I am gradually reaching a point of no return and have decided that the best option will be to replace the whole bodyshell for another one. So, if anyone has a pfl 2000 bodyshell lying around, I would be most happy to give it a good home.....

Hopefully to be continued!

By the way, my other cars are: a Mk3 Spitfire (1967), a Bedford Camper (1977), a Fiat 128 3P (1976) (to be restored) and, maybe the most sensible car, a Citroën Xantia (but: 1993, almost 300.000km.)

With kind regards, Jan Waling Huisman, member since 1997

Lee Smart writes:

I bought this car in october 2007, from a chap in suffolk, who had the car in storage for 20 years! He had bought it as a second car, with a view to restoring it to use it for showing etc. But he had family commitments, and eventually having to sell it. He was the second owner, the first being a lady who lived in Southwold, Norfolk.

The PI, has covered 62,000 miles, and it would seem to have had an easy life, no tow bar, all original, and standard condition. It drives beautifully at the moment, but needs major repairs underneath the car. This work will be carried out in spring, and hopefully I will be attending shows, later on in the year with the PI. Regards, Lee.

Ivor
Hi, I'm new to the register and I have a 1972 Mk2 2.5PI. I reshelled it (no rust/rot anywhere) and resprayed it Pimento Red and then fitted a manual with o/drive gearbox (originally auto) ,its got the original perfect running PI engine and took me 12 months and a good few £s to get it to this condition. I look forward to getting to the shows in the UK next year as I now live back in Ireland.
All the best, Ivor

Kevin Warrington

Hi, Bob - nothing to watch on the telly, too cold to work in the garage and not allowed to spend any more money at the moment! So I thought I'd send you a few pictures of a nice 2000 mkII for the Members Triumphs part of the web site.

So, here is "Opal", named for obvious reasons. Opal is a 1972 built 2000 mkII automatic saloon that has had a very cosseted life. Her first owner was a wedding photographer in Epsom, Surrey where she lived for the first 34 years of her life. After 18 months of being used to transport Nikons and Hasselblads, she was sold to her second owner, with a Morris Oxford being taken in part exchange. The second owner and his wife owned the car for 28 years and finally, she was bought by a Triumph enthusiast living near Stansted Airport where she lived in a carpeted and heated garage for 4 years before we found her for sale on EBay in May of 2007.

She was described as being in "original condition" with comprehensive paperwork. Now, we all know that big Triumph saloons that have reached the grand old age of 35 years living in this country are not likely to be "original" and so I went about my pre-purchase inspection in a very cautious manner. Underneath, there was a very small amount of surface rust to the original, factory applied paint, but nothing of any seriousness. The sills were solid with no signs of ever being repaired, the shut lines were as good as anything produced in this country and the suspension mounts all looked very solid. There is one repair to an outrigger, but that is all. So, we went for a test drive. The seller was very reluctant as it was raining and the car didn't go out in the rain. And please would I not drive at more than 50 mph! On our return, I borrowed the vendor's computer to enter a bid that I was sure would win the auction for me. And it did, so a few days later, we returned to collect her. I could probably have resold her there and then to the seller's wife as neither really wanted to part with it (but they've now got a GT6 bought from the proceeds). Driving home, which was as far as we know the longest journey the car had done in 32 years, it was obvious that the car had seen little use. The most obvious problem was that the idle speed was too fast and the suspension felt a little odd at motorway speeds. So, first call on arriving home was to a friend of mine who is the fleet engineer for a local coach company and who knows tha odd bit about cars (and also owns the 1963 Volvo Amazon that was the vehicle on the turntable at the 63 London Motor Show). Two minute job to sort the idle with the help of the magic Stromberg tool.

I've had the car professionally Waxoyled. The chap who did it could not believe the condition that the car is in, saying he has never seen a 1970's British car with factory paint on the underneath. Along the way, I've had bits of carpet and seats out to clean - again, everything is like a 2 or 3 year old car. In addition, Opal has had her gearbox rebuilt; all that was needed was a thorough clean out and replacement of the seals - she had serious transmission fluid incontinence and I've had all the suspension bushes replaced with polyurethane - it looked as though all the buses were original.

And the comprehensive paperwork - well - we have the original order form, the delivery documentation, the bill of sale to the second and third owners, nearly every MOT and service sheet and, most surprisingly, a set of petrol ration vouchers from the 1973 oil crisis.

Opal shares the garage with another Triumph - a blue TR6 PI called "Sapphire" for reasons that will be obvious. Opal is my third Triumph - the first was a G-reg 1300 that I bought in 1975 on my 18th birthday.

Some statistics:

Built September 1972
First Registered March 1973
Total mileage from new 51000 miles (with paper trial to verify)
annual mileage (prior to our purchase) - about 500 miles in a good year - we intend to use that car as it was designed and so it will be going to Bonn at Easter and to the National in July. It is currently regularly used as a second car.

Useless Trivia - Opal was registered OPL 158L. The dealer also registered OPL 159L to a white Dolomite. Amazingly, that car also survives and is currently owned (for sale) by Mark at "Southern Triumph" in Bournemouth.

Best Regards, Kevin

Lee Godfrey

My Mark 1 PI (XWP 650G) has been owned by myself for nearly two years and has won numerous prizes since such as our Club's 2007 National where it won best Mark 1 and Car of the Weekend (thanks to all that voted). This made me very pleased. The car is an auto and since ownership has had two flexi-plates, next time its going to become an manual!!!!!!!!. The first time and my second day of ownership I was "flying" along the A1 to the BMC Day at Ferry Meadows in Peterborough,when suddenly i lost momentum. The AA was called out and i was taken to the showground and then i was trailered home after the show.

The second time it went was on the way back from the Stoneleigh show were the car was on our club stand along with Frank Ashton's and Alan Chatterton's. The car drove back without any signs of trouble but when I pulled on the drive there was a very loud rattle that disappeared when the accelerator pedal was pressed. I thought it was the exhaust rattling through the chassis at first but found this not to be the case.oh dear!!!!!!!. So engine was stripped down to find nothing untoward. With the engine looking ok the flexi-plate was checked again and there it was..........a hair line crack in the NOS plate. My second car is a one owner from new 1970 Mark 1 Estate which was bought from the elderly owner in June 07 as an MoT failure. The car had failed on its sills, but these looked ok, but how wrong i was, the car has just had major welding on inner/outer sills, front outriggers and wheelarches. It has been sprayed up and now has a new mot...cheers Lee Godfrey

Peter Morris

As I've been getting so much help from your Forum I thought it only fair to send in some pictures.

This car was given to me by my builder who built my extention as you can see from a couple of the pictures when I towed it away from his garage it had sat there since 1990 and was covered in dust, it is now all clean, it is in honeysuckle with chesnut interior which is unmarked. It is a 2.5PI with overdrive and only 47000 miles from new.

I've spent quite a lot on getting it back on the road (still having problems) and have had lots of help from the members here, even though they are talking to an idiot (me) they are always willing to help.

Regards Pete

Peter Davis

I have a 1969 Triumph 2.5Pi Mk1. Unlike some of the Triumphs in the photos I saw on the web-site, mine is a true 2.5Mk1 with the TR5 Pi 150bhp engine. I wish people that owned Triumphs would distinguish correctly the difference between the Mk1's and Mk2's, Mk2's are all really 2500's, Mk1's are 2.5's. Anyway, the pic was taken last year when we had a summer, my intention is to move to Malta in the not so far future, and take my Triumphs with me. I've owned the Pi since 1983, and I have a couple of GT6's and a 1974 Stag.

Peter

Webmaster's note: Controversial comments there Peter. As far as I am aware no Triumph saloon had a TR5 150 bhp engine fitted as standard. The official rating at launch, stated in the brochure, was 132 bhp, delivered by a softer cam profile than the TR5. This same engine was installed in the Mk2 up to 1972, after which the brochure quotes 120 bhp. As far as the name of the car, even after the introduction of the Mark 2 when the 2.5PI was rebadged as '2500PI', it was still referred to in brochures and advertisements as 'The Triumph 2.5 P.I. Mk2'. Only in 1974 after the facelift was it referred to by the company as 'The Triumph 2500 PI' at which point the power output was still being quoted as 120 bhp.

Paul Stokes from Hastings tells you of the 'battle' (ha ha) to sort his 2000.

Thought you might like a peek at my lovely 1975 mk 2. Its in french blue and its got 80,500 on the clock.

I did what everyone warns you not to do, buy it from ebay without first going to see it, however, I didn't part with the money until I saw it "in the flesh".

Of course, it always seems to be the way that a car looks better in a picture than in real life and this mk 2 was no exception!

Whilst it had a long MOT, the rust bubbles at the front of the o/s sills told me that with a bit of digging, I'd probably have a nice big hole, and so it was, I spent most of winter 2006 cutting out and welding small but structural bits, mostly around the sills and bottom of the front wheel arches but also fiddly areas around the ends of the front outriggers where they meet the inner sills. A couple more places were found once the back seat was out.

I stripped out the back springs and probed and scraped around the area where the tops are positioned and found I was in luck, no rust or rot so a good dosing of Waxoyl before everything went back, and the same treatment for the sills and outriggers.

She's now sound and solid.

Apart from fitting polybushes to the trailing arms, renewing the steering rack, stripping out the struts and rebuilding with new parts as required, its a lovely car.

Future plans are a new windscreen, renewing all the door and screen rubbers and perhaps a respray and to think, originally I was after a Toledo or Dolomite !

Gavin, known on our Forum as Umquat, tells us about his car:

UTD 868L 72 Triumph 2000 with 73,000 on the clock. Member no 7394-05/07

Thought it was about time to reveal the cause of all my forum posts (Umquat)

I got the opportunity to get back into classic motoring after my long suffering Skoda Octavia Mk1 finally broke its gearbox - thoroughly recommended as a daily driver btw - and my commuting circumstances changed so I now have a classic daily driver which is a first. This is, from my point of view my first British classic, my only other Brit being a bright orange Hillman Avenger 1500 when it was only 10 years old. That was followed by a foray into the aircooled scene with a 74 Beetle and a 73 Porsche 914 - great car but marriage, family and big bills (not necessarily in that order) soon put paid to that.

The 2000 is structurally very good with only a small amount of welding on the nearside chassis leg, and new sills fitted (although this was primarily done to tidy the car up). Its pretty tidy on top with a few bubbles in the wheel arches and a little rust in the gutters the only blemishes in nice original paint work that still polishes up well after 35 years. Mechanically the car is generally good too.

There are still things to do (arent there always) the most involved being to replace all the suspension bushes, particularly the rear trailing arms - the car suffers from the twitch which was a little disconcerting the first time I drove it.

Best Regards

Gavin

Brian Millington offers a little info on his cars:

FLV 293L 2.5PI Estate.
I bought it in 2002 from its second owner who had it for 23 years. It had 68,000 genuine miles on the clock. It had been modified to run on carbs but I re converted it back to PI. This was my everyday car, all year round from July 2002 to July 2005.

SBD 950G Triumph 2000
Bought new by the comedian Stanley Unwin in late 1968 althogh he did not take delivery until feb 1969 as he was out of the country filming. He ran the car until 1989 which then stood idle until 2002 when he passed away. A friend bought it but did not get around to doing anything so it was advertised on Ebay. It was then bought by a banger racer who fortunately had a concience and offered it to the Register. I bought it and found that it was in a terrible state. Much, much welding later the car looks presentable and was my daily driver from June 2003 until Sept 2006 when I chickened out and bought a diesel car!

Hi,

I'm member #7344.  Chrissy, my pride and joy, is a 2000 Mk. I Estate currently undergoing 2.5 manual/OD conversion and eventual daily driver status.  I'm only aware of two Estates on this side of the Atlantic, so I'll have to look really hard to see another one!  You can see more at my "refurbishment" blog at http://2000estate.blogspot.com  ...please leave comments if you visit!

Thanks!

Jamie Palmer

May 2007 - the above two pictures were sent in by Alan Sorbie. He writes:

I bought my 2000 at the end of Summer 2006. It was a bit of a gamble as it had no MOT and had been off the road for nearly 10 years. I decided to take the chance anyway. Luckily, the MOT was no more than a formality - it passed without a problem. I gave the car a thorough service and treated it to a new set of tyres before pressing it into use.

Despite the car only being a toy, I've covered about 2000 miles since, and have enjoyed some memorable trips - the Triumph day at Stoneleigh was great fun and an opportunity for a blast along the motorways. The car gets used almost every day now that the weather is improving.

On top of the normal service items, I've renewed all the coolant hoses and alternator along with 1001 other minor bits and pieces. Next on the list are a new wheel bearing and brake master cylinder.

I was quite surprised to discover that my car is one of the oldest mk2s still around. It was registered on 1/1/70 but was a showroom display car before being registered, making it quite an early build.

I'm looking forward to a few adventures over the summer, the first being in June when I plan to take the 2000 over to the Nurburgring 24h race. Spectating only of course, but if the chance comes up to do a lap of the 'Ring it may be too much for me to resist. The club national event is in the calendar too - looking forward to that.

My intention is to keep the car safe, reliable and rust free so that I can enjoy using it, as opposed to turning it into a show winner.

I've wanted a 2000 for as long as I can remember and am pleased that having finally taken the plunge, the reality has lived up to the expectations!

April 2007 - The above three pictures were sent in by Alan Chatterton:

1976 Triumph 2500 S Estate, in Inca Yellow. Very rare colour, as far as we can tell only 7 Inca Yellow S Estates were made and I have only ever seen one other about 12 years ago! Anyone else got one?
YJO584R was the Earls Court Motor Show Car in 1976. This was confirmed to me by the orginal suppling dealer, Chandos Motors in Coventry. When I got the car in 1997, it had the remains of the dealer sticker in the back window. I took the car back to Chandos, and the owner confirmed that he rememberd the car, he originally sold it, and that he bought it off Leyland in late 1976 as an ex-demo car. The supplying dealer on the Heritage Certificate says British Leyland Service and Parts, Cowley, were all the press cars came from.He even gave me a new old stock sticker!
 
I bought the car in 1997 from the Son of the original owner, who had restored the bodywork including a full respray. It has had wheel arches, sills, part floors, a new tailgate, door bottoms and a exterior respray in the lovely Inca Yellow. I then stripped all the mechanics out off it, repainted and sealed the underside and then rebuilt all the running gear. The engine and gearbox were cleaned, painted and serviced. Uprated springs, shocks and a full Poly-Bush kit were installed, as well as a Witor Semi-Sport stainless exhaust, a towbar and my well-known shiny alloys!
 
As the years have progresses, several things have been replaced/upgraded. I have put electronic ignition on, a spin on filter, a replacement Vinyl interior (I hate cloth!!) new carpets, new bumpers, new rear drivehshafts etc.
 
The car is used in the summer only, has done 3 Club Triumph Round Britain Runs, and has been to every National since 1998, and tows a big caravan. It can be seen flying around the Redditch Area, going to the tip full of grass cuttings and transporting a very lively Border Collie in the boot (Smartie loves it, but cowers from the exhaust on full chat!)
 
This year, it is having some work. The engine (148k, never been apart!) is having an overhaul. New rings, Bearings, oil seals, a witor Cam, cam followers, needles, jets, a new Cylinder Head and the gearbox has been replaced with a brand new Leyland Police spec (Stag internals) gearbox with a special 28% heavy duty Overdrive from Canley Classics. The brakes are being replaced with Stag items front and rear and a new Power Steering rack is required. All this should be finished and run in in time for the 2007 National at Anglesey. We'll see you there!

This immaculate Mk 1 Triumph 2000 Saloon belongs to David Marriott and has recently been featured on the back page of SIXappeal.

Hi Matt, I attach a photo of my 2500S estate which is used as a period service barge for historic rallying. Packed full of rally kit (and bacon sandwich making equipment) it has towed cars as diverse as a 1902 Panhard et Levassor and the "full house" TR7V8 featured on the photo. Mike Robinson.

Roger Cummings owns GAB who is a 1974 2000 manual with Overdrive and PAS. 3 previous owners the first two being the same family.

Paul has been restoring this Mk I on his driveway in Hastings. He made templates up from cardboard to enable him to weld the correctly sized plates to his car.

Peter Haas from Switzerland uses this MkII 2000TC as his everyday transport. He claims to have driven 100,000km without any major repairs and the car is still going strong.

This car is described by its owner, Michael Ellis, as a "wolf in sheep's clothing". Although badged as a 2.5S it is in fact a 2500TC.

This 2.5PI is owned by Jonathan England who now resides in the US of A. Jonathan says that he is having the car shipped out to join him.

This family car has recently been handed down to Nick Rice from North Devon. According to Nick the car was first owned by his grandfather, then his father and now himself.

This is David Brown's 2500 TC from Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. I know there are lots of Trimffs in Oz, but this is the first photo to be submitted from that area - thanks David!

A extremely rare Triumph 2500TC indeed from California, owned by Roger Fenton. In a recent e-mail to Andy Roberts, Roger said "The Triumph 2500TC 4-door saloon car that I picked up was built for racing in 1978 for Paul Newman to race in "B Sedan SCCA". All the bits are still intact except for the perishable stuff like fuel lines, which have been replaced. The car sat in storage for the past 24 years until I picked it up in auction last year. I am trying to get it ready to race in about 1 month." Good luck to him!

A very rare Triumph indeed, probably the only one in Poland, owned by register member Robert Bakowski.

This nice 2500TC belongs to Paul Barlow of Exeter and it's being driven by his wife (carefully?) near St. Ives.

The three preceding photographs are of a 1966 Mk 1 2000 and 1972 Mk II 2.5PI owned by Brian Millington.

This 2000 belongs to Kristian Adsley and boasts new sills and a respray.

This 2500TC belongs to Mark Wheaver of Swindon.

A trio of Paddlesworth's best. The blue one is now scrapped unfortunately.

Yellow saloon parked behind the famous Standard Triumph Monument at Canley. Photo taken by Peter Wade.

2001 Isle of Wight Rally to Butterfly World. Photo taken by Peter Wade.

2001 Isle of Wight Rally to HavenStreet Railway. Photo taken by Peter Wade.

2001 Isle of Wight Rally Beaper Farm. Photo taken by Peter Wade.