Just looked at a car just imported from a dry country. Sadly little history with nothing to back up the previous body restoration. Body looks in excellent condition, i.e. sills, wheel arches, all the usual areas where these cars go.
Some underseal underneath and can't gauge subframe condition but the rear was dropped 6 years ago for new shocks, brakes, bushes. The floors are painted black and may have surface rust that's been painted over.
It's so original even the Lucas amplifier is in the original spot in the vee.
My questions really relate to such an early car: can the Lucas ignition be maintained ok, i.e. can parts be obtained? Should the floor be body colour? This car has a Borg Warner gearbox so not sure if this is a goodf or bad thing.
Overall: interior needs refurb (no tears in the leather but recoloring needed), carpets faded, paint looks badly prepared with microblistering so will probably need repainting. Needs a complete exhaust. Needs windscreen rubber which is a pain. Looks like routine maintenance has been carried out ok with new injector hoses, antifreeze, oil, gearbox oil all the correct colours.
Car is up for £10k and I was looking for an HE but the Pre HE has a lot of appeal to me for some reason. I guess paint and other items will relieve me of at least £5k quite quickly.
Is this potentially a sound buy? Can such an early car be used regularly as a "rolling restoration"?
Thanks. Malc
I bought it about 4 weeks ago. Was going to give it a huge serviced but decided to strip the engine bay to paint the bay and refurb all the ancillaries, replace all hoses, fuel lines, consumables....The rot I've found is very small and localised and I have dug into it quite a bit.