Hi guys,
Thanks for taking the time to view another thread from us.
Not done a full in-depth write up for awhile so thought I would with this as really enjoyed working on this.
A present you with a 1967 Triumph TR4A that has only clocked up 22k miles
A bit of history on Triumph Motor Co. and the TR series
The company, established by two German gentlemen by the names Siegfried Bettmann and Moritz Schulte, started out making bicycles. Then, at the turn of the 20th century, the company graduated to making motorcycles. By 1918, the last year of the First World War, Triumph had become Britain's largest motorcycle maker. Then, in the early 1920s, Bettman was persuaded to start producing motor cars. Bettmann agreed to this idea and Triumph's first foray into car production yielded the Triumph 10/20.
In the 1930s, Triumph changed its name from Triumph Cycle Co. to Triumph Motor Company. By the late '30s the company was in financial difficulties. This led to the motorcycle part of the company being sold. This did little to help. Soon, the company was in terrible financial troubles and would have to close its doors. The London based company received its final blow when it was destroyed during the Blitz bombing of London early on during World War II.
What was left of the Triumph Motor Company, which was basically just the name, was purchased by Standard Motor Company in 1944. After the conclusion of the war, with the infusion of new money and a new location in Coventry, England, Triumph introduced a new line of roadsters. People were feeling hopeful after the war's end and had a 'zest' for life. The compact and sporty roadsters were meant to capture that 'zest' and provide the company with a profitable roadster. Thus, the TR series was born.
The first series, called the TR2, had a 2-liter, twin carburetor, four-cylinder engine capable of 90 bhp. The car had an independent front suspension utilizing coil springs and a leaf spring live rear axle and was capable of touching speeds a little over 100 mph.
Then, in 1955, the company introduced its next generation of roadster called the TR3. While similar to the TR2, the new car did have many improvements, including front-wheel disc brakes. This feature made the TR3 the first of Britain's production cars to have disc brakes. Horsepower increased to 100 bhp and offered such extras as a bolt-on hard top, a heater, leather upholstery and overdrive. In all, over 13,000 examples of this popular model would be produced until it was replaced in production by the TR3A.
Virtually the same as its TR3 predecessor, the 3A offered some very keen updates. It sported a wider front grille and a redesigned nose that seemed to 'house' the headlights compared to the TR3's headlights that protruded from its own bodywork design. The 3A offered such amenities as external door handles and a locking trunk. This model of the TR ran from 1957 until 1962. Over 58,000 examples of the car were built.
In 1962 the TR4 was introduced. Called 'zest' throughout its development, the TR4 portrayed the company's attitude with a redesigned body style. Designed by Michelotti, the nose featured a redesigned grille and headlight arrangement that it many ways seemed an evolution from the TR3A design. The doors were not cut-outs as had been on previous models. This change made room for wind-up windows instead of a fabric side-curtain. The rear end of the car too was redesigned and offered room for a trunk. Over the course of the TR4's production run, some 40,000+ were built.
Keeping with its tradition, Triumph introduced its model TR4A in 1965. The 4A was altered just slightly from the TR4 in order to address complaints about ride comfort. Therefore, about the only difference between the TR4A and the TR4 was the use of an independent rear suspension instead of the live rear axle. TR4A's produced with the new independent rear suspension were marked with a badge that had the letters 'IRS'.
The addition of the independent rear suspension with the many other changes of the TR4 made the car quite popular and even successful on the race track. The track of the TR4 was enlarged and rack-and-pinion steering was utilized. This helped to make the car handle much more predictable and stable. The transmission had been fully synchronized and the 2.1-liter, overhead valve, four-cylinder engine of the TR3A had also been enlarged and became capable of producing a little over 104 bhp.
Built in 1967, towards the end of the production run - the Triumph TR4A was a variant of the earlier TR4 that had been introduced in 1961. The main differences are; the solid rear axle was replaced by Independent Rear Suspension (hence the IRS badge on the boot lid), the steel dash was covered in a walnut veneer and the handbrake was moved to the top of the transmission tunnel, instead of in the foot-well next to the driver's left leg.
The engine was the same 4 cylinder 2,138 cc 104 BHP engine as in the earlier Triumph TR2s and TR3/TR3A/TR3Bs but with a revised head and exhaust, giving slightly more power. This is a slow revving engine with bucket loads of torque and an agricultural feel (not surprising as it was derived from a Massey Ferguson tractor engine). The gearbox has synchromesh on all four gears and is fitted with overdrive that works on 2nd, 3rd and 4th gears giving it an effective seven gears.
=========================================================
Now onto the detail:
Engine Bay
The engine bay was in need of a good clean and I spent near 4 hours on it removing the 44 year old build up of oil and dirt. The goal was to make a overall improvement - not bring it upt too concours condition! Most of my time would be needed to correct the paintwork.
Few shots showing the build up
Few "before and after" shots. (Most finished shots I took ended up out of focus and these I have posted dont really show what was achieved but give you an idea of the improvement made)
The painted surfaces were polished with Werkstat Prime
Condition of Paintwork
As you can see, there was a fair amount of swirls and other defects that needed some serious attention.
Paint Correction and Refining Stages
As always, I spent a bit of time working out a pad and polish combination that would achieve a safe level of correction.
Most of all the vertical panels and roof suffered from heavy DA sanding marks. These area's were corrected with Megs 105 and wool pad and then followed up with Menz 3.02 on a foam pad. The horizontal panels (boot and bonnet) were hit with Menz 3.02 and a cutting pad.
Panels were given a IPA wipedown after every set to ensure I was getting "true" correction and not just filling/masking the defects.
50/50 after 2 stages
Few before and after shots during the correction stages
Here I am working on a section of the bonnet.
To make things a bit easier and to fully correct around badges and emblems these were removed.
Here I am cutting in the lower parts of the door with DA.
Another area which was corrected with a DA as a lot safer to use than trying to correct with a rotary due to all the edges and tight space.
Once I'd finished the first 2 stages of correction I gave the car a foam to rinse off all the dust from the compounding stages.
Here I am refining the bonnet with Menz 106fa
Checking all is good under different light sources
Camera flash
Once all machine polishing stages were complete I removed the build up of polish from all panel edges and then gave the paint one last IPA wipe down.
I chose to use Blackfire Wet Diamond sealant for the LSP as wanted something that applied and removed very easily as didnt want to run the risk of marring the paint. This was applied using a gold CCS pad via a DA polisher and then left to cure for several hours whilst I did some of the smaller jobs.
Bumpers and exhausts were polished with P21S Polishing Soap and then sealed with Blackfire Metal Sealant
The spare wheel was removed and cleaned and then sealed with Blackfire Metal Sealant along with the other four wheels on the car. Tyres were dressed with Zaino Z16.
Interior was also detailed which consisted of a good thorough vacuum and then cleaning the leather with LTT Ultra Auto Foam and then laying down some protection using LTT Ultra Protect.
The wood dash was treated with Swissvax Wood Wax after the removal of Swissvax Cleaner Fluid and the bezels were polished with Blackfire Fine Cut Metal Polish. Windows were polished with Werstsat Prime Strong.
And the end result after 4 days of hard work...
Few were taken end of day 4 and the remaining pics were taken the following day which was a bright and sunny day.
Few sun shots showing true correction
Thank you for taking the time to view the thread and hope you enjoyed it.
Thanks for taking the time to view another thread from us.
Not done a full in-depth write up for awhile so thought I would with this as really enjoyed working on this.
A present you with a 1967 Triumph TR4A that has only clocked up 22k miles
A bit of history on Triumph Motor Co. and the TR series
The company, established by two German gentlemen by the names Siegfried Bettmann and Moritz Schulte, started out making bicycles. Then, at the turn of the 20th century, the company graduated to making motorcycles. By 1918, the last year of the First World War, Triumph had become Britain's largest motorcycle maker. Then, in the early 1920s, Bettman was persuaded to start producing motor cars. Bettmann agreed to this idea and Triumph's first foray into car production yielded the Triumph 10/20.
In the 1930s, Triumph changed its name from Triumph Cycle Co. to Triumph Motor Company. By the late '30s the company was in financial difficulties. This led to the motorcycle part of the company being sold. This did little to help. Soon, the company was in terrible financial troubles and would have to close its doors. The London based company received its final blow when it was destroyed during the Blitz bombing of London early on during World War II.
What was left of the Triumph Motor Company, which was basically just the name, was purchased by Standard Motor Company in 1944. After the conclusion of the war, with the infusion of new money and a new location in Coventry, England, Triumph introduced a new line of roadsters. People were feeling hopeful after the war's end and had a 'zest' for life. The compact and sporty roadsters were meant to capture that 'zest' and provide the company with a profitable roadster. Thus, the TR series was born.
The first series, called the TR2, had a 2-liter, twin carburetor, four-cylinder engine capable of 90 bhp. The car had an independent front suspension utilizing coil springs and a leaf spring live rear axle and was capable of touching speeds a little over 100 mph.
Then, in 1955, the company introduced its next generation of roadster called the TR3. While similar to the TR2, the new car did have many improvements, including front-wheel disc brakes. This feature made the TR3 the first of Britain's production cars to have disc brakes. Horsepower increased to 100 bhp and offered such extras as a bolt-on hard top, a heater, leather upholstery and overdrive. In all, over 13,000 examples of this popular model would be produced until it was replaced in production by the TR3A.
Virtually the same as its TR3 predecessor, the 3A offered some very keen updates. It sported a wider front grille and a redesigned nose that seemed to 'house' the headlights compared to the TR3's headlights that protruded from its own bodywork design. The 3A offered such amenities as external door handles and a locking trunk. This model of the TR ran from 1957 until 1962. Over 58,000 examples of the car were built.
In 1962 the TR4 was introduced. Called 'zest' throughout its development, the TR4 portrayed the company's attitude with a redesigned body style. Designed by Michelotti, the nose featured a redesigned grille and headlight arrangement that it many ways seemed an evolution from the TR3A design. The doors were not cut-outs as had been on previous models. This change made room for wind-up windows instead of a fabric side-curtain. The rear end of the car too was redesigned and offered room for a trunk. Over the course of the TR4's production run, some 40,000+ were built.
Keeping with its tradition, Triumph introduced its model TR4A in 1965. The 4A was altered just slightly from the TR4 in order to address complaints about ride comfort. Therefore, about the only difference between the TR4A and the TR4 was the use of an independent rear suspension instead of the live rear axle. TR4A's produced with the new independent rear suspension were marked with a badge that had the letters 'IRS'.
The addition of the independent rear suspension with the many other changes of the TR4 made the car quite popular and even successful on the race track. The track of the TR4 was enlarged and rack-and-pinion steering was utilized. This helped to make the car handle much more predictable and stable. The transmission had been fully synchronized and the 2.1-liter, overhead valve, four-cylinder engine of the TR3A had also been enlarged and became capable of producing a little over 104 bhp.
Built in 1967, towards the end of the production run - the Triumph TR4A was a variant of the earlier TR4 that had been introduced in 1961. The main differences are; the solid rear axle was replaced by Independent Rear Suspension (hence the IRS badge on the boot lid), the steel dash was covered in a walnut veneer and the handbrake was moved to the top of the transmission tunnel, instead of in the foot-well next to the driver's left leg.
The engine was the same 4 cylinder 2,138 cc 104 BHP engine as in the earlier Triumph TR2s and TR3/TR3A/TR3Bs but with a revised head and exhaust, giving slightly more power. This is a slow revving engine with bucket loads of torque and an agricultural feel (not surprising as it was derived from a Massey Ferguson tractor engine). The gearbox has synchromesh on all four gears and is fitted with overdrive that works on 2nd, 3rd and 4th gears giving it an effective seven gears.
=========================================================
Now onto the detail:
Engine Bay
The engine bay was in need of a good clean and I spent near 4 hours on it removing the 44 year old build up of oil and dirt. The goal was to make a overall improvement - not bring it upt too concours condition! Most of my time would be needed to correct the paintwork.
Few shots showing the build up
Few "before and after" shots. (Most finished shots I took ended up out of focus and these I have posted dont really show what was achieved but give you an idea of the improvement made)
The painted surfaces were polished with Werkstat Prime
Condition of Paintwork
As you can see, there was a fair amount of swirls and other defects that needed some serious attention.
Paint Correction and Refining Stages
As always, I spent a bit of time working out a pad and polish combination that would achieve a safe level of correction.
Most of all the vertical panels and roof suffered from heavy DA sanding marks. These area's were corrected with Megs 105 and wool pad and then followed up with Menz 3.02 on a foam pad. The horizontal panels (boot and bonnet) were hit with Menz 3.02 and a cutting pad.
Panels were given a IPA wipedown after every set to ensure I was getting "true" correction and not just filling/masking the defects.
50/50 after 2 stages
Few before and after shots during the correction stages
Here I am working on a section of the bonnet.
To make things a bit easier and to fully correct around badges and emblems these were removed.
Here I am cutting in the lower parts of the door with DA.
Another area which was corrected with a DA as a lot safer to use than trying to correct with a rotary due to all the edges and tight space.
Once I'd finished the first 2 stages of correction I gave the car a foam to rinse off all the dust from the compounding stages.
Here I am refining the bonnet with Menz 106fa
Checking all is good under different light sources
Camera flash
Once all machine polishing stages were complete I removed the build up of polish from all panel edges and then gave the paint one last IPA wipe down.
I chose to use Blackfire Wet Diamond sealant for the LSP as wanted something that applied and removed very easily as didnt want to run the risk of marring the paint. This was applied using a gold CCS pad via a DA polisher and then left to cure for several hours whilst I did some of the smaller jobs.
Bumpers and exhausts were polished with P21S Polishing Soap and then sealed with Blackfire Metal Sealant
The spare wheel was removed and cleaned and then sealed with Blackfire Metal Sealant along with the other four wheels on the car. Tyres were dressed with Zaino Z16.
Interior was also detailed which consisted of a good thorough vacuum and then cleaning the leather with LTT Ultra Auto Foam and then laying down some protection using LTT Ultra Protect.
The wood dash was treated with Swissvax Wood Wax after the removal of Swissvax Cleaner Fluid and the bezels were polished with Blackfire Fine Cut Metal Polish. Windows were polished with Werstsat Prime Strong.
And the end result after 4 days of hard work...
Few were taken end of day 4 and the remaining pics were taken the following day which was a bright and sunny day.
Few sun shots showing true correction
Thank you for taking the time to view the thread and hope you enjoyed it.
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