Hi all - Well, I bought neither the 1500 nor the Mark 2. The 1500 had
pretty low mileage, was still with the original owner, and looked pretty
good at first look. Unfortunately, it had spent its formative years and
most of its 29k miles in St Louis, and currently lived near the ocean.
It had a little rust in a lot of places, and I was afraid of more
lurking everywhere. The Mark 2 was more of a project than I thought and
needed attention just about everywhere. I think I'll pass on them both.
I did, however look at a pretty nice Mark 3 today. It has apparently
been repainted in the original color (Navy Blue - or whatever Triumph
called it). There was some pitting on the exposed chrome surfaces, and
it was missing a few bits like hubcaps and one wiper blade. I found a
few other minor things wrong (I haven't driven it yet), but the body and
interior look nice, the engine starts and idles well, the brakes hold,
etc. There are only two gliches: The asking price and the amount of
rust dust and flakes I found under the floor mats (especially under the
driver's side). The floor pans still seemed solid, I couldn't see any
holes, and I couldn't see any rust on the outside under the pans. I
also couldn't find any appreciable rust anywhere else - under the master
cylinders, around the battery, around the wheel arches, around the
lights, around the door sills, boot and bonnet attachment, etc all
seemed ok. The soft top is pretty weathered, but there is a new one in
a box that goes with the car. There is no hard top or tonneau cover.
The car does not have overdrive. I don't think the overall condition is
excellent, but it is certainly very good. Taking all this into account,
anybody want to take a stab as to what this car is worth? It hasn't
been
registered since 1981, but has apparently has been brought back to
running condition
some time ago and kept that way. My general impression of the car is
that I could roll the it out of the garage and drive it home.
So having looked at a couple of the older spits now, I have decided I
really like the round tails. But of course, I don't want to pay too
much and don't want a big project (or a multitude of little ones - a few
are ok). Any inputs would be appreciated.
Finally - is it feasable to retrofit an older car that just has lap
belts with a shoulder harness?
Thanks in advance,
Mark Gardner
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