to get an old triumph vitesse convertable, and stick a v8 in it?

im thinking that if its a mint example theh it would be, but if it involves restoring one it isnt.

i just love the look of the car.

I've seen a few in Custom Car over the years. (the 70's years that is!)

That probably means that nowadays it's "Retro."

IMHO the chassis was on the limit with a 1250cc motor, I used to have a spitfire and if I got a bit ambitious with the cornering, I could get a door to open or the dash to lurch - just due to chassis twist

well made then! maybe, as a slightly more extreme approach, i could dress a space frame in vitesse panels! that might be taking it too far, but at least i'd know where the rot was!

Got an old mag which shows a Vitesse convertible modded to fit a Jag 6 cyl motor.
Didn't look very professional, finish-wise.

you could always beef it up with a few astutely-placed tubes. who needs passenger space?

The back suspension was fab on Herald's and Vitesse's it used to allow the outside rear wheel to tuck under when cornering!

Scary with any engine..........................

also in my day they where definetely known as a 'hairdressers car'!!

Didn't know what a Vitesse was, so Googled and found one with a Rover V8 and another with a Datsun (180b?) rear end.

The chassis is a slender little thing. Wonder if you could build your own cross-braced ladder chassis?

It could be done without needing to modify the appearance, but the chassis would need some serious strengthening to take that much power.

It would definitely be best based on a late Vitesse as they did not have hte swing axle suspension which gave the entertaining handling.

Rather than a V8 a nicely tuned Triumph 2.5 pi engine would make a very nice motor.

I still love the shape, my family has had a Herald convertible for years, it currently resides in my Mum's garage in need of some tlc. One day............

a triump herald (vitesse was 2 litre version) was a hairdressers car?

it was an average family runaround. Only a minority were open top.

I passed my test in one. hardtop.

I think any convertable sports car can be considered a hairdressers car, inc tvr and ferrari. why should price be an excluding factor?

I would keep any decent condition one bog standard and not frig with different engines. This was a 40hp chassis after all..... even the vitsse barely broke a ton and 10 seconds.

Older cars should be restored as they were and not messed up. If they have survived 40 years (herald came out in 1959 - and the mini) its in my view wrong to trash one. Likely to have lower value too - enthusiasts want A1 conditioned cars, and I dont think a herald would appeal to the saxo crowd

atb

steve


[Edited on 25/9/04 by stephen_gusterson]

[Edited on 25/9/04 by stephen_gusterson]

hard top herald
Rescued attachment herald.jpg

quote:

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Originally posted by stephen_gusterson
Older cars should be restored as they were and not messed up. If they have survived 40 years (herald came out in 1959 - and the mini) its in my view wrong to trash one.

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Joel, you are going to die young!