[blaart]

hi there
im half way through restoring my T/A (almost ready for paint)and i was wondering does anybody here own a T/A in the UK,never seen one at any of the meets but there have to be a few knocking around,ive only seen 1. mine and it dont look like one yet.id love to see one in the flesh.if you own one and your taking it to a meet let me know id love to have a butchers.

[patrick]

Well... Let's see some pictures of your car, blaart.

[Alaskan_TA]

Michael, is that you?

I only know of one in London........

Barry

[dave-r]

There is that ice blue one in a private collection. And one in london that was in a right state in need of serious restoration which I guess is the one you have?

Pete Wiseman imported a yellow one into the UK which later lived in Cornwall for a while but that is now owned by Roar (babyelephant) in Norway. This is the only T/A I have ever driven.

[blaart]

hiya barry
yeah its me how you doing? still cant thank you enough for what you did.
ill get some photos up for ya.its not much to look at yet.maybe theres another one in london then as mine wasnt too bad.it just needed a trunk floor and quarter patch panels really.but i decided to change it back to yellow as when i bought it someone had a go at painting it panther.he got the inspiration from the bf goodrich advert but thought it looked to dark in the ad so brightend the colour up.it looked grim.its a long story but the main part is the deck panel was about 3/4 of an inch too far back one side so the boot never lined up which he hid using filler all round the nearside quarter panel.i thought the car was twisted somehow until i broke through the filler. still like i said its nearly there now at last.ill get som pics today maybe.thanks for the reply.

[dave-r]

Yes the one I was thinking of was Yellow. I am trying to remember the name of the place that had it in the late 80s-early 90s but can't think of it at the moment.

[blaart]

sorry about the quality.
it probably is the same car then.it was lurking around essex about then to the best of my knowledge.ive had so many things get in the way of me finishing this car.it was advertised on the mma webby as a T/A with all the important bits missing about 7 years ago.(god have i had it that long?)apart from the colour it looked mint! had a 383 (which overheated on the way home i might add) 4spd.no vin on the pad. i didnt know about the other vins spotted about so i was going in blind.got in touch with barry washington who gave me loads of paperwork for the car and then about 2 months later he sent me an email saying hes found the numbers matching block in atlanta which now sits in the spare room.ive got the rest of the year pretty much to get it done finally.bit of a work in progress after i get it mot.d.cant aford to shell out 7grand to year one for the bits

[dave-r]

I moved your thread to a more applicable area of the message board.

[Alaskan_TA]

Hey Michael,
I am good thanks. I am glad that you were able to get the original block from Ricky. It would be wonderful if that car could talk, I would love to hear the story.

Barry

[babyelephant]

Great to hear about the other T/A's in UK, and good luck on finishing your car!

[blaart]

thanks,im working on it most days now so hopefully wont be too long...

i promise barry i will do a write up on it when its a bit nearer done..

[blaart]

Hi all just thought id chuck a few more pics up.This is where im up to at the moment.I painted it in the lockup in front of it (i dont reccomend anyone doing this) im very happy the paint is still sticking to the car .No funds to buy all the bits to build the motor yet so its still going to have a 383 this year but at least its getting there now.Ive gone for 4 8x15 minilites .(saw your car on their webby Dave). i thought about going for 10s on the rear but i wasnt sure on changing stuff on the axle but im happy with 8s. I just got all the bits from year one that i needed ,brake lines,gaskets,only things to do really now are the steering box,repaint the door mirrors and grill/headlight surrounds and finish putting it back together.other bits i can do while im bombing around in it.

[dave-r]

Fantastic.

I was worried this project had died a death. Really glad it is still alive and close to kicking.

[Adrian Worman]

I loved seein them pics, looked just like my yellow car when I was restoring it
Nice work, keep it up mate!

[blaart]

Thanks guys.when i started thinking about doing this car i never in my wildest dreams thought id have to do literally everything myself on it.its been so long to get it to look like this its actually going to feel weird driving it.im so used to pushing it everywhere hehehe

[uk73andy]

That last photo looks scarily like my '73 (or at least how mine will look when I've finished painting it!) - couldn't you have chosen a different colour, we can't have too many yellow Challys around West London for goodness sake?!

[Adrian Worman]

Thanks guys.when i started thinking about doing this car i never in my wildest dreams thought id have to do literally everything myself on it.its been so long to get it to look like this its actually going to feel weird driving it.im so used to pushing it everywhere hehehe

Don't worry about how long it takes, you get there in the end that's what counts
My own car took nearly 20 years before I could say it was properly usable!
Have a look in the post titled 'Adrian's 72' and look at the pics........ we've all been there mate .

[blaart]

Hi All,
Been doing as much as i can on my car but had to stop just before christmas as a friend imported a mustang convertible which needs a lot of bodywork (lot more than the pics showed) should be able to get back on my car next month and drive it somewhere!!!!

went to start it the other day,then the dog ran out the garage so had to chase him,came back and had a bit of lunch,went out to cover the car up only to find the ignition on still.ill worry about it after the mustangs finished

ill get the right bonnet this year hopefully,this one will be frisbeed,id be too embarrassed to try and sell it ,its rotten

Note the homemade exhaust,gonna have a go at making the tips

[MattH]

Great to see this, Minilites look great, are they 4 1/2 " backspace all round?

I ask as I'm building my 73 as a Sam Posey T/A tribute /look alike and want to get the wheels correct but without cutting arches or moving springs.

[blaart]

Yep 4 1/2 backspacing,but be aware measure your Hub sizes and tell whoevers making your wheels as you will probably have to enlarge the hole in the middle of the wheels to fit them over the middle of the Hub..i found out the hard way and had to mill them out myself..

235/60/15s front,should have gone for 245s but ill do that next time,theres enough room.
255/60/15s Rear,they look just wide enough with just enough bulge and with a fair bit of room to the lip.All standard arches/springs..It is a T/A and as such is a bit of a monster truck at the rear so i lowered it 3 inches

Trust me i really wanted Blue streaks on this car as to me there is no tire on earth today that looks better..i was going to go the whole hog and flare the quarter panels just like posey's then 20 seconds later i came to my senses and went this way instead..
the only Goodyear stencils i could find were these ones which are billboard size.not blue streak size which i would have gone for.As soon as i sprayed them i thought they looked an inch wider to me somehow.it really brings out the curve of the sidewall

[dave-r]

No they really look the part with the large goodyear print. I think it looks great.

[cv70chall]

That car is looking real nice! I always wanted a T/A or AAR.
You'll be real proud of that when it's done..

[MattH]

Thanks for the info Mike, will be ordering soon. Might go to 7s on the front so the rears look wider, vary the back space by 1/2 inch to get a wider rear.
I have sourced a T/A scoop now (thanks Ade!) and a bonnet with a hole (steel one) so just got to match the two up and glass the scoop in.

Managed to get to see another genuine T/A in the UK to measure the hood.
its a sublime auto with black vinyl and interior. Been here since 74.

[fal308]

Is that rust or an antennae hole?

[dave-r]

Is that rust or an antennae hole?

It does look like the latter don't it?

Very odd.

[MattH]

Antenna hole. The owner mentioned about the wrong front fenders, saying the real ones have no hole and a wider radius to clear the tyres. This car is very solid and mostly rust free, dry stored. It has some slight front end damage, hence why the wings were mentioned, as he has some more proper ones.