Resto Hero: Vitesse
Living on a remote island with just one road, meant restoration wasn’t easy for Ben Gillet
The UK’S most remote restoration?
Ben Gillet’s decision 28 years ago to move 30 miles west of Land’s End to St Martin’s on the sub-tropical Isles of Scilly would test his restoration skills to the full. ‘Living on a two-mile long island in the middle of the Atlantic means having to make do and mend. Not ideal when it comes to rebuilding a classic car. But it does make you very resourceful!’
Ben’s lifelong love affair with Triumph began in the early Sixties with his father, who shared stories and photos of his racing days in a souped-up Herald. Aged just nine, Ben was given his first Vitesse, a red convertible, by an elderly neighbour and as he grew up, this was followed by a fleet of Triumphs. ‘I had them all: Heralds, Vitesse’s, GT6S, Bonds, saloon estate and convertibles all in varying states of repair, most of them got raced around the fields by me and my friends.’
By the Eighties, Ben had begun working as a salesman at a Vauxhall garage in Surrey and it was at this point ‘Zoe’ rolled into his life. The 1970 Vitesse MKII Convertible, in a fine shade of Saffron Yellow, came to his attention in 1985 when its elderly lady owner proposed it in a part-exchange deal. Sadly, the deal went flat and she drove away but, two years later, she returned. Ben was naturally thrilled. ‘This time, the old Triumph was chopped in for a five-door, 1.3 GL Nova and I ended up doing a deal with management for a mere £25!
Back then, it wasn’t so special but, as one of just 3472 convertibles produced between 1968 and 1971, I was over the moon to have rescued it.’
Life got in the way and the Vitesse was subsequently laid up until 2005, after the move to the Isles of Scilly, where Ben and his wife Caroline had become tenants of the camp site on St Martins. The car made the 300-mile journey from Surrey on the back of a trailer and was then craned on to the Scilly Islands freighter, the Gry Maritha. After arrival in St Mary’s, a smaller island launch was loaded up with the Vitesse - along with tons of aggregate for the new island hall, weekly food supplies and a coffin containing a recently deceased islander.
‘As you can imagine, we respectfully awaited the disembarkation of the islander and then set about landing it onto the quayside, whereupon she became the first Triumph on St Martins and probably the most westerly Vitesse in the UK!
Once back at his old barn, Ben realised that although most of the car was intact, what it really needed was a complete rebuild from the ground up. He enlisted the help of teenage son, Jack, and together with angle grinder, wire brush, white spirit and lots of rags took care of the bitumen coated chassis that Ben had previously repaired before leaving the mainland.
He says almost £2500 worth of parts were ordered from Triumph specialist Rimmer Brothers.
‘If suppliers deliver at all to the Isles of Scilly, it normally takes three weeks to arrive. And if they’re wrong, then the cost of sending them back isn’t
usually worth it. As a result, I’ve got a barn full of parts I didn’t need!’
New Spax dampers and Canley Classics rear driveshafts were presents to himself while a new fuel tank was a necessity. The engine was treated to a rebuild with valves ground by hand, just as
Ben’s dad had taught him to do – with his original paste thinned with a little white spirit.
But on re-assembly the carbs didn’t match new throttle bodies and so Ben scoured his Triumph menagerie for possible donors. A Moss Roadster – handbuilt by Ben in his earlier days and still in storage – provided the solution.
Bodywork is Ben’s least favourite contribution to the rebuild: ‘I decided to start with the bulkhead. Both floor pans were peppered and there was a hole at the bottom of the screen frame while the door treads were shot. New floor pans arrived from China but weren’t even close to fitting. My panel beating skills are quite limited as I’m more used to a sledgehammer and anvil. So all of the Rizla-thin tin was a challenge,’ he continues.
Finders, keepers
‘My best find was at the island dump, where
I cut pre-formed metal from fridges and washing machines and then welded them on to the car. The drip channels are great and I’m quite chuffed with the way the bulkhead turned out.
The next task to receive a ‘Scilly’ approach to restoration was the paint: ‘I built a spray booth in the campsite barn. I thought I was lucky as we