TRIUMPH 2500TC
It’s been a funny old year and, like for so many of you, my enjoyment of classics has taken a back seat as events have been cancelled and trips have fallen by the wayside. In June my wife and I had planned an epic adventure in the Triumph, taking the ferry to Bilbao and touring northern Spain, stopping in San Sebastián, Alquézar and Barcelona before hopping on the ferry to Ibiza and returning to Santander via Valencia. The trip was eventually called off amid strict travel restrictions, but the weeks spent working from home – and the hours saved from my commute across London – meant that I had a lot more time to fettle the car in anticipation of the adventure.
The Triumph’s seatbelts have been both a bone of contention and a cause for concern since I bought the car in 2017. As well as being mismatched, with a later Securon replacement on the driver’s side and the original, damaged unit on the other, every time a passenger was brave enough to come for a ride they would reach their destination with a grubby brown streak across their shirt. Time and time again it only occurred to me to give a word of warning after they looked down in horror at the newly laid Canley skidmark. I sourced a new set from Rimmer Bros and fitting them was a doddle. As well as giving peace of mind, the webbing no longer leaves its mark on family and friends.
Another ongoing niggle has been the door and boot seals, which weren’t changed when the car was repainted. Each one had burnt and melted, no longer providing an effective seal to the point where you could see daylight when the doors were closed.
I’d heard it was a pig of a job and it didn’t disappoint: fitting was a fairly simple process that I perfected using a bicycle inner-tube tool, but it took hours forcing the rubber into the metal channel. By the time I’d finished the final door my lower back was in pieces and my thumbs and palms in agony. Thankfully the boot seal was easier, particularly because I returned it to how it was from the factory, with the rubber pressed on to the boot aperture: earlier cars had the seal glued to the bootlid instead, so I suspect it had been a replacement part cannibalised from another car in the past.
While the saloon was in dry dock having the engine rebuilt last year I had a crack at wiring in a new set of speakers and a Bluetooth stereo, but I’d obviously done something wrong because there wasn’t even a flicker when I turned the ignition on. Incredibly frustrating, if not unsurprising. I ended up admitting defeat and taking the car to A&A Auto Electrical in Croydon, and after just a couple of hours owner Steve Stovell had traced the problem to a faulty clock. The car is too loud to hear much when on the move, but it’s something – the cigar lighter and horn now work, too.
Along with the bigger bits and pieces, I also managed to sort some minor irritations. The lock spindles on each door now sit at the same height and are uniform thanks to the ever-helpful Chris Witor, and the manky, moth-eaten boot liner has been replaced by a new-oldstock carpet that TR Shop London had tucked away in a back room. I just wish I had more of a chance to show off the fruits of my labour before the summer drew to a close.
THANKS TO
Δ A&A Auto Electrical: www.a-aautoelectrical.com Δ Chris Witor: www.chriswitor.com