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Hi from Tasmania, Australia

Posted: July 29th, 2017, 11:16 pm
by steveh
Hello all,

I'm Steve and my first car (back in '74) was a second-hand LT '72 flat light TA22. Here, the ST and GT were special orders, or private imports.

It was painted Scandanavian Sky and had a full Ivory colour vinyl roof. I was a little confused by this later as it seems the Scanda colour was only available for the North American market. It my research time since, I have never seen another one this colour advertised here, or any colour with a vinyl roof.

I had a nostalgia moment a couple of years back and decided to start looking for a TA22 to buy. It didn't take long to realise that pre '73 models, now, are not in abundance here, and any 1st generation ones not always in the best of condition!

It took about 6 months before I found a '73 that wasn't in too bad a state but did need fabrication work in some of the usual spots (rear arches, lower sill panels and the rear corner of the drivers side roof). It had, had, some obvious knocks in its time that weren't repaired well (left hand front guard and drivers door). That was how it looked at the time anyway. Once the shell was blasted, more problems came to light, but I guess I am not alone in that experience. A previous owner had replaced the 2T with a 2T-G and I considered that a plus. The overall mechanical state of the car was quite good, it started and was driveable. The twin Solex carbs were rebuilt due to perished internals, and it needed new tie rods and bushings all round.

Long story short with the body work is that the guy who did the repairs did not do a great job. Even though he was recommended to me, the (expensive) lesson learned is that don't give a modern day panel shop your car for restoration work. If you can't fabricate your own pieces, find someone that has the trade and skill to do it properly.
The car is now having a ''real'' fabricator redo the poorly done work and completing the areas that the previous guy missed all together.

It is likely to be another 4 or so months before it comes home and then I will be putting it all back together. It will be painted in Scanda Sky, but no vinyl roof. I have a set of used flat lights that I bought over a year ago, and 5 steel GT rims, with dress rings, from Japan.

The only modifications I'm planning are a slight lowering of the ride height, and adding the GT centre console (purchased from forum member in Canada). Once finished I will keep it for a few years and enjoy it while I can still change gears manually.

The best to those reading the post.

31 July - added photos after the first round of body work and the engine re-installed.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/157384634 ... ateposted/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/157384634 ... ateposted/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/157384634 ... otostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/157384634 ... otostream/

Steve

Re: Hi from Tasmania, Australia

Posted: July 30th, 2017, 2:48 pm
by ra21fred
Hey Steve, welcome to the forum! Glad you made it!! :cheers:

Re: Hi from Tasmania, Australia

Posted: July 30th, 2017, 4:26 pm
by steveh
ra21fred wrote:Hey Steve, welcome to the forum! Glad you made it!! :cheers:
Thank you Fred. I tried to find you in the Members list but I see you use a different sign-in name.

I've had a quick look around the posts and came across one where a member removed the console, and dash wood-grain and did a black finish. I can see your thinking now, it does look good.
Some great information available here.

Regards and all the best.
Steve

Re: Hi from Tasmania, Australia

Posted: July 31st, 2017, 12:57 pm
by ra21fred
Yes, definitely a ton of info here. Some of it not quite as useful as it could be with the issues with Photobucket. Traffic is down a little as well, likely due to Facebook, but still a great forum. Great people and none of the drama you see far too often on other forums.

Re: Hi from Tasmania, Australia

Posted: July 31st, 2017, 7:24 pm
by neil reid
x2 with Fred. No fear asking questions here! I've started to use Imgur for pics now but still learning.

Welcome to the forum

Neil

Re: Hi from Tasmania, Australia

Posted: July 31st, 2017, 11:17 pm
by steveh
Thank you Neil.

I called in to the workshop today. Good progress being made given that the new restoration shop wanted to block the whole car, just to make sure that previous repairs done weren't hiding anything.
Nothing major discovered, thankfully.

The lower sills were being removed and I'm glad I made that call. Plenty of surface rust inside them so only a matter of time before that would have started making an appearance.

Cheers,
Steve