Hi John, Listers,
I got to drive the first 1.8Ti SS1 at the SMMT bash at Donington in (I
think) about '85. It was great-stuck on like a leech, went quick and sounded
right. I later got an '86 1600 SS1 in Scimitar Red-and the paint stayed on.
I Improved it with AVO front dampers and an aircraft filler to stop it
regurgitating fuel. But...the CVH engine always felt rough and noisy, even
though I put in a higher ratio diff. So, I sold it.
My GTEs all had cooling and front suspension problems. The first one fell
off the jack and took off the last 1/2" of my left little finger. I drove
this car around a bit and then broke it-revenge is sweet :-) The second, a
manual SE5a was one of the few cars that made me a profit. The third , an
SE6a Auto was the best one, even if it did blow both head gaskets. I sold it
to a lad who then got busted for doing 103mph on the M6-the heads were
obviously OK then ;-). I had planned to fit a 2.9 injection V6 (Cologne),
with smart autobox. I even bought a galvanised chassis. But a certain
magazine, which shall remain nameless but whose initials are PC, stopped
using freelancers and cut off my money supply overnight. So, I had to sell
the bits-and my Mk.1 Cortina 'Woody' (unfinished) for peanuts (sob!).
Funny thing is that Scimitars-unless they are very, very smart-never fetch
any real money in this country.
BTW, I'm not sending this to the Triumph List 'cos GTEs use TR-based front
suspension, which might upset the listers.
Cheers,
Dave Hill
Can I Telework for you? See what I do, at...
http://www.angelfire.com/biz4/davtel/index.html
Troubled by a phobia? Know someone who has one? Go to...
http://www.angelfire.com/de/ukphobias/index.html
----- Original Message -----
From: <Transmancat@aol.com>
To: <mgs@autox.team.net>
Sent: Tuesday, March 28, 2000 6:14 AM
Subject: Re: Landrover Sale
> Hi Guys
> The Scimitar was one hell of a good car. I have had several of them and
If I
> could get one over here in the US I would have one again. The small
Scimitar
> called the SS1 was a good project that had a great base but lost sales due
to
> under funding and a vehicle that went out to the customer with known
faults
> before the things got to the showroom. All the panels are plastic and can
> reform there shape (within reason) after a collision. They trouble is that
> the paint would not stick to the panels either! I remember the launch of
the
> car at the Motor Show, the car on the show stand was silver and at the end
of
> each day we had to change every body panel with freshly painted ones
because
> if we left them on overnight, the paint was on the floor the next
> morning!!!!!!!!!! YES that is true folks!
>
> The final evolution of the car was what it should have been to start with
as
> it had by then got a Japanese turbocharged 1.8 and the other bugs were
ironed
> out.
>
> Fun days! I just remembered, the day the car was launched at the show it
was
> fitted with a nice cover over where the softtop was. That was because the
top
> had not been invented yet! Oh and the hard top ....Well never mind, that
can
> wait for another day.
>
> Regards,
> John J, Black
> http://www.waterloo-dtr.com
> Agents for Vicarage Jaguar
>
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