The Scimitar was a great motor, had a rebuilt mildly tuned 3.1 litre V6 when I bought it but you had to watch it on a wet road.
Back to the Gloria, I inherited it after my father died in 2003 and decided to get it back on the road in his memory.
I joined the Pre 1940 Triumph Owners Club and discovered that they were getting hard to find essential components re-manufactured and were reconditioning brake master and wheel cylinders by boring them out and pressing in stainless steel sleeves and reassembling with new seals and springs.
Having sold the Scimitar in 2005 there was some spare cash available and I spent most of it on new shiny bits for the Gloria - master cylinder, 4 wheel cylinders, 8 brake shoes, new front and rear splined hubs with new spinners, new wheel bearings, new water pump, new water manifold, new head gasket and a reconditioned steering box.
First on was the master cylinder
I then fitted new wheel bearings and the splined hubs followed by the wheel cylinders and brake shoes to the back axle and thought I would give the inner wheel arches a bit of clean and maybe a coat of paint while I had the wheels off.
As we all know, that is the moment you find all of the horrors hiding under the mud and grime
I had that sinking feeling and thought that this just might be the end of the old car.
I decided to dig a bit further by removing the boot lid for a better look and it just got worse
The wooden body support to the chassis was sinking, the plywood boot floor was warped and separating and the boot hinge brackets were nearly falling away and any exposed timber that I prodded seemed to be rotten.
A few rums and fags later it became obvious that what was going to be a fairly straightforward mechanical 'restoration' had turned in to a nightmare and was going to need a lot of time and thought or professional help was needed.
In the end it was decided that this was to become a retirement project for 2011 as it was going to need all my concentration and a hell of a lot of time.