One advantage of rising classic car prices

It allows for proper restorations costs. When we received a call about this little Frogeye Sprite, normally it would be split for parts, as restoration cost would exceed the value however its now feasible to preserve & restore,these little gems. Barn Find. Over 40 years in storage due to a failed mot. (note the original steel bonnet-above) The restoration and preservation starts at Border Reivers (below)

The Austin Healey Sprite MK1 in our paintshop (Dec 2015) after a Border Reivers Restoration back to the original specification .

 

Some history on 5202 RO

Hi Tom

In about 1969 Lynne, then Lynne Dennis, was left some money by an aunt.
She had just started driving and wanted to buy a car she “wouldn’t
loose money on”.
We lived at 100 The Broadway Wimbledon SW19 1RH. I saw 5202 RO in the
road running behind the Broadway, which was South Park Road.
By chance I noticed it was up for sale with 2 months tax left but no
MOT. I asked a pal of mine Dave Flower who at that time ran a general
motor car repair business in Russel Road. He had recently been granted
registered Leyland Heritage status for his work restoring MGB and
MGC’s and of course Midgets. He gave 5202 RO the once over and said it
was easily sorted for its MOT. We paid £120 for her first and only
open top sports car.

We spent 2 months on the engine and brakes plus a bit of floor welding.
The hand brake was a challenge! New pins in the rods..no luck…drilled
out the rods and using oversize pins helped but the mechanical movement
against the back plate against the brake shoes just wasn’t having any of
it. Not sure how we got round it but I do recall fitting a new hand
brake cable and putting a tension in the cable to reduce the slack. It
passed the MOT.

Lynne used the car on a daily basis for 2 years until she bought a
Triumph 2000 (off Dave my pal with the garage). She was once following
me in my Volvo 245 estate. I felt a thump on my back bumper looked in
the rear view mirror and saw nothing! Turns out she was following me up
a hump back bridge hit my car but the height of her car on the down
side of the hump made her invisible in my mirror. No damage was suffered
but we decided to get her a ‘bigger car’.

I once borrowed 5202 RO just for a fun drive I was trundling up to a
cross road applied the foot brake and shot across the road with only a
marginal reduction in speed. Shaking like a leaf I asked Lynne if she
had noticed the same problem. ‘O yes’ she said you have to pump the
peddle a bit if you want to stop fully…..that was the day 5202 RO
went into ‘rest’ until I had time to sort the brakes….I never did get
around to it hence the sale after almost 40 years of being off the road
🙁

We were advised the link pins and king pins would need reaming out for
the next MOT. I have since been told high pressure grease guns can
force the old dry grease out and replacements are not always necessary.

I had always intended to get 5202 RO up and running. The car had been
in a garage for 28 years at on average £900 per year garage rent so
£25,200 later we lost the garage to building developers.

We would love to see 5202 RO up and running so when she is perhaps we
can come up and see her again.?

Best regards
Stephen