One advantage of rising classic car prices

December 17, 2015
spriteasfound 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.spriteasis Barn Find. Over 40 years in storage due to a failed mot. (note the original steel bonnet-above)sprite RO The restoration and preservation starts at Border Reivers (below)unnamed unnamed-10 unnamed-5

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

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angle2EINE REISE NACH SCHOTTLANDPorsche 356 A Bj. 1959 - sehr guter Zustand, für Rennen aufgebaut!Anzeige gefunden, sofort in das Auto verliebt - Anbieter Border Reivers?? Wo- Schottland?? Also, einen Flug gebucht nach Edinburgh und kurzer Hand auf die Insel geflogen.Ganz idyllisch ein Stück hinter Glasgow an einem See gelegen hat sich die Firma "Border Reivers" versteckt und auf hochwertige Autos spezialisiert.Der Inhaber - Tom Fitzsimmons ist mehr als freundlich uns hilfsbereit und versucht seinen Kunden fast jeden Wunsch von den Augen abzulesen, hat uns spät nachts noch zum Essen ausgeführt und kurz vor Mitternacht nach zurück nach Glasgow gefahren. Wir konnten in einer blitzsauberen Halle das Objekt der Begierde in aller Ruhe inspizieren (und alle anderen Auto's auch noch) und durften danach eine Probefahrt durch die Highlands absolvieren.Sämtliche Sonderwünsche und Umbauten wurden durch Border Reivers noch erledigt und gegen Entgelt wurde der Wagen noch bis vor die Haustüre in Deutschland geliefert. Ein wirklich perfekter und freundlicher Service der nicht selbstverständlich ist.Many thanks Tom, it was great to make business with you!Thomas Eder aus Bayern Thomas Eder Racing his Porsche at the Nurburgring(Translated below)A TRIP TO SCOTLAND to veiw a 1959 Porsche 356A - Very good condition, built for racing!  As per the add, I fell in love with the car which was offered by Border Reivers, So a flight booked flown to  Scotland. Quite a bit away from idyllic Glasgow situated on a lake,is where the company "Border Reivers" hides and specializes in high quality cars. The owner - Tom Fitzsimmons is more than friendly to us and very helpful. Caters to his customers every whim. He gave us late night run to Glasgow for a meat, shortly before midnight after back after it. We were in a spotless showroom, full of the objects of desire. He gave us peace to inspect and allowed us to undergo a test drive through the highlands afterwards. We agreed the purchase and some special requests and modifications to be carried out which were done by Border Reivers. We paid for the car and it was delivered to our doorstep in Munich, Germany in a covered transporter. A truly perfect and friendly service which is not self-evident. Many thanks Tom, it was great to do business with you!ThomasEder aus BayernThomas Eder Racing his Porsche at the Nurburgring 

Thomas Eder (Germany)