What car?

[badhuis]

There is a big empty spot in my garage. I am unsure as to decide what car should take it.

#1. The 2000 Mk1 overdrive.
I bought this car in 1999 and used it for four years as the daily car. Installed a LPG system, installed hardened valve seats in the cylinder head. Then I found out it was rusting quite badly, especially at the rear wheel arches where chunks of filler were falling out. So much for the “rust free” before it was sprayed as told by the PO. It hurted because the car was in quite good nick at the time and I had paid a fair amount of money for it. As rear wheel arches or rear wings were almost impossible to find, the car was parked at the other end of the shed waiting for better times.
Week needed: both rear wheel arches inside and out. Probably edges of the boot floor, maybe more. Mechanically should be OKish, bearing in mind the engine has not been running for 15 years. So brakes / clutch hydraulics will need to be checked / overhauled. Oh and I need two good driveshafts for it. The PO had Datsun driveshafts on it which I used later on my 2500 Mk2 (which has been sold years ago). 
Paint is still pretty reasonable (apart from the rear wings), chrome okay.
Plan would be to get the rust sorted and mechanically good condition.

#2. The Stag 4 speed.
I bought this one unseen on Ebay USA four years ago, just a few pics of the car in a garage buried under empty boxes, loose seats etc. I emailed the seller and got honest descriptions of the car. I am sure the bad pictures put most people off, I won the auction for an absolute minimum of money. Just before the auction the seller had sold the Edelbrock carb he had used on the car, the two Strombergs are there but in parts. There is a tiny bit of rust here and there, nothing major. There is some transport damage though, I bought a new front valance (which was rotten at the bottom, the worst panel on the car) and bottom front wing corners which need to be welded in. It has new brakes all round, a new radiator and the wheels had been reconditioned with new tyres. Softtop was missing but I found one, hardtop is rust free but in another colour. Seats are quite bad, needs foams and the vinyl has rips. I bought a black interior cheap which has better seats but am not sure yet if I should install that. Also got other parts for it (windscreen chrome, grille badge).
According to the PO the engine was running good a few years ago but that is a gamble of course. It does not seem to need much work mechanically but there is more work to the interior (all apart) and dashboard. And should I try to fit the saloon J-type OD I have somewhere?
Has had a respray 25 years ago, is flat and tired, chrome would be okay for a drivers car.
Plan would be to get it up and running, then decide what to do regarding paint. 

#3. The GT6+ 4 speed.
Same as the Stag, bought unseen in the USA three years ago very cheap. This car needs the most work. Floors are gone, but there are new floors with the car. One sill has been renewed, the other is new but needs welding in. The LH rear wing has a dent, needs repair or replacing. No or little rust anywhere else. Unsure about it mechanically, it is all there. Interior is in boxes, but the seats are free of rips but will need new foams. Would it be a better choice to put the OD in this car?
Plan to get it up and running, it will need paint and new door and screen rubbers all round .

I have never completely restored a car from the ground up. My TR4 (owned for 24 years) has had a respray but has not been taken apart. I am not a big fan of totally restored cars, they look good but I always see faults. Unrestored cars have faults too, often much more but there it is more acceptable (to me). 
So, a total restoration will be out. The GT6 needs most but even that will not be 
 
Would love to get the Stag running and see if I like it enough to keep it. Same for the GT6.  

So, what car to take?
 

[GT6MK3]

Definitely the GT6

[RedRooster]

GT6.

[thebrookster]

MK1 2000, and as a plus on that front most of the previously unobtainable panels are now in fact available from Lloyd Reed in Cardiff, who has done some remarkable work remaking accurate tooling presses for them!

[Sprint95m]

The 2000.

[MennoR]

Welcome here. Or better: 'Welkom!'

Given the fact that you've never done a ground-up resto and that you know the 2000 in and out, I would say: go for the 2000. Bring the GT6 to Arthur Denzler or Geert Timmer for a full resto (chequebook resto) and try to get the Stag in driveable condition.

Menno

[badhuis]

Thanks for the reactions!

2000: I already bought outer and inner rear wings from Lloyd... seeing they were available I had to snap them up, was one of the first to get them I believe.

The fact that I know the 2000 well is true. I owned a great 2000 Mk2 in the early 90s for a couple of years, a 2500 Mk2 in the mid 00s and of course my father had a 2500TC in the early 80s which I borrowed as much as I could (and spending far too much on petrol for a poor student). But knowing it so well also puts me off a little bit as I am quite eager to find out how the GT6 is or the Stag. So, it will either be the GT6 or the Stag.

Sending off cars to someone else to restore will never happen! I will do most of the work myself as I have always done. I admire a good restoration when I see it but I prefer to keep as much as original as possible. The old saying - it is only original once. For example for my TR4 years ago I bought new "lift the dot" pins and a dash grab handle. Have not fitted either because the new LTD pins do not have have the "lift the dot" inscription and they are made of thinner material, the grab handle vinyl has a much finer grain to the vinyl compared to original more coarse grain. I would have to replace all the vinyl bits around the dash to match the new and I don't want that. I have had just too much experiences with new replacements being made different or inferior to original that I prefer to keep the originals as much as possible. But, keeping old parts means it will never look as shiny as new (in the case of the LTD pins) which I do not care (but know many do as most people prefer shiny and new). 

The Stag "just" needs getting it running and a bit of welding, and it is already in my garage (buried away under parts etc) so I the possibility that this will be the one to start with is biggest.  

 

 

[Nick Jones]

How can you choose.... it's just a matter of deciding which to do first.  The 2000 is a car you could use every day for family purposes.  The Stag too, if no more than 4 in the family with two being very short.  The GT6...... that's clearly the fun car

[badhuis]

So true Nick. It is not a choice really as they all will be done in time.

None are needed as a "family" car in the future (the Mk1 was our family car 1999-2003). Both children live on their own now, my wife and I do not need a daily car for work or whatever. So it will always be an extra car in the sense that I will always take one of the stable (Imp, Jensen, TR) when I need a car - always have done and always will. Except if it is raining or snowing! 

[oldtuckunder]

I think you need to draw a graph with height and age on it and the saloons at one end and and the GT6 the other, and then plot where you fit!

At a tad over 60 and a tad over 6ft I have just discovered that whilst I can just wind my self into the new Spitfire, and with judicious use of Vaseline and shoe horns get out, and competition wise the seating position isn't too bad for a short period of time., it has convinced me that neither a Spitfire or GT6 would now be a good road car for me!

Alan (no longer the India Rubber Man)

[badhuis]

Ha ha. Early nineties, my brother and I went to a classic car dealer who had a GT6 Mk1 for sale. I only just fitted in the car, my brother not. I am 185 cm (6'1") my brother is a couple of cms taller. So no problems   Pity about that GT6, it was a genuine Dutch new delivered example but far too expensive for what it was (rusty and crumbly).

Decision has been made: it will be the Stag. Because it already is in the garage (and not the shed where the others are).