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No wonder cars are written off so quickly, that's a lot of labour to repair hence large costs..  Are you aiming to get it written off and then buy it back? It does seem a terrible waste not to get it back on the road..... we have this push to go green and buy new but nothing to support reusing and repairing what we already have, but that's capitalism at its worse.....  ;(  

It's a very slow moving thread, for a whole host of reasons, but this is the rebuild of my Mk1 2000 using a fair number of Lloyd's panels. I will say that the quality of the panels he has made is top notch, Chic (of Chic Doig, Triumph garage here in Scotland) has been impressed in how little fettling is needed to get a good fit. Phil

Surprised about the amount of suspension damage….. Otherwise the front ends of modern (and modernish) car are incredibly “soft”. Audi used to supply headlight repair kits to restore the mounting points B that were invariably broken in the most trivial mishaps.

Assume this is a column switch rather than on the gear knob? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/191425887969?_ul=GB&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338365712&toolid=20006&customid=CjwKCAiAtq_NBhA_EiwA78nNWFYMPOMxM4B7o2QP-qHcRKh3kVQSpEQjj_X8MWhUD4d955GsgwKL1xoC0_8QAvD_BwE|0AAAAA9SEzLPxx7i1rsUcoY_S6uqJPFC8Y|null&gclid=CjwKCAiAtq_NBhA_EiwA78nNWFYMPOMxM4B7o2QP-qHcRKh3kVQSpEQjj_X8MWhUD4d955GsgwKL1xoC0_8QAvD_BwE&gbraid=0AAAAA9SEzLPxx7i1rsUcoY_S6uqJPFC8Y&loc_physical_ms=9045690&adtype=pla   Possibly not this one, though it does seem to be what Triumph were using in period…. My experience with switches in general from that era is that they usually be dismantled with a bit of care and mucky contacts clean up fine if not really cooked. Mechanical defects may be harder to sort.

So as I posted in the other thread, collision at a speed of at most 20mph, but result is: Both headlights broken. Bumper distorted and cracked in both corners. Front left wing badly crumpled. Front left suspension partial collapse. (more on this later). Basically, someone pulled out on me without warning, and this deflected me into a parked car, hence the damage on both sides. Nobody was injured. I arranged my own recovery to my home to make sure the car didn't go off to a salvage yard never to be seen again. Other driver's insurance admitted liability the next day (but I don't have that in writing yet). My car was written off as soon as I reported the incident. Since its written off and I accepted their valuation (but didn't receive payment), they told me I'm not eligible for a hire car (policy is fully comp.). On the other hand, I'm led to believe keeping the claim lean is best for future premiums? Either way, I'm left trying to sort this out and using the Standard for everything (almost 150 miles so far!), while no doubt, the person who caused this has a courtesy car as their car was only a few years old. The most obvious thing broken was the alloy lower wishbone, which had fractured after being bent a surprising amount. This didn't worry me that much, as I'd heard of them fracturing on hard pot hole impacts esp. once 10+ years old, and this one was original. The anti-roll bar drop link was visibly bent too, again not really concerning. The "tension strut" that resists braking force and laterally locates the wheel seemed to have sustained damage to its hydraulic bushing, which was leaking. I also separated the track rod end from the upright and rotated it to check it for bending, but it all seems straight. Wheel that was hit is obviously quite out of true, bearing seems okay, rotates smoothly and no play. No signs of damage or movement of the subframe either, or to the upright. At first I thought this was all that was wrong. Since the arms and links were all original and had over 100k miles on them, I decided to just change the lot on both sides. But after doing so, I could tell something wasn't right once I dropped the car back onto its wheels. Camber was way out on the passenger side. Looking again I found that the top mount had shifted inwards all the way to the end of the adjustment slots, and the factory camber locating pin had sheared off (circled). Removed the nuts, fortunately no tearing of the metal or signs of force or distortion to the tower. But even that wasn't all, checking clearance between the wheel and shock, it was very close on the damaged side, so I wrestled the shock out, and then it was quite easy to see it was bent although only slightly (1-2 deg). This was more surprising, given the low speed of the collision, one would expect it takes serious force to bend a tube of this diameter. So like the arms, I decided it's best just to replace both sides, which is a bit expensive, but I had already done the rears a little over a year back as they started to become a bit floaty. Hopefully it will at least drive like a new car? Replacement parts required so far: 2x used headlights. Used passenger side wing - currently rust treating and touching up the inside arch with paint to stop it bubbling through in a few years. Used passenger side wheel arch liners. New front suspension kit. 2x new top mounts. 2x new shock absorbers. 2x new springs and rubber cups. Wheels and tyres, but these were planned already, eventually. More than I expected, given it didn't look that bad at first, and I still need to find a bumper and investigate behind it. The devil is really in the detail with this stuff, the way the forces have been transferred are completely unpredictable despite being low speed, the direct hit to the wheel has no doubt made all this more painful. Some more irony in this, I learned on Monday that my car has been recalled due to being fitted with a Takata air bag, so that could have been fun if it had gone off.  

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! I'd always assumed that all the 2000s sold in North America were saloons - however, a Mk1 estate came up for sale in California last year that made me reconsider. It's possible that it could have been brought over privately, but LHD, a MPH speedo, and clear front indicator lenses suggested that it might have been a genuine US-market car. It was in very sorry state though, rotten through and through with a very manky interior, clearly had been off the road for decades. I'm aware of a few 2000s still on the road over here, but I've never seen another one in person. Between keeping the 2000 and the 405 on the road, I've become a firm believer in parts-hoarding at every opportunity. Funny how they were both well-liked cars in the UK, but largely-forgotten sales failures Stateside. Same story with the Rover SD1 I suppose. I've avoided the temptation of finding one of those over here, but I owned a Series 2 V8 back in New Zealand and have a real soft spot for them. There seems to be a pattern here, is it possible that I'm a glutton for punishment? Parts-wise, I've managed better than I anticipated, figuring out interchange with the TRs and occasionally making lucky finds. A local chap who had dismantled a US-spec 2000 to put its automatic transmission into a TR (!!!), gave me the bumpers, engine and glass from it just to get them out of his garage! Sadly the rest of the car was long gone, but some parts are better than none. Some stuff can't be had though - annoyingly, despite GT6s being sold here, nobody in the US seems to sell gasket sets for early-style 2-litre heads, or bits for original-style Stromberg CD-150s (not CDS or CDSE). So there have definitely been a few orders to Chris Witor and Rimmer Bros. over the years. Unfortunately with recent geopolitical developments, getting parts shipped over here has become a LOT more expensive and inconvenient, but I've brought parts home in my suitcase from overseas holidays before, and I will surely do so again. The sheet metal situation is a real relief - I knew a few reproduction pieces were available, but I wasn't aware how comprehensive Lloyd Reed's range was. Having never seen road salt and been garaged all its life, the bodywork has fared better than most, but it's far from rust-free. I've never welded before, but I treated myself to a little MIG setup recently, and the idea behind the VW van project is that I can make a real dogs' breakfast of it as I learn to patch it up, and then use that practice to hopefully do a better job of the Triumph. I don't think I'll ever 'restore' it in the traditional sense - its various dents and scrapes are all part of its story, and they mean I can be unafraid to use it as a practical vehicle without being precious about it. My aim is more to preserve it, keep it usable and practical while hopefully making some improvements along the way. Getting it to the point where I could trust it on a proper long-distance adventure would be the dream. Right now my white whale parts-wise is an overdrive switch - I'm told that it's been dodgy since the car was new and these days it drops out of its 'on' detent if you so much as look at a bump in the road. Not pleasant for transmission OR driver - especially given the appalling state of the roads around here. Every one I've seen for sale has been eye-wateringly expensive, though, so I might just have to grit my teeth and bodge in a toggle switch somewhere like the old-banger 2000s that I remember from my youth. If anyone has any experience of rebuilding one, or cobbling together a replacement from a more readily-available type of column switch, I'm all ears. I've been meaning to investigate it further myself but it seems like a bit of a major disassembly job to get to the switch. The weather and road conditions here aren't very amenable to getting it out just yet - snow in the forecast this week, and the road outside is so heavily salted that there's a visible white crust on it. But when the time comes I'll definitely start a thread in the appropriate spot and start documenting my progress!

Hi Richard, another lost kiwi on the forum, I have been in France for the last 24 years, I also learnt to drive in a big triumph my dads 2,5 TC saloon and thanks to his influence I have been a triumph addict since the age of 14. I love the lived in look of your cars, all the best for the refresh of the wagon

Also Lloyd Reed in Wales, he has gone above and beyond in making a lot of the body panels again that have been unobtainable for many years. (Indeed he supplies most of the panels all the usual suspects now sell).

Just received a pair of rear Yokohama Advan 275 for the BMW . Purchased from Black Circles and here with in 24H . Not needed yet but no tyre centres seems to stock them so worth keeping  .

Maybe I'll have a look next winter!