Steve & Nikki’s TR2
At the end of 2016 my Dad rang me and said, ‘there’s a chap down the pub with a TR in a lockup, would I be interested?’ It transpired the car was a 1955 TR2, the owner had bought it in 1971 and he had laid it up in the late 1980s with a view to restoring it. The engine and gearbox were out, most of the interior had disintegrated but it had matching numbers, factory hardtop and was basically complete with only four owners.
I arranged to view it and met the owner Roy at his lock up. We pumped the tyres up and wheeled it into the sunshine for the first time in over 25 years. A deal was done and arrangements made to trailer it home. When Roy gave me the original log book, he said, the first owner was Eric Brandon who was a racing driver in the 1950s.
Eric was a near neighbour of John Cooper, and collaborated to build the first Cooper 500cc Formula 3 prototype. He took part in a number of races in the mid-fifties and was an owner of the Ecurie Richmond team as well as racing is own cars in F3, a Climax-powered Halseylec.
In January 2017 I removed the remaining parts and the car was taken to AL Coachworks in Hook who started to repair the body tub; new floor, sills, boot floor and rear valance. Once the tub was stable, it was removed from the chassis, which was shot blasted and repaired. The chassis was then painted, the refurbished poly-bushed suspension components refitted before the engine, gearbox and running gear were put back. New brake and fuel lines were fitted too.
I had joined the TR Register and had a trace completed on the factory records to confirm build date, colour etc. I had sent a copy of the log book to the Mike, who recognised one of the names in the log book, the owner prior to Roy. After some internet enquiries, I found an address and sent an email. A couple of days later I got a reply along with a photo of the car from around 1969. His sister in law had bought the car from Eric, before he had sold it to Roy
In June 2018, the body was soft mineral blasted to remove the paint before being remounted on the chassis and returned to AL Coachworks for repairs and replacement outer wings. The whole car was then prepared, painted and panels refitted. The painted car was returned in October 2019 ready for the refitting……
