Penelope's Pitstop

by Mary James

I’d been dreaming of treating myself to a classic car for a while. I was interested in being part of a car club community, and really liked the idea of travelling to events as a group, and enjoying a picnic in the sun with friends.

  So what to go for? I’ve always loved the look of the Mark 1 Escort. I owned one back in the day, when I was about 18. By all accounts it was a very rare model, a 1300 sport, although at the time it wasn’t so sort after. I had to sell it to be able to buy another slightly newer car. If only I had kept every car I owned… Oh well, you don’t think of that at the time, plus I needed the money to buy something else.

I couldn’t afford a Mark 1 Escort, so opted for the Triumph Stag instead, as I’ve always liked the look of them. Where to start searching? 

We found a dealer in Faringdon who had numerous Stags in different states of repair. Some had been completely restored for customers and looked amazing, while others in the barn were falling to bits! There was one white 1974 Stag that looked ready to drive away. I thought to myself ‘that will be too much money’. But when we enquired, it was right in my budget!

They say not to buy the first car you see, but we didn’t want to be driving around the countryside searching for the ideal car. So we went for it!

  I’m lucky. Hubby can work on the car if necessary. I did make a point of saying it needed to be driveable. If we bought a car that needed restoration it would be stuck in the corner of his barn for ages. (Sorry, no disrespect, darling!)

The car is not immaculate. It appears to have had a restoration a number of years ago. I don’t think the paintwork is original. The main things needing to be checked were the brakes and half shafts. We made sure the car had an MOT before we bought it.

  So, hubby has changed the half shafts (drives so much better now), brakes have been changed to new discs and pads, and the tyres were replaced. 

For Christmas a year ago I was given a new wiring loom and new headlights by my husband. How romantic! They are still in the box though!

This year we are treating her to a new roof. We only have the soft top, but it is very tired. So it’s getting a refurbished frame and a brand new mohair hood. Will stick to black as I think it offsets the white really well.

And there we have it, the start of my classic car journey.