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CA5402 came into existence on 11 January 1966 when the factory received the order (Personal export delivery)to build a TR4A for a Mr A Belford of Sea Point. Date despatched: 10 March 1966.
The details of the car were: Chassis number CTC 64482; engine number CT/64549-E; body number 63837/CTR;Specification RHD Export; colour - exterior Signal Red; Trim: Black [Ambla]; Black hardtop (Surrey top). Equipment: Wire wheels, Independent rear suspension and Michelin X 165-15 Whitewall tyres.
The car was registered in Britain as HHP 92D - Coventry.
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The car arrived in Cape Town in March and was registered as CA5402 in the same month.
Mr Belford stayed in Cape Town for approximately two years. During his stay the vehicle was involved in a severe front end smash. The damage was repaired by Cape Body and Steel which at that time was a leading (?????) motor repair shop; The quality of their work became apparent when I carried out my second rebuild after my retirement.
Mr Belford left the car in the care of his father when he left South Africa. Mr Belford senior used the car occasionally when visiting the golf course.
The person from whom I bought it then saw the car. (I cannot recall his name.) He nagged Mr Belford until he agreed to sell it to him.
Mr X then had the car oversprayed a plum colour, fitted air horns and a second rate wood rimmed steering wheel.
In the small hours of a Sunday morning, after a party, he drove along Highlevel Road in the direction of Cape Town and tried to turn into Ocean View Drive. As the steering was very heavy (damage to the steering which during its repair by Cape Body and Steel had been ignored) he could not make the turn and crashed into four cars parked half on the pavement. A SAAB, which had been rebuilt, and roadworthied on the previous Friday was written off and the other three severely damaged.
The left front suspension turret was torn from the chassis by the impact and the wheel lodged on its side under the car. The car was then driven in reverse to the Sea Point end of Highlevel Road and locked in its garage.
The car was advertised in the Saturday Argus during October, November and December 1974. As having slight accident damage.
At that stage I had my hands full with several rebuilds - my son's TR3; my MGB; a TR3A and an MGA coupe and did not feel like adding to my load.
However, when the advertisement was repeated early in January my curiosity got the better of me and I telephoned the owner. I explained my desire to see but not to buy the wreck. The owner invited me to visit him on the Sunday morning with a view to obtaining my advice on how to tackle the repair. A fatal mistake.
When arrived I was shown into the garage. My first sight was a three-quarter-rear view of the wreck - I was sold - I just had to have it.
After a bit of haggling I bought it for R400.00 and had it towed home at a cost of R7.50.
After photographing the vehicle I set about stripping it over the weekend. On the Monday I took the chassis to be repaired. It was returned by the Friday of the same week.
The body required extensive repair - the bonnet was crumpled, the left front wing was folded back upon itself and had three tears radiating from the wheel arch.
I obtained the services of a panel beater/spraypainter who worked in my garage in the evenings and over weekends.
The bonnet, front valance and bumper together with the bumper irons were beyond repair and had to be discarded. As luck would have I was able to obtain replacements from one Mike Allan who had salvaged these parts from a TR4 which he had undertaken to repair but found to be irreparable.
Within five months and two days of purchase the car was presented, looking like new, for a roadworthy test which it passed with flying colours. In fact the examiner could not believe that it was the same vehicle as that on the photographs.
The car then became my working car for twelve years. For a reason which I could not determine the steering was very heavy and the wheels would not self-centre.
When I retired the car had done a genuine 150000 miles during which time the engine and gearbox had not been touched but the body was badly rusted. I decided to carry another rebuild.
I called on every reputable panel shop in the Peninsula but could not find one, which was prepared to tackle the bodywork.
In desperation I decided to learn to weld and tackle the job myself. I approached a semi-retired panel beater to act as a consultant whilst carrying out the work. He agreed to come around on a Sunday to evaluate the situation.
At the end of his visit he asked me how soon I could obtain a gas welding set. I replied "tomorrow". He agreed to do the work for me. I was delighted as he had repaired an MGB for me a few years previously
A friend lent me a wheeled frame to carry the body during repairs and a steel table to support the engine. The chassis and the suspension parts were grit-blasted and primed with Durathane K. The body repairs went well with all the rust cut out and new plates fashioned and fitted. A few years earlier I had bought a job-lot of spares, which included amongst other things a new left front wing and the stainless steel trim strip, from the Triumph agents. When we offered up the wing we found that it was four centimetres too long. On closer examination we found that when the original body damage was repaired the inner panel had not been straightened. This was corrected and the new wing fitted.
On examination the outer casing of the steering rack was found to have a dent caused by the original accident which bore on the rack causing it to move with difficulty. The cause of the heavy steering. Fortunately amongst the job-lot of spares were several new steering racks.
The panel repairs had been done so well that there was hardly any body filler on the car. After spray painting it in the original colour scheme it looked really good. After a few years the paint started to crack. When the body was stripped prior to repainting we found that the spray painters had laid on thick layers of body filler - six millimetres thick in parts. This was stripped to bare metal and then painted with a two-pack paint. Except for the rear shock absorbers the car has not been modified in any way. The specification is as per factory build record although the tyres are black walled.
Although thirty seven years old the Lady in Red looks magnificent..
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Chris's TR7 used to look like this:
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Unfortunately, on 27th January 2003, Chris and the car were
involved in an accident. Thankfully Chris was not seriously
hurt, but the car now looks like this:
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Unable to bear being without the now written off TR7, Chris has
bought Mike Napoli's white one, so this story has a happy
ending!
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