After some sleepless nights I have finally got hold of a Peerless Phase 1. This will be the only one in Norway, and to the best of my knowledge, the second one in Scandinavia. It's in dire need of restoration, after two previous attempts, so I'm hoping that I will be the one that finishes it. The car in question is the no.017 car currently on the for sale page. (A great, big,huge THANK YOU to the seller for finally relenting to my persistence. I have been trying to get hold of one for the better part of two yrs and finally...
I used to own a Spitfire Mk2, that I bought when I was a student. Gorgeous car, Brooklands brg, red interior, and with a rare SAH Le Mans style bonnet. For those of you who know a little about Triumph, the SAH name (now Triumphtune)should be familiar. For those who don't, it was a tuning company that prepped works cars for the Triumph team in the sixties and seventies if I remember correctly. They also made some grp bonnets and hardtops for private sales, based on the bonnets of the LeMans Spitfire coupes, with fared in headlights and side airvents. Anyway, I had to sell it because my family of two suddenly became three and I hardly used it anymore. (I'd say Roger, Gordon and Byrnes were on to something when they made 'the sportscar for the family man', as I just bought a Peerless, and sort of fit the bill- even nearly fifty yrs on.)
I first fell in love with these cars some five years ago after seeing a tiny ad in a classic car mag. It was stunning, and I'd never heard of one before, which puzzeled me since I've been keenly interrested in cars since I got my first Matchbox. Then a friend of mine printed the picture of the LeMans car in the rain, gave it to me and it's been on my wall ever since. And now I own one for real. Life is good..
Glad you've managed to become one of us nutty people who own Peerlesses ! If you want any bits, especially body try us ! I quite fancy a trip to Norway, what a good excuse ! Our telephone numbers are 01440786325, 07980806752, 07785574564. Or e-mail epona@hotmail.co.uk. best wishes Celia and Ian.
I own GT2-00013, since 1998, and only really started restoration in December 2003.
My car was in a very bad condition, and not complete.
I’ve been trying to contact the previous owner of your car several times, to ask if he could send me some pictures, to support my restoration, but somehow I didn’t get through.
Maybe we can help each other with pictures, in the future?
I haven't had time to browse through the forum for a while so this reply comes quite late. I'm sorry to tell you though, that there are more than the former Holger Udd Peerless (it's now sold to a museum and will probably newer be seen on the road again) and yours in Scandinavia. I brought a couple of them to Sweden a few years ago. One of them is a phase II in quite bad condition, that I kept for myself, and the other is a phase I that is now owned by a close friend of mine. His car is in a slightly better condition. We are planning to restore them in the near future with Le Mans 2008 in mind. There has been at least one more Peerless GT in Sweden. It was bought in Denmark and was unfortunately stripped of Triumph parts and scrapped here in Sweden, by another close friend of mine, many years ago.
Here are some pics of the Peerless that I owned, taken back in (about) 1983. The photos were taken in the rear car-park of a pub that we owned until 2007 {The Last Inn}
The pics of the Peerless with the Aston, were taken when I went to see it at the home of the guy to whom I sold it. You'll see that one of the first things that he did, was to fit wire wheels.
-- Edited by Kettlaness on Friday 24th of July 2015 08:56:30 AM
Some time ago, Jon Nolan and I went up to North Wales to look at a Peerless, 921GEH, it would probably have been spring 2000. He took these pictures of the car, in a container. I didn't buy the Peerless, it was an incomplete restoration, the chassis had been cut to remove the body, and I wasn't comfortable with taking it on.
In the end I bought and restored a blue Phase 2, from T&M classics in Didcot. They have now folded, but the restoration was finished, and after several years of incredible fun, #278 was sold, and is still in circulation somewhere.
Interestingly, the other car in the same container was Warwick #15. It was another incomplete restoration, without engine or gearbox. It was later purchased by Ken Yankey, the Doretti registrar, who eventually sold it to me. Today, complete with it's refurbished chassis and replacement engine and box, it went into the local paint shop.
It won't make it to Malvern, but I hope to be on the road before the end of the year.
The blue overalls are long gone, I accidentally set fire to them while welding the floor in, and yes, I was wearing them at the time. Have managed to loose a couple of lbs lately but mostly that's down to the doglet walking the legs off me.
A couple of recent photos attached. After seeing Pete Hudspith's car I had to go back and spend some time improving the door fit/gaps/closure. Now at least it looks like the doors are from the same car, but I'm expecting to have to fine tune it when the seal rubbers and windows are in. I'll take some more snaps later this week as it morphs into a Signal Red Warwick. After much deliberation I have finally admitted that I couldn't live with a primrose post-it note.
GEH had the body removed by cutting the tubes from dash to front turret, and dash down to side members, so under the dash the original tubes were still buried in the GRP. After chassis repair the old/new tubes were not keen to line up, so the body was just "resting" on the chassis. In the end Jon Nolan advised me to look elsewhere, and I eventually bought a Phase 2 (#278).
Yes, I will be at Malvern. I don't expect the car will make it, after I get the glass back in I still have the electrics and trim to do, and cos it's a 61 car, I still have to get an MOT test.
And I'm still looking for one front bumper if anyone going to Malvern has a spare lying around.
it's only taken 40 years but now it all falls into place!!! I did indeed take pictures of this green phase 1 in a container with big Frank in 2000 and something! If only I'd managed to glimps the 'Peerless' lettering on the boot lid!
why? Because I photographed this very car at Castle Donnington in the mid 1970's!!! When TR Internationals were just one large beer tent! I must dig out the original Polaroid!!!
have fun at Malvern won't you. I can't face another year without a car. Pretty pointles.