The 'E' Type Forum

Hi all,
nice to meet you. Hope all of you are being well and staying safe.
My name is Nassos and I live in Athens, Greece.
I am a classic cars enthusiast but my field is surely the British machines.
My story with classics started 20 years ago when I purchased my 1st classic car (although I remember myself -from my teens- always being a classic cars lover who was dreaming the day he could lay his hands over a beautiful body of an old British car.)
My 1st classic has been a '66 Triumph Spitfire Mk2 RHD which I bought in England 20y ago, exported to Greece and restored it though strict factory standards. (I still have this car and as you can imagine, I could never part with it.)
Then many other classics came to my possession .A long story. Some of them are not with me so far, but I am still keeping a small batch in my garage. Some of them are running projects but most are either full restored or under the process of a bolt & nut restoration.
Extra to the Mk2 Spit, I also own a Triumph GT6 Mk1 '67 which is also RHD, and is currently under full resto. Hope to have it back on the road by the Q1 2021, fingers crossed.
Other cars in my garage a Jaguar 240 '67, VW T2 bus '73, Ford Transit Mk1 bus '70, Fiat 500L '72, Citroen 2CV Charleston '81.
Next acquisition will be a S1 FHC etype. Thus I thought this forum would be the best place to enable me sourcing some good knowledge about them.
Glad to meet you guys.
best wishes and take care
Nassos

Hi Nassos, and welcome to the forum. Plenty of info on here to help you.

Hi Nassos and welcome.
I have a bit of history with Triumphs as well, my first classic back in 1990 was a 67 Tr4a, followed by a 55 Tr2. Great cars.
If you are contemplating a 3.8 FHC, then consider upgrading the brakes and cooling system - particularly given the temperatures in Greece!
There is a buyers guide on the forum, but it sounds like you know your way around classics and restorations in general and the same rules apply to E Types. Check that the heritage cert matches the numbers on the car (or if not, you are sure that the major components are correct for the model) and unless you really enjoy welding & fabrication, buy the best car bodywork-wise you can afford!
Look forward to seeing how you get on.

Many thanks Richard for your warm welcome.
Although I prefer the 3.8 early cars (as most of the etype enthusiasts i rekon) the 4.2 looks like suits better my needs, so a 4.2 is an option as well.

What is important to me (I think) is the car to carry the factory color scheme appearing on the Jaguar heritage cert. Unfortunately my budget is limited to 5digits, but on the other hand i dont mind, as it was never my intention to look for a show car. A nice car in original specs even with some patina would be ideal for me. Probably an older resto which may has been well maintained thereafter....

To be honest quite a few dilemmas at the moment...
Should I go for the best car I can afford, with this meaning I will have to spend all of my budget for classics, or to go for a complete car which needs restoration?
Of course I understand that such resto could cost a lot more than buying a "ready to enjoy" example. And to be honest, I am fed up with restorations. But on the other hand such resto will cost much less money in Greece than in any England, Germany or United States for example. So this is something I should seriously consider.

The covid situation doesn't help a lot, as it makes too difficult for me to travel abroad and inspect any of the cars looks interesting to me. But surely I wont buy unless i send someone to have a physical inspection of the car I am about to buy.

Recently I had a bad experience with a guy from Denmark trying to sell me a car which he didnt have in his possession. The car had been auctioned through BaT at an earlier stage, so he had a lot of pictures and videos to send me. Hopefully a good friend of mine, who is an Etype expert, realized the fraud and guided me accly.

Anyway, I am pretty sure that sooner or later I will be lucky to find the car which fits me best. Need to decide first if this should be a "ready to enjoy" car or a project.

Things would be much different if I havent limited my choice to S1 FHCs. There are some pretty nice cars around but either they are +2s or they are S2 coupes but I insist on the S1 coupe. I have the feeling that i I buy anything else, I will never be 100% satisfied with my choice. Not that I dont find the later models or the +2 beautiful... but I strongly prefer The S1. S1,5 might be a choice? there is a question-mark as well

Cheers
Nassos

Geia sou Naso,

hello from germany. Nice to meet you here and hope that you will find the car you are looking for. Cherome na se sinando kai etho sto E Type Forum kai pistevo oti ise o Nassos pou woithise stin thiorganosi tou 1st International Triumph Greek Tour 2007 . Ean epithimis boro na taktopiiso kapia contacs etho stin germania alla kai olanthia. Those cheretismous stin Elevtheria ka ston Souli. Jannis

Best regards
Desmo

Hello and welcome!
My first classic was also a BRG ‘66 Triumph Spitfire MkII when I was 22 in 1994! Lots of fun at an early age! I’ve since had all sorts of random cars and bikes up to finally finding our E which tops the lot!

Good luck in your search. You won’t find a better forum packed with knowledge, help and a common passion!

Nassos wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 27, 2020 12:28 pm

Many thanks......

The covid situation doesn't help a lot, as it makes too difficult for me to travel abroad and inspect any of the cars looks interesting to me. But surely I wont buy unless i send someone to have a physical inspection of the car .......

Hi Nassos, welcome to the forum. It might be worth contacting Angus Moss of Moss Jaguar Ltd who offers an inspection service and appraisal for a small fee. Better to spend a few hundred pounds on an inspection than lose tens of thousands on a bad car. With his extensive contacts, he might even be able to source the car you are looking for.

Either way all the best with your search.

Simon

288gto wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 28, 2020 7:36 am

Hi Nassos, welcome to the forum. It might be worth contacting Angus Moss of Moss Jaguar Ltd who offers an inspection service and appraisal for a small fee. Better to spend a few hundred pounds on an inspection than lose tens of thousands on a bad car. With his extensive contacts, he might even be able to source the car you are looking for.

Either way all the best with your search.

Simon

Hi Simon
Many thanks for your warm welcome and your advice.
I think I should agree with you regarding the inspection
Nassos

Desmo wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 27, 2020 8:51 pm

Geia sou Naso,

hello from germany. Nice to meet you here and hope that you will find the car you are looking for. Cherome na se sinando kai etho sto E Type Forum kai pistevo oti ise o Nassos pou woithise stin thiorganosi tou 1st International Triumph Greek Tour 2007 . Ean epithimis boro na taktopiiso kapia contacs etho stin germania alla kai olanthia. Those cheretismous stin Elevtheria ka ston Souli. Jannis

Best regards
Desmo

Hi Jannis
I am really happy to meet you here.
I hope you are well. Long time no speak
I Will send you my full contact through pm, as I would love to hear from you again and let me know your news.

Do you still remember that event? I will never forget it. I think we ad a great time and made some good friends during that 5 nights in Peloponnese





I think there has been a nice video from the Dannish guy with the TR5, but I cannot find it in you tube now

H7OB wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 27, 2020 9:00 pm

Hello and welcome!
My first classic was also a BRG ‘66 Triumph Spitfire MkII when I was 22 in 1994! Lots of fun at an early age! I’ve since had all sorts of random cars and bikes up to finally finding our E which tops the lot!

Good luck in your search. You won’t find a better forum packed with knowledge, help and a common passion!

Hi Paul,
I am glad to find this nice forum. I am sure I will get much help and a great knowledge.
I love all my cars. Some of these I couldn't part with. Believe it or not, I could never part with my Mk2 Spit. Not that this is the best car i ever had in my possession . But is my 1st classic and I have sacrificed a lot (time and money) to bring it in its current condition. And this happened during a period when I couldnt afford such an expensive restoration. Every car of my own, has its own place in my heart.
Of course downsizing my collection is always a serious thought.But then there are too many dilemmas.
It will be easy for example to let the Triumph GT6 Mk1 go, when I will have acquired a Etype coupe.
And of course I dont need 2x classic vans, so either the Ford Transit Mk1 or the VW T2 should go. The 1st one I am in love with. The 2nd one is much more practical... but these are nice dilemmas i think...
I am of the ones who like to use their classics. Even if Athens is not the best place to use a classic (especially during the days with heavy traffic) I dont own any new cars. Probably you might say that my Mk1 MX5 might be considered "modern" but I am not sure.
So it is only classic cars and my classic scooters and a couple of modern bikes for me (a Bonneville and a Harley). I am trying to take the most out of them, by using them as more often as I can.
but at the end of the day, the etype looks to me like the holy grail. And i feel it wont take long...
nice to meet you

malcolm wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 27, 2020 10:50 am

Hi Nassos, and welcome to the forum. Plenty of info on here to help you.

nice to meet you malcolm