My father had a white 1.6 Vitesse convertible. 1966. A bit of a change from the PA Velox he had before the family all grew up and left. That Vitesse engine revved right up more smoothly than any other engine I have ever heard.
I loved my Vitesse, met my wife the day I bought it, only major problem was fuel consumption , on a run driving sensibly I got up to 30mpg, but thrashing it , only managed 12mpg. Snapped stub shafts if you changed down and flattened the throttle in second, loud bang and instant embarrassment. My local garage machined me a pair from high tensile steel and sobbed the problem.
Gosh.... This is an early one.... Single dial on the dash. A very early one. The 1600cc motor was lovely. This is a most extraordinary car. I almost bought a (later) 1600 and regret to this day not doing so.....
@@philtucker1224 yes - a body-off resto in the early ‘90s which took over two years, and the car wasn’t used much afterwards. It was originally supplied by George Thompson, a Triumph dealer in Anlaby Road, Hull on 4 January 1963
I had one of these in the late 60's. 1600 cc 6 cylinder! Very pleasant little car but without the power one might think. The original reg no of mine was BLF 301 but this was changed before I bought it to 876 HYH.
My first car in 83 was a crash damaged herald convertible. Bonnet had gone. Found a year old advert in a freebie for a spares only herald. Phoned anyway and herald was long gone but he still had a bonnet - £25!!!
That was a lucky find ! The bonnets used to flex and rot away on the various seams and joints. I remember having to weld fix the inner front wheelarches on the Vitesse I had, shortly after buying it.
They don't come any better than this unless they are totally original. I had a 1200 Triumph Herald deluxe back in the day but the vitesse with that six cylinder engine made it a real hot saloon. Not a large car but plenty of leg room for a tall driver but then leaves very little leg room immediately behind. A car I always lusted after but having a young family could never afford.
Delightful car, My first car wa a 2.0 litre Vitesse with a 4 speed gearbox plus Laycock de Normanville overdrive on 3rd and 4th gears….. and tin SU carbs. The great bonus was accessibility o the engine and front wheels which made maintenance relatively easy, except changing the oil filter which was a cartridge type located next to the crankcase breather pipe, which was very hot …….
Well it is but I took an engine out and labelled up all the connections left it in the garage when I went away to sea for 6 weeks. When I come back Found the garage had let in water and all the labels were unreadable. Nightmare. What followed was a bit hit and miss.. At one point I pressed the horn and the main wiring loom burst into flames. Took 3 months to sort it all out and get it back running.
One one these people who prefer to hear their own voice than displaying and briefly describing the features of such classic cars as this fabulous Triumph Vitesse.
is it 16.000cc six or the 2.000cc six ? i worked on Triumph's back in the 60s as an apprentice working for LF Dove of Wimbledon they were an easy car to work on along with the Herald
Interested to read that you worked for Dove's of Wimbledon - I have a 1977 Stag originally sold by the garage on 12th May 1978. Better times that we didn't realise! Getting into the Stag takes me back to the 70s in sight, sound and smell! AF sizes and grease nipples too!
I used To Own a 2ltr Vitesse and Circumstances forced me to part with her, in the mid 70s....As the new owner drove away i wiped a tear from my eye.. This car is a work of art. Hopefully the new owner appreciates her and takes good care of her
Love these cars and this one is really well restored to a very very high standard by the looks. The owner should be very proud indeed. These are shooting you in value like a lot of this age of classic. I’ve just restored a 1966 Triumph Spitfire MK2 in cream with a red interior. Same condition as this Vitesse. The spitfire is up for sale if anyone interested.
My grandad had a vitesse ... remember it well , virtually the same as the vid but My grandad's was Creamy white with a green stripe ... He sold it in the early Seventies and bought a Sunbeam stiletto in gold with brown roof... If the family had just kept them and put them away 😁
First car I owned as a 17 year old. Kept it for 2 years until the cost of the insurance was more than I paid for the car. Cost of the car was £125 for a 6 year old car! What a bargain. Great car. Happy memories.
First car I owned in the late 1970s was a 1968 registered Mk1 2.0 litre Vitesse saloon. Fast little car but the handling of the early ones, with the big engine in the Herald chassis certainly kept you alert.
Those days long gone, Along with car bargains,I know a chap who sold an immaculate Morris minor soft top in Bath they offered him £1700 Two weeks after I drove to there show room to take a look,My friends car was standing on the forecourt, With a for sale sign in the window price £3,700 pounds, Never sale a car to a Garage, Unless part exchange even then you'll be ripped off!!🤔🇬🇧👍
@@keen2b unfortunately mate thats buissiness I have only ever in my 56 years of driving , passed my test in 1966 part exchanged at a dealership a Daimler 420 for a rover 3500s & came out quids in!!
My Father was a 'Ford Man' but liked the Triumph Herald. Serious disadvantage as a teen sitting in the back seat was lack of ventilation; cigarette smoke from the front collected in the rear and it got unbearably hot even in an English summer. The Vitesse was my dream car in the 1970s but I was too sensible and had cars that I could afford to buy, run and insure (Mini, Corsair, Cortina etc) . If that Vitesse sells for £20K that is similar (adjusted for inflation) to the original, new purchase price. If I had the money to spare, I don't, I would love to 'scratch an itch' and own a Vitesse but, ideally, the 2 litre version. .
My dad had a white one. Coming back from Weston Super Mud , it pelted down with rain and the wiper motor stopped working. We came off the motorway and drove home down the A38 my parents sat in the front had string attached to the wipers and were manually pulling the wipers left and right through the windows.
Funny you should say that. I had a 1600 convertible for a while & it was like a missile - I loved it! A couple of years later I worked in a garage & we had a 2 litre Vittesse in, but it really seemed quite dull compared to my old 1600.
Its actually not a MK1 but a Vitesse 6. When the engine size increased to 2L it was then badged as Vitesse 2L, then a few years later when the MK 2 arrived with its plastic grill and rotoflex rear suspension, the earlier 2L became the MK1 retrospectively, but the 1600 remained as the Vitesse 6.
@@nambocttr Yes that's correct Peter. I had a late Mk1 2.0 litre saloon, they were identified by an oblong 2-Litre chrome with black lettering badge on the boot lid, and a smaller one next to each side bonnet catch. I sold mine to a guy who raced them in competitions, some time around 1980.
@@brianwhittington5086 I have had three MK1 Saloons, in fact I still have one now and its my only car, Love them, which is why I can be a bit anal at times.
That’s the wrong Speedo for a vitesse isn’t it. Mine had a Speedo and rev counter. Was this the difference between the 1.6 and the 2 Lt. maybe. It’s a 1600 and a very early one. My vitesse was a 2.0Lt with no overdrive from 1968 GCK177F Preston reg
@@noodlesiis hi mate thanks for the reply. I’ve had 4. Mk two crayford convertible cortina’s. And a very rare 1600 E. crayford 3 litre in white obviously it was done professionally by crayford. It’s a lot rarer the the Uren Savage. Full length sunroof. Beautiful very fast. Uprated Engine. Suspension every thing done properly but looked like a standard 1600 E. but very quick off the lights.
@@noodlesiis also you can now buy a new new Escort mk 1 and 2. But I would prefer a brand new 1600. But with some later upgrades. IE powerful engine. Better brakes. Electric steel sun roof. Soundproofing. Central locking. 6 speed for better cruising. That would be my ideal car. In Diamond black.
The way the market's going this could reach £20 k . I think it had solex originally but l think they come with the car ? I did the same with mine and then found a wrecked 2 litre mk2 and fitted that .......pocket rocket ! (1976)
I think that's an early 6cyl 1600cc Chris. I had a 1968 2.0 litre 6cyl saloon and that had the extra instruments, including a big rev counter that was cable driven off the engine distributor body. It was fast, but the powerful 2.0 engine could be a handful in the basic Herald chassis. The notorious swing axle rear suspension could make for some tricky handling on corners, before Triumph reworked the layout.
No, its an early 1600, with single dial dash, affectionately known as the Vitesse 6. A subsequent model, the 2 litre ( known as the mk1 ), another model became known as the 2 litre, mark 2, with revised rear suspension & central reverse light. In my native NZ, it wasn't uncommon to come across a 2500cc fitted, in the early 80's I hung out with musicians, one guy had one and travelled the North Island 🏝 😀 Days of long ago.
Funny things cars at Dereks auctions. There’s greasy car dealers making a nice few quid, private enthusiasts who want something nice and then there’s the family who bought new n the 60’s and passed it down enter a car that got looked after like mothers best Sunday China . Far too good to be used unless the henpecked son cleans it top to bottom or woe be tide
Early 1600's had a single dial dash like the early 948 & 1200 heralds that you may remember. When the 2 litre & subsequent mk2 arrived, tachometer was included with same sized speedo with the two smaller satellite guages for fuel & water 💧 temperature.
@@vernonmatthews181 they should have put the 2.5 litre in it 150 bhp instead of 95 bhp. Same BHP Per ton as the sierra cossie. So 0 to 60 in less the 7 seconds. And around about 130 +mph would have been a very fast car in its day.
@@russcooke5671 the 2.5 litre unit was a common enough retrofit here downunder in my native New Zealand 🇳🇿, sounds like our NZ insurance scheme was not as combative towards car ownership at that time compared to the UK practices of the day.
@@russcooke5671 The 2-Litre is a much nicer engine than the over-stroked TR6 unit, which had a heavy crankshaft, and a heavy flywheel and didn't like to rev so much as the 2-Litre.
They were made so all the parts were interchangeable, bolted together to create saloon, convertible, coupé or estate/ courier van on the same basic Herald chassis. If you've never driven one, especially the more powerful Vitesse 2.0 litre, the body and chassis really flexes. You'll soon understand why the panel gaps are so odd and wide. They have a separate backbone chassis, that extends out either side of the engine bay and boot floor. All that supports the cabin floors are 3 fairly flimsy, and rot prone outriggers on each side of the central backbone, joined to a side rail under the sill.
Sorry for your loss John, the Herald / Vitesse were known for the capability for backyard roof removal for aftermarket convertible conversion along with engine mods etc.😪
I had an uncle who had a 13/60 in NZ for 35 years, I had picked up over the years basic single dial dashes were basic 948, 1200 & 1600's. Two & four dials were the 13/60's and all subsequent 2 litre & mk2's.
