So many memories of my Mk2 Saloon. They are such great cars. Small dimensions but with solid grunt and smoothness. The Mk2 was remarkably sure footed - it never tripped me up.
I do agree, especially about the surefootedness of the Mark 2. There is a big contrast shifting between my 1967 and 1971 Vitesses. That said, the Mark 1 is brilliant in the twisty bits, if you know what you are doing. Thanks for a great comment. 👍
Love waking up with a cuppa in bed to your videos, and those empty roads were agreed glorious. Enjoyed those exhaust notes between the roundabouts. Thank-you ❤
Many thanks for this film and I had forgotten the early morning joy of such a drive. It made me decide on a couple over the next couple of weeks. I note your comment on the correlation between dock / lorry volume but then you have the contradiction of a recent weekend’s airport chaos. Tess really drives well - a really lovely classic.
Thank you so much for your lovely comment. I am sure you will love the freedom the early morning brings you. Very interesting observation about airport traffic. Perhaps my assessment has a hidden confounding variable. 😀
Very nostalgic. I had PPM 4G in late 1970's powder blue MK1 convertible with a steering column overdrive in 3rd and 4th. Made the journey between Durham and south Manchester every 2 weeks in 1979. My favourite was a drive through the Yorkshire dales with the top down on a starlit night. I hope the old girls still alive.
Back in 1970 I passed my driving test in a Triumph Herald and a couple of years later had the chance to drive a Vitesse (and a GT6). I will always have a soft spot for these cars and like you I love nothing more than a blast down an A road , especially those that haven’t been neutered. My all time favorite was the A49.
Hi Sean, totally get this video, nothing like a classic Vitesse on an open road, I was always keen to take mine on any sort of trip, to the in- laws in the New Forest was a favourite, lovely to take this ride with you, thank you Mike
I could not think of a better reason to get up at 5:30 in the morning. Letting the Vitesse stretch her legs a little, driving at its purest and most pleasurable.
Ah, the beautiful Triumph Vitesse! Your excellent video brought the memories flooding back. As a young man I had a 1964 Vitesse (in Wedgwood blue and with the 1600cc engine) from 1967-69, when I sold it as I was emigrating to Australia. Being so light it was reasonably fast for its engine size, but as you mentioned the swing axle rear end could catch you out if you got too 'enthusiastic' around corners. Another disadvantage of the rear axle design was having to replace the plastic trunnions at frequent intervals, as they tended to succumb to premature wear. Nevertheless it was a delightful car to drive, being very light on the controls, with excellent all-round vision, and the polished wooden dashboard gave it that 'touch of class'! PS At an indicated 70mph, the rev counter in my (non-overdrive) car showed 4000rpm in 4th gear.
So glad you enjoyed this and that it brought back happy memories. The RPM sounds right. This was the case for my first non overdrive car. The tachometer on Tess overreads by 500rpm.
Just found your channel and it's absolute gold! Glorious straight 6 sound paired with suffolk's surroundings and an intelligent, relaxed commentary. Cheers from a 20 year old classic car fan.
From Sydney, Hi there, another great little video, reminds me of part of the trip to my little house I used to own at Bathurst NSW when I was young, once you had gone over the blue mountains and arrived on the western slopes it leaves you with a lovely 60 odd mile run and in the last days of MPH & imperial measurement in Australia when I was first driving 50 yrs ago now , you hit the western outskirts of Lithgow and on the left was the motor enthusiasts favorite sign , entry to a de-restriction zone where one could do any speed one felt safe. When kilometres & metric arrived in late 1974 goodbye to the de-restriction zones maximum speed in NSW became 130 kph , some 20 kph higher than all the other states. This stayed thus until 1981 when sadly we also dropped to a small 110 kph. When young I inherited a 1958 FC series Holden Special, engine had 2 pulled rods and did not run. It was coming from a great aunt on my dad's side of family, was being shipped across Sydney to my mum's dad, Pa was a just retired industrial engineer, so Pa & I pulled it to bits and fixed it, he fully recommissioned the whole engine making it the most powerful 132ci or 2262cc Holden grey engine I have ever driven. Their standard gearbox had a habit of wearing out the cluster gear, so he cast and ground me one out of some special case-hardened steel mix as he had his own little foundry. I drove it from 1973 until late 1986. When studying at uni in late 1976 I bought a little pair of houses in Bathurst NSW, with 5 acres of ground attached right in the middle of Bathurst when it was worth a mere $17,000. For the first couple of years I enjoyed my late friday nite 130 mile trip or my early Saturday run there to work on the better brick house, then next meticulously pull down the vertical adze hewn slab house made of now extinct western plains cedar. I had a local wood mill and lumberyard re mill the wood in a user-friendly size to extend the brick house. The excess wood was so valuable for home restorations that the lumber yard brothers organized an auctioneer to sell all the remaining wood for me, I was shocked at my sudden & unexpected windfall. With the advent of steel radial tyres I bought a set, proper size 85 x 13 x 695 and 6ply what a transformation, I was in the uni rally club and soon added a bigger stiffer front sway bar, and a rear one, car handled almost like a new car, what a transformation. With Pa's super rebuild I had a lot of fun in that car and added 200,000 miles to it. I sold it to a young intern in late 1986 and Richard owns it until this day, I gave him the old car disease and he now has a fleet of five. Richard has told me, the special steel mixes my grandad had concocted for bearings, rings, pins etc have not deteriorated over the decades, that the old car still has seeming unlimited punch from its almost 2.3 litre inline 6 cyl engine which is a shrunken copy of the giant Buick OHV Straight 8 cyl engines. When I was 19 i bought a mk10 4.2litre 1965 model Jaguar, ONLY affordable as it was left had drive in a country that legislated that all cars will be RHD or off the road july 1st 1976 so that gave me about 17months use of this "lepper" that no one wanted, around 6 weeks before "d" day I found a junky cheap donor car to extract all the RHD hardware I needed , so mid-year uni break was spent with Pa doing open heart surgery on my Jag to turn it into a RHD car with around 3 weeks to spare it was done , transforming my valueless 'lepper" into a then $5,000 to $6,000 car, as it had a mere 52,000kilometres on it , so around 30,000 miles , almost like new . Everytime Sean I see the rear end of both Triumph's they remind me of my MK10 & 420G Jags with their giant exhausts rudely pointing skywards, Great !!
Wow Greg, such an evocative account. It is almost impossible to believe that there was a time when small shops would cast or forge a bespoke part. You exemplify something I have increasingly come to believe, and I think Jay Leno would subscribe to this view: a special kind of wisdom is born from people who work with their hands to build and create. In our post industrial world, it's a wisdom that looks to be in short supply. Thank you so much for sharing yours. 👍
Hello Sean. Awesome video . We are lucky enough to be back in suffolk again this week. We also remember you fondly from our time at Crabapple Cottage. Many thanks and look forward to following you along your you tube journey….
Hi Shane, lovely to hear from you! I so pleased you enjoyed this video. If you are in Suffolk on August 13th, come along to Stratford St Andrew, Alde Valley Classic Car Show. It would be great to see you 👍
Hello Sean. Yes I saw this advertised by yourself on a post a couple of weeks back. Poor timing to be going home this weekend unfortunately but I do hope this naff weather improves for you all. I guess I can still see the cars in their splendour if you film them. If you can find me a Ford capri 3.0 even better! As a fairly recent subscriber I’m working my way through your back catalogue and can’t wait to view the orford to snape journey. So nice to see you doing something different from the other classic car vloggers and actually using the car… Best wishes
Does the Vitesse have overdrive? Have you thought about doing a walk around of your cars. I had owned a Stag and a couple of TRs in my past but know little about Vitesses and would appreciate being shown around one.
Such a good idea 👍Have a look at my video on testing the propshaft, earlier this year which gives a bit of a walk around on the 67 2 Litre. I have been thinking about doing a comparative walk around to compare it with my 1971 Mark 2. They do both have overdrive via a column stalk 😀
Great idea for a clear video drive. How nice to see the A12 & A14 so clear of traffic, well worth the early start. Vitesse sounded great and you seemed to enjoy your drive. Are you attending the festival of classic & sport cars on Sunday 6th Aug at Helmingham Hall Stowmarket IP14 6EF 10.00am - 5PM? I hope to make it if weather looks good!! Cheers Bob
Thanks so much Bob. Sadly I am working next weekend. It's such a fantastic show. I hope that the weather is kind to you and that you have a wonderful day 😀
yes it was actually it was at night so i could get there for the solstice. ofcourse i was not at 148 all the way because im not totally insane ! i remember at one point being slow enough to get over taken by some bloke in an mr2 who i later saw parked up at the henge . i do like the a12 its a great road .that part of the country going down to cornwall is a great drive @@seanhumfrey
Well... Had another listen. Banging is the brake pedal being released. The popping... Let's just say the carbs have now been rebalanced and leaned off. Good spot Roger👍
BTW What fuel do you use? The engine was designed for 100 octane, which hasn't been available for decades. I had to detune my TR6 engines, and that is why I was so pleased with my 911 - designed for 92 octane. The popping might be due to the wrong fuel.@@seanhumfrey
@@rchas1023 97 Ron, sometimes 99. But E5, for the moment. Ethanol is a big problem for Old cars. This Mark 2 has a bifurcated stainless steel exhaust and custom manifold with a Stage 2 ported head plus lightened flywheel. It sounds very different to stock engines. The Mark 2 uses twin SUs, similar but smaller bore exhaust and headers with a TR5 head.. The induction sound is very different.
I wondered if they might have changed the camshaft. An expensive solution, but useful if there was enough demand. When I had the TR, I just retarded the ignition, and looked for a replacement car. @@seanhumfrey
What's the banging noise on braking? Best time of the day ! Had our first trip out to a local nursing home last weekend , went down a storm ...thanks for the inspiration.
That's such great news. We'll done you. I am so pleased you were able to get involved 👍 the banging, us the sound of the clutch and, or brake pedals being released. They have really powerful return springs!
That is interesting Andrew. Great comment. If you can find my video on "testing top gear flexibility" you can see how this one compares to my later, 1971 Mark 2.
