Now, where were we?

They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. Well, in my experience that is certainly true. The reason for my lack of posts (what's eighteen months between friends, eh?) was due to the car being 2,566 miles away in the UK while I was in Greece. Clearly that made popping into the garage to do some tinkering slightly inconvenient, so I made up for it by fiddling with two worthy but frankly no-substitute-for-Bessy projects. One was/is a Citroen C5 and the other a Yamaha TT600RE. 

Greek mafia?

I'd love to bring this to the UK one day.

Of the two, I know which I prefer: the TTR. It is fantastic for getting around the island and rather like the bike equivalent of a "series" Land Rover: a gentle giant which will never let you down but makes your fillings fall out above 60kph. Unlike the C5, it is no good for carrying stuff back from the local Papathakisthaskalakis supermarket, and it has no broken electrics to fix, but it is remarkably effective at scaring small children.

Two summers (and lots of winter) were spent in the glorious Greek climate, but the absence of Bessy the TR7 was starting to bother me and in the end, having had my fill of sun, sea, tzatziki and souvlaki, it was time to come back to Blighty. For now. 

I think I was in the garage within five minutes of getting back, lifting the cover off the TR7 and feeling a mixture of guilt and elation. The car was exactly as when it was left (not sure what I was expecting, really). So, that meant sleeves rolled up and back to work!

Getting the interior back in was step number two (paint being number one) towards having a car which looked like a car again. With sound deadening and carpets in, it was time to refit the seats. In my enthusiasm to crack on I failed to take any photos, but the job was reasonably straight forward and satisfying. 

These things never go exactly to plan, however, and much trial and error was needed to work out where the washers and distance pieces went in the floor/hole/runner equation. Plus of course lining up the four holes in the runners to fit the securing bolts required (a) a lot of patience and (b) the same number of limbs as an octopus. After much jiggery-pokery (and newly learned Greek swear words), they were in.

Steering wheel only upside down due to parking angle.

This car has been stored in various barns (usually in an array of boxes and bags) over the years and thank-the-lord-for-small-mercies I managed not to break or lose very many parts. However the plastic trims which fit around the interior door release handle were very broken, or missing. TR aficionados will know that these are almost always broken these days, and not being able to find NOS or used replacements resorted to a novel solution. 

Helping my neighbour Phil fix his Land Rover Discovery, I noticed that his trims looked remarkably similar, or at least, would do for now. So I stole them in the night and fitted them to my TR7. I didn't really do that, but I did think about it - in the end I got the part number and for a tenner took delivery of a pair of new ones. 

They took a bit of fettling, but fitted ok in the end. Sure, they don't look right but they are better than broken originals/nothing. Since doing this the originals have become available again through the TRDC so I'll get a pair when I have a spare £40.

Being a stickler for originality (the above excepted), I was troubled by the state of the parcel shelf. As is the norm with these, the vinyl covering had shrunk to the point where the GRP moulding just contained the TR7 equivalent of a bouncy castle. The three-compartment shelves are difficult to find in better condition secondhand, plus the new fibreglass replacements are reputedly not very good copies and in any case are only available in two-compartment form. So, with a heavy heart and being out of options, I removed the old vinyl and painted the shelf as best I could. It doesn't look great, but again it will do for now until a better one comes along. 

Well, that's about it for now. See you in eighteen month's time! Only kidding, there's lots more to report. Did I mention fitting a new headlining? That brought out some serious Greek swear words, I can tell you. More next time.

*** Thanks to fellow TR7 enthusiast Gavin Cooper for a kick up the backside and kick-starting this blog again ***