> Saw a 1963 Herald Triumph Convertible for sale..
At long last, a topic dear to my heart and listers may be
assured a noble steed upon which I could write reams without
stopping to take breath.
The trouble with the Herald is knowing where to start.
Stopping - and indeed stopping a Herald in full flight,
particularly when going sideways on a wet road with the rear
wheels tucking under in true aircraft take-off fashion is
something else.
My recommendation would be to go for a VERY early one. This
will be guaranteed to leak water from anywhere you care to
mention (even when it isn't raining). For those listers who
have never been inside an English Fish and Chips shop,
getting into a sodden early Herald will bring you close to
that alternative virtual reality. The transmission tunnel
and instrument panel were made of chewed paper pulp bonded
under pressure and heat with fish glue. To add further
authenticity, on the passenger's side, there was a
intersting plastic covered oddments basket suspended from
the underside of the aforesaid instrument panel. This was
popularly known as 'frying tonight' - a notice often seen in
steamed up Fish and Chips shop windows. Frying Tonight in
the Herald was interesting on a bumpy road because the
retaining catch didn't. As it fell, the trailing edge of the
basket did a superb job in hammering your shins.
On a more serious note, while recognising Andy Mace's very
serious (though some might say biased view to the point of
incurable optimism) a 13/60 would be the best bet. ST never
made the 13/60 for the North American market but
cack-handers (left steer versions) were built in Belgium at
Mechelen. This last model of the Herald was quite a spritely
bolide - handling notwithstanding and with its extra horses
could be driven with quite a lot of verve. It used the 8
port Spitfire head with one Stromberg and could be persuaded
to surrender quite a lot of extra horses if required. I had
a new one in Slate Grey for about a week and then sold it to
my mother. She had had a Herald 12/50 - a cancelled export
order for Rhodesia (now called Zimbabwe). This car was quite
the most diabolical Herald ever contrived by man with heavy
duty suspension. My father once said he knew how Marie
Antoinette must have felt being taken to the guillotine in a
tumbril (cart) over the roads of Paris. Let me just say the
suspenders on this 12/50 were so hard and unyielding, that
if you drove over a penny you could tell if it was heads or
tails up. Unfortunately, the 13/60 lasted only a few weeks
in my mother's care. She had what can best be termed a
'coming together' with an MGB that was being driven with
audacity. The MGB entered via the passengers door and
finally came to a halt at the handbrake lever. I inspected
the wreckage the next day with the insurance man. As we
opened the trunk, he gazed in amazement at the contents that
were many thousands of yellow flecks. "Looks like the shock
of the incident made your mother sick," said he. I agreed
and hastily closed the lid - as best as I was able. I
recounted the story on returning home.
Despite two corking black eyes that made my mother look as
though she had gone twelve full rounds with Henry Cooper,
two broken front teeth and a plaster cast down her left hip,
she adamantly maintained she had NOT been sick. Prior to
starting her journey, it seemed she had called in to see her
own mother who had given her a freshly home-made Egg Custard
Pie. At the moment of impact, the Egg Custard had gone into
a shallow orbit around the trunk and come to rest on the
reserve fuel tank tap.
So, to buy a Herald? Absolutely! Doesn't matter which one
you have - they're all fun and often more fun than a
Spitfire. But watch that back end on a wet road with badly
worn cross plies on the back and brand new radials on the
front. That said, why not live dangerously and mix both
types on the same axle? Alternatively, a Mk 1 2 litre
Vitesse is even more exciting and in the wrong hands (again
on a wet road) with the uninitiated at the wheel is an
absolute death-trap. They can be tamed - but you need an
empty airfield to fully explore the somewhat limited
handling possibilities when doing silly things.
Jonmac
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