bond equipe Bond Equipe GT4S

[logicaluk]

Ch1

The unexpected eBay win.

I've been after a Bond Equipe GT4s for 15 years or more. In that time there have been many outside my shoe string budget, but the couple that have come up, and been affordable have been in the far reaches of Scotland or on the south coast, (I live in Hull)

Bizarrely, this one didn't come up in my eBay Bond Equipe GT4s saved search but, in a, "you might like" under something completely unrelated. After looking at the pics and the price was £100. I was thinking it's going to be in Glasgow, then nearly had a trouser accident when I found it was just 50 miles away in York. Without even thinking, I pressed the submit bid button. I'm not going to win it anyway, not for that much. Lol and didn't think anything of it, the next day I checked aaaaaand I was still winning, glancing at my phone throughout the day, thinking it “finishes at 7, nahh no chance, someone's going to bid on it” at 7.20pm on Thursday I won it with the customary, “Oh carp now I have to tell the Mrs” so immediately phoned my mate with the car trailer to ask for a lend. “Sorry I sold it last month...” luckily a friend of a friend has a trailer and Jeff was able to go on Saturday but only if the brakes were unsized, and it would roll. So ill call him as soon as the brakes are freed off.
After a quick ring round Chris or mrbadger as some know him, volunteered his services, and another mate offered to lend some wheels and his place was on the way, everything fell into place, but I still had to tell the Mrs.
once she got past the initial “you've done what stage” she seemed happy I had found the car I had been looking for so long, one in one out, so I have to move a project on, but I'm not bothered the V8 herald pick up project is getting canned, I've got a Bond YAYYYYYY

Edited October 30, 2021 by logicaluk

[Rosbif]

That's going to keep you busy for,well let's just say 'several month's.

Pleased you got one after all that waiting

[logicaluk]

Ch2
Journey in to space
8am mrbadger rocks up and loads the floor jack in the back of the car (my back is still not right) and set off to get the wheels, we pull up in a small village in the middle of nowhere and wait for Dave to take us to the wheel stash, the rain starts...... the rain gets heavier...... phone Dave no answer.... Dave turns up a few mins later, and takes us out of nowhere and in between the fields down a track to the shed, only to find the tyre pile sans triumph wheels that will hold air. Dave is a proper top bloke, he took wheels off his spitfire and from his almost pristine 1300 FWD to lend to this quest for utter awesomeness at bargain-basement price. Thanks, Dave.

Onward to free the bond brakes.

The satnav takes us off the Main Road down a single lane driveway for what seems like a couple of miles, towards some BIG sheds.

And there is the Bond yes it's a mess, but that shape oof


sit rep, it's raining pretty hard, I need this thing to roll, so I can call Jeff with the trailer which is back in Hull an hour and a half away. We were just about to get the trolley jack out to get the wheels off, and I asked if they would mind getting the fork lift out? (it had been offered to load on to the trailer if required) “ do you want it on the hardstanding?” I reply “Thanks that would be great”, Richard says “why don't we put it in the workshop?” two mins later we are in the dry, I back the CRV in behind the forklift get out and pick my jaw up off the floor in front of me is the biggest radial arm drill I've ever seen it must be 12ft tall or more.
Anyway, back to business.

[10:47] txt Jeff to tell him I've arrived , impact out square wheels off unbolt the calipers tap gently with BFH till they're off, cut brake hose chuck in back of CRV, round wheels back on and free. Gently massage the drums with the BFH and a pry bar till they're off, put round wheels back on.
[11:04] txt Jeff all free and rolling

Now I've got an hour and a half to kill. I have a good prod around the chassis, and it looks pretty solid, then Richard took the square tyres off the rims for me.
At this point I have to stop and say a huge thanks to the guys at “the Saturday morning club” I'm sorry I can't remember every name and who was in the club of just dropping in as they smelt the kettle, they showed us around their sheds and treated us like friends, classic bikes, cars, trucks, stationary engines of every size, and a huge 5 cyl crude oil powered generator that's wired up to one double socket.
Here are a couple of pics for a taste


Then Luke asked if we wanted fish and chips, he even checked they did gluten-free for me, before jumping in the car to fetch them. Then Jeff turned up, and we got loaded up, he didn't mind waiting for the food to turn up and for us to eat and took his dog for a walk.

After an excellent fish and chip lunch, we said our goodbyes and headed off,

A completely uneventful trip home, we unloaded, had a brew and I got to have another look at my new car. But that will have to wait for another day.
Dan
 

[Howard]

My dad always wanted one of those! It will be good to see another one back on the road

Cheers

Howard

[thescrapman]

I sometimes regret giving my Bond away. Was in far better condition than that one.

The back window fell in through the hole. Goodbye back window. 😞

Hope you got the glass with yours.

[logicaluk]

I got some of the glass thescrapman, just in small pieces all over the floor unfortunatly.

 

I can but hope Howard, Fingers crossed

 

Rosbif at a guess  a few months seems like a fair time scale.

[Rosbif]

1 hour ago, logicaluk said:

Rosbif at a guess  a few months seems like a fair time scale.

Fingers crossed. Keep us informed on progress. 

[logicaluk]

Ch3
A Mystery Wrapped in an Enigma

The PO has done something very odd to the bonnet. The grill delete.
The line from the body side moulding has been brought down and round the lights to form a grill outline.



it should look like this



I'm not a GRP expert, but it does not look, from the inside, like this has been a patch up job, has it come out of a mould like this?



The only reason that makes any sense to me is, one of its previous owners had a vision. At the time, (probably some time in the mid-nineties), Cans of instant tire repair weren't available, so carrying a spare was a really good idea, the problem is the boot is not big and odd shape,



Remove the large silencer that's under the boot floor and fit a wheel tub in the floor.



Bigger boot ✔ (unless one fits a second tank at the same time) but this would mean less exhaust silencing. X

To achieve this, a hood (for want of a better word) was fitted in front of the radiator(missing in pic) with a hoop to carry the spare tyre.



A rubber lip fitted under the rad to scoop up the air and direct it through the radiator. Did it work? Probably not but I really respect the PO's work

Edited November 2, 2021 by logicaluk

[mikeyb]

Prototype maybe?  

[logicaluk]

Ch4

The Kindness of Strangers

or

Falling right on my feet like a proper jammy bastard

The day the bond got here I was pretty sure that I did indeed have something a bit special, the nose in the bonnet looks quite different to a normal GT4s, it's styled very well, and from what I can see unmolested, 64 was the first year of production, could I have a very early one, I ran the reg number on car check website for £2 and got a preproduction date back...... Oh carp, it is a pre-production prototype. Now I have to put it back to original, there is no way I destroy something so unique.

Saturday night I joined the Bond owners club, and let them know what I have discovered… First thing Sunday morning I had a reply, the data I gave them doesn't make sense, but they will put me in touch with more knowledgeable people to see if they can make sense of it.

A couple of hours later I had a phone call from a really nice guy called Guy, and all the answers I needed, yes the car is known to the club (and has been for many years). Most importantly, NO not it's not a pre-production prototype. The site I used gave an incorrect date according to the register. Maybe the bonnet is a prototype of some sort, but the car isn't, now that's music to my ears.

I got chatting with Guy, and he says he knows a chap who's probably has all the bits I need, would I like his email address? In a flash I did the internal check list.

Did I just hear that right ✔
Bears poop in the woods ✔
priests like little boys ✔
Would I like to find all bits I need in one place ✔
Erm, that would be a yes please, then.

Sunday evening I have a reply and his phone number, so I give Phil a bell, only to find he's another top chap, and he should have everything I need.

Everything seems to be falling in to place.

[Bob]

Hi I have a beauty a fully rebuilt and restored Bond GT4S ‘ I decided to sell my Motorhome this year and from the profit I made on the Motorhome sale it paid for my Bond I brought off EBay as  I decided on the Bond as they are pretty Rare now and gain value year on year ‘better than non existent bank interest ‘but I chose this car as it was fully re built using his original 1963 triumph herald body the previous owner decided to create this Bond with doner parts from other bonds ‘she  has a 1300 Toledo engine ‘and this car in essence is 12 years old and been across Europe and was nicknamed MR Bond by the previous owner ‘the car is also extremely easy to maintain and get parts for and no matter where we take it no one knows what’s it is ? It’s been mistaken for a Aston Martin ‘a early Volvo,and a early Porsche ‘ so it’s quite funny to keep them guessing ‘good luck with your project I wanted fully restored as I’m too busy with my other hobby’s garden  plus garden railway and latest obsession lead soldiers ‘but this lovely little car turns heads and no doubt yours will when finished I have a few Bond parts including bumpers and full set of windows plus fuel tank plus head light trims 

[frenchiemk2]

rare cars here in France, but o=1 or 2 were on sale in the past 6 months