When I saw the lead picture of this Peerless sent in by Barn Finds reader Charles H, I was wondering why the bid was so low. Then I continued through the listing found here on eBay and saw the driver’s side of the car. Oh my! This damage happened in storage before the current owner purchased the car. They have had it for over 20 years and have served as the head of the North American Peerless and Warwick register, but have decided to pass the car on. The seller does a great job in the auction of describing exactly what a Peerless is; in a nutshell it’s a bespoke body and chassis utilizing Triumph TR3 mechanical components to try to create a more luxurious GT. The body is fiberglass, so it is actually possible to repair, but one would have to be good with fiberglass. I have a couple of friends with these cars and they are definitely different. Feel like putting this jigsaw puzzle back together?
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- Not so bad from this view!
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- Note British iron in background
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- Reconstruction necessary
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- Which piece goes where?
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- Interior tatty but intact to copy
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- Period aftermarket valve cover
Yikes
Good pictures of a car with lots of problems. I like these, and would rather have one than a TR3, which is pretty much what’s left of this car once you take away the damaged body and the poor interior. Strangely the headliner looks perfect for some reason.
I’d be interested to know if anyone with ‘glass experience thinks this body could be put back to being sound and looking good. I can imagine lots of difficult work needed to get the various pieces aligned with each other, and then more tricky work laying out the ‘glass and resin. I guess you would need to make a mold of the left side from a good car, or get a body from a donor car. Or maybe somebody in the UK remakes these bodies.
OK, just answered my own question, body shells are available for these cars:
http://www.peerless-gt.co.uk/
Having worked with fiberglass matt and resin, fixing cars and boats. It can be repaired. The real major problem, I see, is the drop between the drivers door and the rear window. The body would have to be removed and placed, if possible, on a rotisserie so as to lay up the ‘glass and resin on the back side of the repair for the necessary strength. It appears that most of the pieces needed to accomplish the repairs are there. I would have to mock up all the pieces on the car before I would consider laying up the fiberglass. It would be a long and involved process lasting several months. The main villain in working with fiberglass is the temperature and then humidity.
Greetings All,
Always thought these cars resembled the Alvis TC/TD series, especially with the roofline, though bonnet hinges reek of a kit car. Would love to do one of these with either a Triumph Six, or an Olds V8 the sub 300 cube unit.
The GRP body is a pretty simple repair. I agree with the other gentleman that the body needs to come off, just for different reasons. The repairs are fixable as it sits but would want to be sure the body sits correctly before starting.
Using contour templates made from the other side would at least guarantee the sides are close because having seen a couple of these, most people who purchased these didn’t pay extra for the symmetrical body option.
Neat car, one of the better ones from that era.