P5 Coupe – Further evaluation
I spent some time yesterday examining the P5 Coupe I purchased from the Flynn Action in a little more detail. Like a lot of the Flynn cars it has received a lot of mechanical attention over the years. It is clear that little to no effort was spent on the body or cosmetics.
One feature unique to the P5 over the P5B is that it has provision for a starting handle. I’ve never started a car using a starting handle, despite having two so equipped. (The DS and the Traction). Even though the car was cold and had not run for a few weeks, it started fairly easy (after only a couple of tries) on the handle. Strike one item off my bucket list!
I raised the car on the hoist and the first thing I noticed was that the car has a complete exhaust system in stainless steel that looks brand new.
The whole drive train also looks very clean. So my guess was that it was removed for work at some point. I have no records to show what was done, but the engine runs very well and key components like the steering box, brake master cylinder and booster look like they have been rebuilt or replaced.
Conversely, as I experienced driving it back, the front end does need work. The bushings look old, and the dust covers are split/missing on various linkages and so on. The shock absorbers are also fairly old. The car also has 165 tyres on the front which I don’t think are correct. I understand the correct size is 185. The tyres have reasonable tread but are old.
Surprisingly though, after all that work, no attempt was made to fix the rust in the sills. This to me would have been the first step before any mechanical work was attempted. But I guess Dr Flynn wanted his cars in good running order and the condition of the body work was not so important to him.
In summary, despite this cars looks, it has had extensive work mechanically. It is certainly fixable, but realistically it is probably more of a parts car than one that will get a restoration. I still plan to sell this P5 Coupe.
