Listers:
Here is a provocative question for you that I have never seen on the list
before:
Please estimate the percentage of time that your TR6 is actually available
to drive during the driving season. I mean for the numerator to be the actual
number of days that the car would drive reasonably safely and in a useful
way, and for the denominator to mean the number of days in the driving season.
I would also like any responses to indicate whether you do most of the work
yourself, or give most of it to a professional mechanic.
The genesis of this question comes from my second TR6, a really nice Tahiti
blue '76. I have made a decision to farm out most of the mechanical work, as
my real job as a doctor and my second job as a researcher/lecturer takes up
so much of my free time. When I am home, my family would really prefer that
I don't spend most of it out on the driveway working on the TR6. However, it
seems like every time I take it in for service, the car disappears for a
long time. On this adventure, I had it into the shop for about 2 weeks while
the mechanic worked on the carbs. Then the car ran well and I had it for a
week before it completely quit. I brought it back to the shop. Then he
readjusted and the car ran well, but quit just before I took it back. Then we
decided to go for a carb rebuild with Kai Radicke. It took about 10 days
before
the carbs were off and shipped, and 5 days for them to get to Philadelphia,
and 2 weeks for the rebuild (that I can understand, and I have only good
things
to say about Kai so far). I figure it will take several days to get them
back here, then at least a week to get them installed and tuned and I get the
car back. So this is something like a 9 week adventure or longer, with only a
week where I got to drive the car, not counting the 2 weeks before I took it
in the first time where it was running poorly. And winter is our driving
season in Miami more than summer.
You can see what I am getting at here: If I had purchased a non-vintage
car, like a Z3 2.8 liter or a turbo Miata or something, the service would be
an
occasional trip to the dealer or independent mechanic that would take a day
or 2. Of course, much of the charm and style would be missing, too. But is
my experience about typical for someone who won't/can't do most of his own
work?
The natural response would be to suggest that I need a mechanic who takes my
car in promptly, gets it fixed, and gets it back to me in a matter of a few
days rather than a few weeks. However, I like my mechanic and I trust his
honesty. There are virtually no individuals in the Miami area with any
interest at all in LBCs, either as owners or mechanics. My local club
president and
others from the club are nice but not helpful in terms of recommending
someone else. I have tried 2 others, and the current one is the best. Do
other
listers have mechanics who get the cars in and out of the shop quickly?
OK, this was very long and I didn't intend to whine or rant. I really just
want to know whether the downtime that I am seeing repeatedly is normal.
Thanks.
Michael
'76 Tahiti blue
CF57044U
|