Hi Ken,
First of all, it sounds like the TR6 that you were looking at was probably
okay, but the asking price was probably high. The clunk in the rear is a
warning sign...could be alot of things, all of them potentially costly.
As for the BRG/BLACK color combo, it was pretty common. Especially on early
TR6's. My dad had a '70 TR6 the was Dark Green / Black. As for the repaint
on the car you looked at, different colors onder the bonnet and a respray
that doesn't do the door jams is a warning sign. It means that the person
doing the work cut corners to save money. Bottom line on that car, go over it
with a magnet looking for bondo.
It seems like a lot of the cars that I look at around here are pretty rusty
underneath. I've somewhat decided that if/when I look at getting another TR,
I going to try to deal with folks from drier climes. A friend has a TR6 that
really is from Texas, and it is almost scray how rust-free the car is. But,
as another SOLer told me this year: just because you buy the car in a dry-ish
place does not mean that it was from there originally. Hi George!
All of that said, how much should it cost? Well, I have been to a bunch of the
east coast shows and flea market / car corral events. This is what I have seen
for two years running:
1. TR6's in really good shape seem to be asking in the $7500 range.
2. Near-perfect looking TR6's seem to be asking in the $10k range.
3. I'm _sure_ that neither asking price is that close to the getting price.
a. reason one: I have seen the same cars that are still for sale.
b. reason two: there are still a lot of TR6's left.
4. Running project cars will be asking from $2500 to $5000.
5. Parts cars are cheap, assuming that you can convince the current owner that
the TR6 is not some real rare collector car. I've looked at several
parts cars for $100 or so. If I had a trailer, I'd probably have a
garage full of spare parts right now.
Now, applying the Teriann Wakeman cost factor, I would say that the TR6
might percieved as being a bit more upscale than an MGB, so a reasonable car
will cost around $6000. This equates to the $5000 MGB "value" plus a bit.
So, you get a pretty good one, toss some bucks at it: Total = $6000
Buy a good one to start with: pay $6000.
In either case, you won't win trophies at the events, but you won't be tempted
to let the car sit either... you will _drive_ it. Given that you can do some
preventative maintenance yourself or you know/trust a mechanic familiar with
the car, you can keep it going for a long time.
My advice: get the best example that you can find. Don't let the seller browbeat
you into paying more than the car is worth _to you_. And don't go into the
sale process all starry eyed, good sellers can see that and will factor that
in to the negotiation. Be prepared to walk away from any deal.
Good luck.
rml
p.s. see you at Day of Triumph, 10-Jul-94. Museum of Transportation,
Brookline, MA.
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