On Sat, 4 Mar 2000, Bob Kramer wrote:
> I've finally gone and done it. I've been looking for a family Triumph for a
> while, and I was unable to convince the wife and kids that a 2000 Saloon was
> a good choice, but won them over with a 1972 MK II Saloon.
Wow Bob, you're sick. I like that in a person!
;-)
Congrats. FWIW, given unlimited time/money, I'd like to have a Triumph
saloon also. I like 2000's and 2500's. Read on...
> The story behind
> this car, as told by the seller, is that a GI bought it in Italy and brought
> it stateside, titled as a 1965 2000, and converted to 1.5" Strombergs. It's
> LHD, and in fairly good shape. The PO rebuilt the engine and tranny, had the
> interior redone and the paint looks OK for now (Valencia Blue), but it has a
> couple of running problems which I must sort out due to mis-matched part
> combinations. has the 150HP PI cam from the rebuild, but the carbs just
> don't match well. I also detect a smell of fuel, but no leaks, and the
> speedo and tach seem off. Anyhow, since the MK II cars were never imported
> into the US, I am wondering if the seller was right in his assertion that
> this is the only LHD MK II Saloon in the USA. Anyone know of others?
Well, I can say without a doubt that there are several others stateside.
FWIW, at Day of Triumph a few years ago... 96 or 97, possibly, there was
a fellow that showed up with a 2.5 PI saloon. Ironically, it was blue,
although I'm sorry to say, I don't know valencia blue from a hole in the
wall... but a darker hue of blue. At any rate, it was running with a
fully functional PI system, as the gentleman drove it onto the field.
As soon as he placed his placard on the car, he also brandished a "for
sale" sign with an asking price that was pretty outrageous... like $20k,
if memory serves.
Not to be cruel or anything, but in the course of the day, there were
several references in conversations near that vehicle filled with
expressions like "are you kidding?" and "yeah right, in your dreams" and
the like.
Needless to say, the car did not sell.
I then saw the car advertised several times in Hemmings over the course
of the summer and then in the later summer/early fall, a TR6 showed up on
the VTR web site with a "PI conversion"... the 'phone numbers looked
awfully familiar and all numbers were in the greater Boston area code, 617.
I don't know whatever happened to the car, but to the best of my
knowledge, the car never sold as a 2.5 saloon - but I'll bet someone
picked up the TR6. Hopefully, they understand what they got. And even
more hopefully, I hope the owner of the 2.5 saloon didn't do what I
suspect and crush the thing.
Gives me the heebie-jeeebies just thinking about it.
But there is irony here - one of the scenarios that I had played out in
my mind at the time of this whole series of events was to find an RHD TR6
PI to restore an "repatriate" to England. Unfortunately, what has happened
instead is an RHD PI TR6 has been morphed into an autocrosser.
I guess I'm no better a person that the "saloon man", eh?
But there are 2.5 saloons out there in the US of A, but they are pretty
unusual.
> Bob Kramer
> TR6, TR4A, 2.5 PI Saloon
> rgk@flash.net
rml
_another Bob_
TR6's fast, faster and dead, one of each. Well, maybe two dead ones.
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