Well, miracles never cease!
Decommissioned from racing in 1985, and after a near decade long
restoration process...
Today we fired up the ole hound.
My dad's "you could have bought a Ferrari for the same amount" restoration
met its symbolic (near) completion today.
Wow... This is the car that started everything for me; kindled this undying
affection for Triumph masochism, made me a GT6 fiend, and sent me on this
path of racing these cars of all too unforgotten dreams.
Yep, my pop bought it off the showroom floor in 1968.
Drove it regularly till he started racing it in the early 1970's.
And raced it until 1985.
Then it sat around... first for a few years in the garage. Then for a
couple decades standing on its firewall in the shed; "The Kingdom of the
Possum's"...Lots and lots of creepy hissing Possums came out of that shed.
Anyway, It was always a nice car. But the years in the shed and the years
at the track had taken its toll.
The car was completely 100% restored bolt by bolt, my dad's way.
Ultimately, his work ends in perfection... The hard way.
Usually, it would be far easier and much cheaper, had it been done by
anyone with tact; not to mention with much less bickering and
foul-mouthed swearing.
To his credit, the car is beautiful. Everything is perfect and original in
its stock appearance.
After a couple weeks of final tweaks to get it it ready, we couldn't get it
started.
I found some stuff that was way wrong over the past few nights.
This was wrong, that didn't match, this leaks... etc.
After a carb rebuild and some messing around with a couple
different distributors, the whole project came into focus today when it
fired up.
Unfortunately, the nice new muffler makes it sound kind of wimpy, as I was
standing there adjusting the carbs I could barely hear the exhaust note
over the air buzz of that dull-yellow, front facing blast fan.
Turns out, to my surprise, a motor that is moth-balled properly can
withstand a 27 year hibernation.
He took the original motor out when he started racing and put in the
basement.
I didn't believe that that old cat would even start.
But sure enough, the car is alive after a 27 year pause.
So, this car now looks brand new (it really does) and is presented in it's
flawless "showroom stock" trim..
I'm pretty excited to have this car finally done and glad that I didn't
have to use my wallet to finish it..
Comparatively, in its original "skinny" showroom condition, it hearkens
back to an earlier competition style (kind of wussy) but is quite good
looking.
Most importantly it is holding a steady "60" oil pressure and starts easily.
Today is a, long awaited, good day for Friendly Ghost Racing.
Jason Ostrowski
GT6 Nut head.
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