I'll take a little of that TRF Butt Boy action, John. Talk about nit pickin'!
This isn't exactly a "cheap" hobby we've all selected! If we were looking to
have fun on the cheap we'd be into carts. I take my hat off to TRF. If they
hadn't gotten involved in this business we'd all be in BIG TROUBLE. I can
imagine the crap they must go through trying to get a 1969 "widget" sourced
succesfully and back into production. I'll admit that I've done a double take
at some of the prices but just like the $3,000 coffee maker on the B-1 bomber
we're not talking hundreds of thousands of these things. Just how many GT6+
ID bages can TRF expect to sell! Sure there are bargains out there to be had
and that's what makes this whole thing fun. I remember driving back from the
beach in North Carolina in 1969....waiting in a gravel parking lot for a
friend in an MGB-GT to catch up. I looked down in the footwell and saw what
looked to be a plastic bottle cap. I pitched it out the window and took off
in front of the MGB. Later, back at Ft. Bragg my friend told me that I didn't
have any brake lights. The cap was the top off my brake light switch. I went
to the local dealer and he wanted $15 for a new one. I went to Sears and
found one that looked identical that fit a 1970 Cadillac. Filed a flat on one
end and in it went! Not exactly originality but it was a cheap solution for a
guy who was making $300 a month working for Uncle.
So next time you feel like taking a shot at TRF think about where your next
TR6 part is gonna' come from. These guys are reinvesting part of their
profits to restore production on parts. They could just let the supply
decline and charge higher prices for "rare" out of production parts. John's
right. They price the parts and we the consumers decide if we are going to
pay the prices. WE could source them ourselves from the UK and put up with
the import hassles, duty and probably save a few buks but I'd rather pay
Charles to do that and spend more time driving the GT6+.
Greg Wolf
1970 Triumph GT6+ "Ian"
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