In a message dated 97-07-14 19:19:56 EDT, jruwaldt@indiana.edu (James Charles
Ruwaldt) writes:
> To those of you who've owned your cars for some time,
> I realize this is a hobby where I will have to make fairly
> frequent repairs, but I'm wondering if any of you have found that you
> reach a point, when you get most of the bugs worked out, so that you can
> fairly readily predict when the next repairs will be needed. My mechanic
> says British cars are actually pretty reliable, which goes somewhat
> contrary to everything I've heard.
Jim:
I don't know if 7 years qualifies as a long time, but I have found my '71 TR6
to be very trouble free. I have driven it over 30,000 with only three
failures. I bought the car in a nearly completely restored state. The PO did
an excellent job on those things that he did do. He did not replace or repair
some items, as the ones on the car were deemed to be in good condition. The
alternator and the brake booster are examples of this, and these two items
did fail on me. Considering their age, I didn't feel too bad about that. The
other failure I had was a teriminal burning in two, the result of corrosion.
To this day, I can not figure why that terminal had corrosion on it, when
none of the other terminals did.
I consider my TR6 to be as reliable as any car I've ever owned, and more so
than some. I would not, and do not, hesitate to take the car anywhere, on a
moments notice. I carry a good selection of tools, and spare parts, but no
more than I would on any car.
I have driven the car to Florida 8 times, including two trips to Key West, a
round trip distance of about 2400 miles. I have driven it to Pennsylvania 3
times, and once each to Indiana, Kentucky, Delaware, and Georgia. (The only
reason I haven't driven it more places is because I have an MGBGT that I
drive just as much, and is just as reliable)
There is more routine maintainence required with this car than, say, my
wife's Volvo, but certainly not a lot. Besides, The most difficult job on the
TR6 is easier than most of the simple jobs on a newer car.
Dan Masters,
Alcoa, TN
'71 TR6---------3000mile/year driver, fully restored
'71 TR6---------undergoing full restoration and Ford 5.0 V8 insertion - see:
http://www.sky.net/~boballen/mg/Masters/
'74 MGBGT---3000mile/year driver, original condition
'68 MGBGT---organ donor for the '74
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