Nathan,
A good place to find info about what to look for and look out for in virtually
all Triumph models is
at the VTR Web Site;
www.vtr.org
There are sections for most of the Triumph models sold in the US with
historys, buyers guides, and
parts sources.
Having a Triumph as a daily driver is possible but not entirely easy. I know of
several people who have
used Triumphs exclusively with good reliability but, even the best Triumph will
be hard pressed to match
the reliability of a modern car. A friend and fellow club member's "modern" car
was a '57 TR3, his other
car being a '48 1800 Roadster. This required diligent upkeep on his part but
the car was very reliable.
I have a TR7 and it has been very reliable for me, but this was a very nice 1
owner car with only 26k
miles on it when I bought it 3 years ago. In that time I've had to replace the
fuel pump, starter, fuel
injectors, and shocks. I've done much more than that to it but that work was
more in the area of preventative
maintenance/restoration than just fixing what broke. Parts availability for
most models now is better than
when the cars were current and IMHO the prices are reasonable.
In the case of the TR7/8, the TR8 is probably the better car, it is far rarer
than a TR7 and therefore more
expensive and therefore more likely to have been maintained better. The TR7s
weak point is the engine
(see the VTR web site for details) and if it has not been cared for it can be a
nightmare. The good news
about TR7s is that even good ones are pretty cheap, mine cost me $2600 3 years
ago.
All the later Triumphs suffered from poor build quality. The later carburetted
cars have emissions systems
that break down and can really cause a headache. I don't know about Pa., but
out here in Ca. the smog tests
are very restrictive and can make life miserable for late model Triumph owners.
Best advice is to research the cars, talk to owners, join the local Triumph
club ( the best cars are usually
sold by club members to other club members) and be realistic about what you
want and expect.
Cheers,
Kurt Oblinger
koblinger@linkline.com
Redondo Beach, Ca.
54 TR2
54 Swallow Doretti
57 TR3
62 Sports 6 Conv
64 Mini-Cooper 970S
80 TR7 FI Spider DHC
71 Norton 750 Commando
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