To the Triumph List,
Thanks to 28 years at a large American corporation I will have the opportunity
to begin restoring my '61 TR3A beginning in January 99. It has been sitting
in my garage for ten years, waiting for college tuition payments to cease.
My goal is to do a frame up restoration with the overall quality falling
between a driving restoration and local show car restoration. Due to other
commitments, I have approximately 12 to 18 months to rebuild the TR. Longer
than that and I risk it being a basket car.
This will be the biggest restoration/rebuild task I have tried and I would like
to minimize the screw ups. I will be able to devote as much time as I need to
this task, minus a few honey do's.
My plans are to farm out the motor rebuild and external body paint job. My
intentions are to spend the next three months trying to plan the restoration
process and get prepared before I place a wrench to the TR. As a result, I
have a 1001 questions and concerns.
If possible, I would like to ask the advice of those of you who have been down
this road.
1. What books or manuals are absolute requirements or must have's?
(I do have "How to restore British Sports Cars" by Jay Lamm.)
2. How successful are the new digital cameras for taking pictures of the
car during the tear down?
3. Are there any decisions that you made that you now realize to be very
good decisions and would recommend them to someone else?
4. Any bad choices or decisions that you would be willing to share?
5. I believe that there is a book that details a frame up restoration for
MG's. Is there a similar book or manual that talks specifically about TR3s?
I will gladly compile any and all answers and provide them back to the list.
In advance, thank you for any and all assistance you can provide.
Thomas Rippel
JTRIPPEL@CSI.com
Half Moon Bay, Ca
61 TR3A (TS66670)
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