Tom,
It sounds like he pretty much nailed it!!!
Joe
Tom Winslow wrote:
>
> I also belong to a GMC Motorhome mailing list and sometimes use the Triumph
> Signature file at the end of my messages. I thought that you might enjoy the
> note I got today. I laughed all the way through it.
>
> TW
>
> --
> Thomas P. Winslow
> 1966 TR4A IRS - CTC57665L <> 1968 TR250 - CD4783L <> 1968 TR250 - CD5272L <>
> 1980 MGB LE GVVDJ2AG503563
> 189 Hicks Creek Road, Troutman, NC 28166
> h704-528-5868 * f704-528-5868 * p704-878-1157
> E-Mail: winslow@vnet.net * tom_winslow@msn.com
> Web Page: http://www.iredell.com/triumph.html <>
> http://www.iredell.com/gmc4sale.html
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: RickStapls@aol.com [mailto:RickStapls@aol.com]
> Sent: Monday, October 26, 1998 12:29 PM
> To: tom_winslow@msn.com
> Subject: Triumphs
>
> Tom,
> With all the discussion of signatures on the GMC-net, I couldn't help
> noticing yours. 3 Triumphs!? 2 TR250s?? I assume you're familiar with the
> term "patience of Job"....
> Though I confess that I tend to agree with the customer who once
> exclaimed
> "Only the Brits would have the gall to call that a Triumph!", I do
> empathize
> with your hobby (after all, I have a GMC, and so shouldn't throw stones).
> ;-)
> Moreover, you brought back memories (some happy...) of the summer of
> 1968,
> between semesters at UMass Amherst, when I worked as a grease monkey in the
> now long-defunct Triumph dealer in Northampton, MA. As I recall, I was the
> first person there to have the joy of changing a TR250 oil filter. (I did
> get
> the canister and all out, WITHOUT drilling or cutting any body work!) I
> seem
> to remember something about installing a grease fitting to lube the steering
> racks, but having to reinstall the factory plug as it secured a couple of
> ground wires. Bit of a pain.
> I came back to Mon-Cen Motors, as it was called, briefly the next summer,
> and then again when I was forced to drop out of UMass in ~'71. In that
> stint,
> I got promoted to parts manager, when the old mgr. died. For about 2 years
> I
> was a totally untrained Triumph (and Renault and Peugeot!) parts manager. I
> recall the new ~'72 TR6 that came off the truck with a rod knock. After
> much
> haggling with the Triumph people, we got authorization to tear down the
> engine, only to discover that the oil passage to the front main bearing
> (and
> thence the #1 rod journal) had never been drilled at the factory. Refusing
> to
> authorize a new short block, Triumph (or their rather independant
> distributor,
> Genser-Forman) insisted that we DRILL A NEW OIL PASSAGE THROUGH 2" OF CAST
> IRON BY HAND! Doubt if they ever got all the chips out, but it ran!
> I could go on, but, as Tolkien wrote in The Lord of the Rings, "...my
> heart
> bodes that, ere all is ended, you, Frodo son of Drogo, will know more of
> these
> fell things than (I).." 8^) I'm sure you have your grease gun full of gear
> oil to properly lube the trunnions (Don't worry, neither did the
> dealer.)....
> But on a sunny day, when you clean off the windscreen, fold down the hood
> and snap the tonneau over it, stow a picnic in the boot, check under the
> bonnet, and motor off into the country, it's all worth it. Just don't dent
> a
> wing, or you'll need a date with the panel-beater! Oh, and though you
> probably already know it, recall the song sung by a Triumph driver when he
> spins out: "Hark, the Herald Axles Swing"! 8-O Ducking for cover, I
> say...
>
> Good luck, hope the rust doesn't get to your scuttles,
>
> Rick Staples,
> '75 Eleganza, Louisville, CO
--
"If you can't excel with talent, triumph with effort."
-- Dave Weinbaum in National Enquirer
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