Bill,
If only I lived in the US!!
Please dont break this car, it sounds far to good. I know how much
this would be worth in the UK.
My TR4 which is an ex US east coast car cost a lot more than $195
and I am not sure it was in such good condition.
Please keep me informed as to its final fate.
John
At 11:52 AM 5/13/99 -0500, Bill Miller wrote:
>
>Listers, especially you TR4 owners,
>
>I have a dilemma. A while back, while searching for parts for my spitfire,
>I came across what was left of a TR4. This thing had no doors, bumpers,
>trunk, and about 5' of trash dumped in it. The hood (bonnet) was on it and
>in excellent shape. When I finally got it off, the engine compartment was
>very complete and original. Then I offered it to the list. I got several
>replies asking for bits and pieces, manifolds, engine, transmission, drive
>shaft, axles, etc. When I went back to the salvage yard, the guy said get
>what I want now, because it was going to be crushed. He'd take $195 for the
>motor and tranny. The rest of the stuff he was not really interested in.
>After some haggling back and forth, he told me to take the whole car, and
>take the parts off on my time, he needed the space. Last Saturday, I went
>to go get it. After I got it loaded on the trailer, the guy at the
>scrapyard yelled "hey, don't forget the rest of the junk" and led me around
>to corner. He gave me the windscreen frame, the doors, the bumpers, luggage
>rack, and two boxes of misc. parts and pieces. The doors are like new, no
>rust except a very little surface, the chrome is straight and really in
>decent shape. I took my "treasures" home and started cleaning out the
>trash. To my surprise, the floor pans are solid; I found the original jack,
>ratchet, gauges, and even the "push" type grease gun. The title says this
>car has only 16,000 original miles. The speedo agrees. I think it's true,
>because the engine compartment is original down to the Lucas coil (old
>logo), Lucas fuses, and radiator! The washer bottle even still has fluid in
>it. Now here is my dilemma. I (now) think this car is quite restorable.
>And is fairly complete. It will take somebody with bodywork experience and
>a whole lot of TLC. The sills will need replacing, as well as the back
>fenders. The front fenders although rusty (all the paint on this car was
>stripped off at some point and let set outside) appear to be mostly solid.
>The interior is pretty much gone as it sat outside, piled with trash,
>although some of the carpet is useable. I really don't have the time to do
>it and I have two other projects in the works. Now here is where the
>dilemma comes in. I know I could make some money for my spit projects by
>parting it out, I'm sure there are people out there wanting original parts
>that I now have. But if this is in fact restorable, I would much rather
>see it on the road someday, than parted out. My wife says I have a soft
>heart (and head) for Triumphs. Perhaps she's right. What should I do?
>Part it out? Sell it to someone else who has time to restore it now? Tarp
>it and "get to it someday" myself? I'm afraid that if I leave it set for
>years, what is good now won't be good then. I plan to change the fluids and
>run the engine this weekend. It's not stuck and looks really good through
>the oil filler cap, still coated. I'm positive I'll get it running. Any
>thoughts or suggestions will be appreciated.
>
>
>Bill Miller
>65 TR4 CT32080L
>
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