Greetings,
The only difficulty I had importing my '64 TR4, in the Spring of '69,
was
finding the yard near Bayone, NJ, where it was parked along with maybe
500 other
cars awaiting retrieval by their military or US Gov. employee owners. I
have
zero memory of any troublesome bureaucratic paperwork or customs
requirements. Some of the
cars at the yard were considerably worse for wear. When I eventually
found my
TR4 by walking up and down the rows, to my complete amazement, the case
of
Chivis Regal whiskey (about $3.50 a quart at the military class VI store
as I
recall) I'd put in the locked trunk was present and intact. As it
turned out,
the car's tool kit and spare tire were also unmolested. Frankly, at the
time the 12 bottles of
1st class scotch whiskey were vastly more cherished than the Triumph
tool kit. I
know some others (Art Kelley I think) have mentioned that their tool kit
was
pilfered in trans-Atlantic shipment. Looking back, the TR4 and the case
of whiskey about
defined my material net worth at that time.
The TR4 had a new, substantial crease just over the right rear wheel, in
the
sheet metal. Before I left the dockside storage yard, I filed a claim
for
$175.00 against the German insurance company that I'd bought ocean
shipping
insurance from and, again to my absolute amazement, about 3 months later
I
received a check for the claimed amount.
Although the car had been out of my
possession for about 2 months, I reconnected the battery, poured in a
gallon of
gasoline (the tank supposedly was to be drained for shipment - as it
turned out
still it had a 1/4 tank of European gasoline),opened the choke, turned
the key
to put electricity to the starter motor, and she started right up. I
subsequently drove up to a small town up river from West Point, NY,
where for
the first time I met my Mother & Father in law and rejoined my then new
wife and
infant daughter. The TR4 became our only family car for the next 3 yrs.
Today I have the same wife and the same pre-wife TR4. To this day my
wife does not like the TR4.
brgds, Jay
'64 TR4 CT38895LO
Gerald Van Vlack wrote:
> Jay, That's an interesting little bit of information. What if any difficulty
> did you have importing the TR into the States if any. I assume you did this
> during the mid to late 60's, is that correct?
> Jerry Van Vlack
From: Scott Tilton <sdtilton@yahoo.com>
To: jholekamp@attglobal.net
That's so cool that you have that unique a history with that car. Got
any good
stories to share?
I bet you do.
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