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Re: Birthdays

To: triumphs@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Birthdays
From: Craig Foch <cbfoch@charter.net>
Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2005 10:27:38 -0800
I will be 60 in June, and my 1963 TR4 is my second LBC. The first was a 
1969 Austin America that did not like traveling beyond the city limits 
of Baltimore. It was a fun car to drive, but it always broke down 
whenever it got more than 50 miles from the nearest source of 
replacement parts. I bought it new for $2,000 and sold it two years 
later for $800 with no regrets. I later learned that its automatic 
transmission--which lived in the engine sump and used engine oil for 
its hydraulics--had an expected lifetime only slightly longer than my 
ownership period.

I came close to owning an LBC much earlier, however. My best friend in 
high school had an MG Midget in which we would go tearing around the 
Michigan countryside. A few years later (1964 maybe) I was working as a 
structural ironworker for the summer (sweet job--my dad was in the 
union) while attending college. We spotted a frog-eye Sprite in a 
used-car lot on our way to a job site, and he asked if I wanted to take 
a look at it. Did I! It was in perfect condition,  had been hopped up 
(two carburetors!), and was about $1,000 if I remember correctly. But 
when I sat in it, the top of the windshield frame blocked my vision of 
the road ahead (I am a little over six feet tall, but with a long 
torso), and I knew this wasn't going to work.

I have been barred from many other sports cars (most recently the Mazda 
Miata) for the same reason. German cars, which I worked on 
professionally for a number of years, were always comfortable, but most 
British and Japanese cars were not designed for someone with my 
proportions. I'm not complaining about my height, mind you. But for all 
of you 5'11" and under who always wished you were taller, know that you 
give up a lot for those last few inches!

Craig Foch
San Luis Obispo, CA




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