Greetings All:
On 30 Jun 67, age 22, while riding in a U.S. Army M151, 1/4 T (Jeep), on
the way home from turning in my field artillery battery's monthly
payroll, I saw a TR4 on the rear row of a used car dealer's lot near
Hanau, (then West) Germany. We stopped, I took a test drive and it was
all over. As quickly as possible, I got a local driver license,
negotiated a loan, and on 17 Jul 67, for US$1,699.00, I bought TR4
CT38895LO, the first car I ever owned 100%. As I type, this TR4 is
resting quietly in my garage in suburban Chicago.
In a short while (didn't seem short then) the TR4 transported my new
wife from the church on our honeymoon to the lakes district of northern
Italy and in due course brought home the new mother and daughter from
the 97th General Hospital in Frankfurt am Main. In 69 it was shipped
from Bremen to Bayone, New Jersey, USA, and driven to upstate New York
where I met my new wife's family for the first time. Than on to
Atlanta, Georgia (infant daughter riding behind the seats in a wicker
basket) where it served as the sole family car for the next 4 years -
not always to the complete agreement of my wife - although she's my wife
until today.
By the late '70s the TR4 was seldom driven but always maintained in
reasonable condition. It was trucked to the Chicago area along with our
other household goods in 1988, (I was working in Asia) and frame-off
restored in the middle '90s. Each of our three daughters learned to
drive using the TR4 (their boyfriends, etc., generally didn't know how
to drive a std trans car) and they each used it while in high school on
special occasions.
Since I stopped working seriously about 5 years ago, I've spent a lot
more time driving the TR4. For example, last April I drove it to
Tallahassee to attend the SE VTR Convention and managed to blow a head
gasket on the way home, just north of Nashville - as I reported to the
list. Amazingly, I'll be 60 years old in 31 days and the TR4 predates
almost everything else. I'm truly looking forward to the end of winter
and the start of the driving season. Here's a link to some photos of my TR4:
http://tinyurl.com/4wzov
brgds, Jay
'64 Triumph TR4 since '67
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