I point out that the original on this was from John Mc Cartney, a long time
employee of British Leyland and author of the book "In My Father's
Footsteps". And, I myself care not a whit for the pollution issues or the gas
costs. I keep the TR in the best condition I can. And since I have a degree in
Environmental Bio and I keep my environmental footprint as small as possible
overall, I sleep well.
The TR might well have been scrapped long ago except I am so damn stubborn. I
refuse to give up my long time mechanical partner. And in the long run
avoiding buying new cars and using all the required manufactured products that
got with that I am thus conserving resources. In my lifetime I have owned only
used cars and less then a dozen of them. In the past 37 years I have owned
only 4. A TR-6 a GT-6 a Series III (sold for parts), a Jag XJ-6 Series III
(killed by a rear ender) and the current Jag XJ-8 VDP. I feel no guilt
whatsoever regarding my 2 current vehicles. For better or worse I am bonded to
them. If I can keep up the pace I'll happily keep them until............ Well
until I croak!
Deano
-----Original Message-----
From: nobbc-bounces@autox.team.net [mailto:nobbc-bounces@autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of MAEMLY@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2010 10:30 AM
To: nobbc@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Nobbc] FW: [TR] What cost to give up your Triumph?
(Rhetorical?)
DPaige...............At first I thought your leanings were to the Pollution
created by our inefficient vehicles. But as the statement progressed it's
relationship turned more from protecting the environment to cost of fuel which
is a problem. But since a great many of these cars and I mean our MG Midget as
well are driven but few miles a year in the real scheme of things.
My real point is if you sell off the car and it's a driven item as
opposed to a car put into a Museum or for viewing 95 % of the time then your
just moving it onto the same use you are giving it . It may give all of us a
feeling of satisfaction that we are not polluting the world but someone else
is.
So maybe if the guilt has really gotten to us reduce our trips 50%
and look at it lovingly like we do at our wives as we probably don't drive
them as much as before. There you go we've done our bit for the
environment..........Mel
In a message dated 6/29/2010 8:26:50 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
DPaige@srcity.org writes:
Here's my take on the subject.
As for me, my 1973 TR-6 has not been a hobby for most of it's lifetime.
It's
been an avocation. For most of the TR's life it was a daily driver and then
some. The Red Car as it came to be known has been across the country from
Chicago to Key West, to New York City, 200 miles into Baja, and in 1976 from
Illinois to it's now home of California. Together we hit the 325K milestone
and the 37th year just two weeks ago. My late wife the inimitable Helena once
claimed that I had touched more parts on the TR than on her. This of course
was a gross overstatement but it is evocative of the time I spent keeping the
Red Car and us on the road.
As Helena (H) and I and the Red Car rolled up the Ventura Highway through
Montecito and into Santa Barbara top down on a fabulously sunny morning, with
the Pacific on the left, the exotic scent of jasmine in bloom in the air a
week after Thanksgiving in 76 all I could think was WOW "What a good Idea it
was to pack it up and move to Santa Barbara!" As it turned out it was a GREAT
idea. With $1700 in our pockets we made our home in SB. Both H and I earned
our degrees at U. C. Santa Barbara and the Red Car most always got us to
where we needed to be. Most of those years we were broke and the Red Car at
times suffered for lack of maintenance. The discovery that Moss Motors was
located in Goleta was a blessing. Actual parts were available something that
was near impossible in Chicago.
After a number of years of neglect of crucial maintenance I slowly started
bringing the Red Car back to health. Many obstacles were overcome, many
problems were solved and improvements made. Rarely did I have to resort to
professionals to keep us on the road. It was my responsibility alone to do
the work that kept us rolling.
The Red Car carried us from Santa Barbara to the High Sierra's, to the mud
flats of Morro Bay, to the Baja, to San Francisco, to Oregon and any new
country road we could find. In all the years there were very few strandings.
Details such as a cracked rotor on a late night trip from Santa Barbara to
L.A. were about the worst of it.
Lo, these many years later in Santa Rosa, the Red Car and I continue our
Journeys. The ghost of H rides with me on these sojourns along with a the new
woman in my life the impeccable Maria Pia who surprisingly loves her
roadsters dearly having owned an Alfa Romeo and now owning a BMW 325 CI. We
ride with a host of British car owners of all types on a two week basis every
Saturday through the wine country, up and down the coast and points north,
south and east. The Red Car has never looked or run better. It still sports
its Silverstone mags and as of a couple of weeks ago it is the proud
recipient of a Herman van den Akker Toyota 5 speed transmission conversion.
The Red Car is not just a machine to me. It is a portal to the past and an
opening to the future. Our travels together spin tales of love, triumph,
loss, hope, adventure, tears, joy, and heartbreak.
The cost of fuel is irrelevant in this scheme of things. As long as I am able
to turn a wrench I will look after my long term partner the Red Car. I will
treat it as a member of the family and look after it accordingly. I will not
let the Red Car just sit in the garage. I'll fill the tank and hit the road
when the call of the highway beckons.
And for me... That's the truth of it.
Deano
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