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Bob's story, and Leon's too...was the influence of a British Car

To: triumphs@Autox.Team.Net, LANG@ISIS.mit.edu
Subject: Bob's story, and Leon's too...was the influence of a British Car
From: GuyotLeonF <GuyotLeonF@aol.com>
Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 18:09:40 EDT
> I don't even know why I wrote this.
> 
> Have a nice day!!!
> 
> And drive your Triumph!!!!!
> 
> Bob Lang
> TR6's

Bob, I concur with others, I liked your story too.

I might point out that my late father helped me buy my '67 Triumph Herald
Convertible as a 'good starter car' for me to learn with, (to drive and
maintain) back on 8th March '81 with 79,000 miles on it.,I was 22 years old
and started my first real job the next day. I won't say how many young ladies
have travelled around with me in that car, but (natural) Blonde hair matches
Signal Red pretty well :-)
Only one of them said, "it's The car or me" ...bye.
Needless to say, I do not presently have a partner, but I still have my Herald
just about ripe for it's third restoration, this time all the way! ooer!
But she now has 220,000 miles on her, and I still love driving my little
Herald every bit as much as the day I first drove her.(The Herald).
She has in the past won Concours prizes for 'car of the day' 'best Herald'
'best modified Herald' etc etc, but at the end of the day tin pots are just
tin pots and it's the driving experience that is important, as well as all the
fine people you meet in the Triumph clubs, and all the adventures you have
driving around.
I also have my 2L Vitesse Convertible, which is also a wonderful car, but
cannot be compared with the Herald as it is a completely different driving
experience!!!
Mind you, I'm still learning to get the best from that car, as it's only
covered just under 3,000 miles since I got it on the road (May '97) as I'm
still fettling the Triple Weber linkages and other mechanical details on this
car.

I have been wondering recently at shows when folk come over and tell me what a
wondeful job I've made of the restored Vitesse, you see the problem is that I
don't consider it to be a restoration, as it is made up out of 11 cars and
bits from autojumbles over 13 years. I never actually started with a whole
car.
So is it a restoration ? or is it a replica ?
The Chassis is from a '70 Vitesse Saloon, the Rear Body-section from a '71
Herald Convertible, the Bulkhead-section from a '69 Herald Convertible, the
doors from a '68 Vitesse Saloon, the engine from a '71 Vitesse Convertible,
the gearbox from a '77 Triumph 2500 Saloon, with parts from TR6 and Dolomite
Sprint, and the bonnet-section from a '63 Vitesse Saloon, oh yes and the
bootlid from a '69 Herald Saloon, I really can't recall where the hood-frame
came from.

If it were a restoration, surely I should have restored a whole car ? whereas
if it were a replica, it would be mostly made up of reproduction/non-factory
parts ?
So perhaps it is a replica of a restoration ? 
If anyone has any ideas, I'd be entertained to hear them ;-)]

As the lady with the flash modern Rover Coupe said to me at the workshop,

"Is that going to be a classic car when it's finished?"

hmmm
Leon F Guyot


  

    


 
     

 
   

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