Hi,
I'm sure you got lots of wisdom from the Triumphs list, but I wanted to add
a few things.
One: the purpose of the journey is not to arrive.
If you don't like working on cars or you don't derive satisfaction from
doing so, you are about to embark on a nightmare of the highest order. If
you are into working on cars, if you are into details, if you get
satisfaction from doing things yourself, then the rewards of a project of
this magnitude will be great indeed. If you need further explaination, I'd
be more than happy to elaborate. But the point is - some folks like to
journey, some folks like to arrive. You have to make the choice.
Two: if you are really into details, if you are (and I don't mean this as a
"dig" to anyone) really anal - then a concours restoration may be the thing
for you. What this really means is that when Carlisle (or other car flea
market comes along) you will be most happy digging through the piles of
stuff and a big reward might be finding a perfect TR250 hood ornament or
other "find'. When you get the car to "near 400 point" (we're talking VTR
400 point system here), then you'll achieve some level of satisfaction. Or
when you dig through an obscure book and find out the documented color of
the tape for the wiring harness and then you spend 300 hours re-taping the
wires so that the car is "correct"... that would be a big win for the
concours person....
Three: if you like to drive your car, the satisfaction will come on that
first Spring day when you slip into your car, you turn the key and the car
jumps to life. You'll be smiling big time while you explore new roads in
your car.
So, it depends on what you are into. That's one of the big draws of the
"car thing" to a lot of us. It's not that there is some singular kind of
"automotive nirvana", au contraire! There's appeal to folks that like to
burn rubber, there's appeal to folks that like to shine thier cars 'till
the paint rubs off, there's auditory appeal, there's sensory overload (try
driving 14 hours in one day through all of New England with the top down on
a crisp Autumn day.
The appeal is all of them.
I just wish there was enough time to fully experience all of them...
But I want to underscore: make sure you are doing this because you want to
- you'll be spending a _lot_ of your free time for the next year(s) putting
your car together. A _lot_ of time.
Later,
rml
TR6's
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