Charles Duckworth writes:
>Two of us were discussing today when we first were 'bitten' by the Triumph
>bug and was wondering how some of the others on the lists decided on a
>Triumph vs another make of car.
The bug hit me in High school in the late 60's. There were two camps:
the group who liked cars that accelerated (But handled like s**t) and
those who liked cars that can handle the turns. I was definitely in
the later camp. I remember one guy in the other camp saying "I'd
rather have the pickup than the curves." (I didn't know if he was
referring to cars or women.) ;-)
When I graduated form H.S. I bought half interest in my sister's 65
MG. I later acquired it outright. I cut my teeth on that car. I
did everything to that car, engine, transmission, rear axle, bodywork,
suspension, electrical, hydraulic, you name it. My wife (girl friend
at the time) hated that car. We eventually married and moved into an
apartment and I had to sell that car after 7 years and 70,000 miles.
I was LBC-less for 5 years and after I bought a house I started looking.
This time (remembering a friend in high school who had a TR4 that
literally launched itself off the line) I found a 63 TR4. Nice car!
It was a rust free, straight car from Colorado with no interior and in
primer. I drove that car for two years until a kid in a Cutlass 442
crunched it (remember the two camps above).
I bought a 71 TR6 to replace it (and I still have that car 13 years
later. I did everything to that car, engine, transmission... and
after two rebuilds I have a fun driver with plenty of potential but
still a nice car. I bought a really nice original TR6 a few years
later but it was too nice. I couldn't bring myself to put a lot
of miles on a car that nice. I just recently traded it off for a TR3
which serves as a contrast to the TR8 I just bought.
So there you have it. I got into LBC's because I was destined to. I
got into Triumphs because they fill that niche better than the others.
I keep thinking I would like to branch out and get a Lotus and a Mark
II Jag (yeah, right! like where am I going to get THAT kind of money!)
but I keep coming back to TR's.
Could be worse.
Dave Massey
St. Louis, MO
57 TR3
71 TR6
80 TR8
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