Hi all,
First thanks for the info on the book...I will call Bentley today !!
Bob,
My father and I have a few sportscars...'67 TR 4A, '73 TR 6, '74 MGB, and
a '80 Triumph Spitfire. They range in condition from almost drivable...to
needing a frame off restoration ...ie the TR 4A. The TR 4A has been in the
family since about 1977. I have had the other three since about 1988.
The TR6 was a bad buy, since its frame had rusted where the rear trailing
arms attach. So I had no choice but to pull the body off and strip the
frame down. I took the frame to a welder who did an excellent job of
replacing the rusted out pieces. I then had the whole frame sand blasted
and painted the bare chassis in my front yard!! I was in high school then,
so it was a lot of work but a lot of fun too. The body had some rust on the
rear deck lid, rear valance, rear inner door post...rockers....etc, etc.
I put a lot of work in the damn thing, but when I left college to come
work in Texas, I left it at my parents house in Kentucky. So I was thinking
that since I have an extra set of fenders for the TR6...the originals were
somewhat rusty ...I thought it might make a great little vintage racer.
Since it is already been stripped to the ground, I can get at most things,
and add stuff pretty easily...like a roll bar, etc.
The engine has been rebuilt, but not started yet. I also have access to
a mig welder...which I used during most of the work on it, and a compressor
for painting.
My TR 4A is an original car with a stripped body for restoration...but
restoration never continued...my brothers started that one!! But overall
the TR 4 is in excellent shape compared with the TR6. At the time when
I bought the TR6, I should have kicked myself and just started working on
restoring the TR4.
My MGB was driven my myself in high school and college. It has a good body,
and a rebuilt engine and gear box that I just put back in during the
Thanksgiving break last week.
So the question is which one to build into a vintage racer for next year??
The MGB would be the easiest, but I like the TRs because they are usually
less represented.
David
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