• The Roadster Factory Recovery Fund - Friends, as you may have heard, The Roadster Factory, a respected British Car Parts business in PA, suffered a total loss in a fire on Christmas Day. Read about it, discuss or ask questions >> HERE. The Triumph Register of America is sponsoring a fund raiser to help TRF get back on their feet. If you can help, vist >> their GoFundMe page.
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Tips
Tips

New Member New owner of two 1958 TR3s found in a junk yard.

drfrog

Freshman Member
Offline
Since I was 5 years old I have always wanted to own a triumph TR 3 or an Austin Heally 3000. My dad owned a foreign car shop in Ohio when I was a little fellow and to pass time I would play in the TR3, even at an early age I can see the frog eyes and remember how beautiful and odd at the same time that it was. A few weeks ago I stumbled on two of them while I was out of town and stumbled across both TR3s for not much money. The end result 5 hours later they were in my shop. They are both rusted out really bad, and probably in retrospect should of been left to die a peaceful rusting exisitance. I however had other plans for my rust infested friends as I could see potential and remember that the bonnet on one of these was worth the asking price for both cars, how could I go wrong? As I disassebled the car in which I believed to be in the best shape I realized that the only tools that were required were a drill bit and a sawzall, yes they were that rusted. My next step is to build a frame job and build a new frame from scratch, I have a CNC plasma table that I recently built so this should be no problem. Once the frame jig is done then I will build the frame and then attach the body back to the new frame and start my sheel metal fabrication. I have done this before on an MG 1962 however I was kind of surprised at how badly the car had deteriorated. The plus side is the motor was full of anti-freeze and turned over as well as a complete transmission in the car still. Hopefully I can find a tub from someone reasonable in the southeast region. I love these little cars and believe that the journey is more important than the destination. If the project takes 5 years and lots of sheet metal it is all good, as I am a teacher and on a fixed budget it will take a while longer but looking forward to the journey.
 

NutmegCT

Great Pumpkin
Gold
Offline
Hey - welcome to BCF. Sounds like you've got quite an adventure ahead. And I sure do envy you having your own shop; us shade-tree mechanics often have to work between rain drops. Remember, "rust free" just means there's no extra charge for it.

When you're ready to ask questions and post photos, here's our Triumph section:

https://www.britishcarforum.com/bcf/forumdisplay.php?18-Triumph

Good to have you with us.
Tom M.
 

DavidApp

Yoda
Country flag
Offline
Hello drfrog

Welcome to the forum.

The Triumph section is very active so you are sure to get plenty of tips and advice for your project.
Start a thread of your progress so we can follow along with you on your journey. A lot of these projects take years but it is worth it when you drive your rescued TR3. Do you know what year it is?

Post some photos of your starting point.

David
 
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