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DanMathisen
Freshman Member
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In the late 1970's, my brother bought a TR4A. Sometime in the mid-1980's, the car was totaled and went to British car heaven. However, the hardtop survived and still hangs in my father's garage, untouched 35+ years. My father would like to reclaim that corner of the garage for other uses some decade soon.
We took it down and unwrapped it last month (Sept'12). It is in surprisingly good shape, however the rubber gasket is hardened and cracked in places. There are almost no other blemishes. We took several pictures of it, then rewrapped it and hung it back up in the garage.
Without the matching vehicle, my family is interested in understanding the best and proper way to get this into the hands of someone that could use it. We do not want to dump it anywhere as we suspect it might have some value, either monetary or restorative, to a Triumph owner. I have read about hardtops that are "replacement" or non-originals, but I have no way of telling how I can distinguish whether it is original or genuine to the car. There were no obvious markings that indicated a manufacturer to me.
Thus, we have several questions for the experts here:
1 - How do we find someone that can make best use for this hardtop?
2 - Is it reasonable that we just post it on E-Bay motors at no reserve and see what happens? If not, are there other/better venues for matching this to someone?
3 - If we find someone, presuming that same person is not in Omaha NE, how do we best get this to them at a reasonable cost?
4 - How do we tell who made this hardtop and whether it is original/genuine to the car?
5 - I understand the value of the hardtop is whatever the market will pay for it, but how would we estimate whether it is a fair or good trade if we do find a place to sell it?
This is my first post here, so really eager to see how it goes. Please know I appreciate any help or advice offered here.
We took it down and unwrapped it last month (Sept'12). It is in surprisingly good shape, however the rubber gasket is hardened and cracked in places. There are almost no other blemishes. We took several pictures of it, then rewrapped it and hung it back up in the garage.
Without the matching vehicle, my family is interested in understanding the best and proper way to get this into the hands of someone that could use it. We do not want to dump it anywhere as we suspect it might have some value, either monetary or restorative, to a Triumph owner. I have read about hardtops that are "replacement" or non-originals, but I have no way of telling how I can distinguish whether it is original or genuine to the car. There were no obvious markings that indicated a manufacturer to me.
Thus, we have several questions for the experts here:
1 - How do we find someone that can make best use for this hardtop?
2 - Is it reasonable that we just post it on E-Bay motors at no reserve and see what happens? If not, are there other/better venues for matching this to someone?
3 - If we find someone, presuming that same person is not in Omaha NE, how do we best get this to them at a reasonable cost?
4 - How do we tell who made this hardtop and whether it is original/genuine to the car?
5 - I understand the value of the hardtop is whatever the market will pay for it, but how would we estimate whether it is a fair or good trade if we do find a place to sell it?
This is my first post here, so really eager to see how it goes. Please know I appreciate any help or advice offered here.
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