• 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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Sold my TR-3A to get married, bought it back 25 years later.

ljstack

Freshman Member
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Hi everyone, thanks for letting me join the fun. Back in 1976 I joined the Navy and went through flight training in Pensacola. A fellow had a XK-120 for sale, looked nice, but I couldn't afford the $6K he wanted for it. A friend of mine suggested the "poor mans Jaguar" a TR-3. I purchased a TR-3B in Florida, and a few years later in 1985 I also purchased a TR-3A from my buddy who recommended the TR-3 in the first place. A lot (1,010) of carrier landings later (in an EA-6B Prowler) I sold my B, but kept the A (the guy who bought the B subsequently totaled the car in an accident). I shipped my TR-3A to Japan when I was stationed there and enjoyed driving it around Tokyo and the surrounding countryside. Coming back to the USA I got married in 1994, but funds were tight and I reluctantly sold my TR-3A to pay for the wedding. However, I always kept in touch with the guy who bought the car and offered to buy it back multiple times over the years to no avail. Finally, in March of 2019 he offered to sell it back. I bought it sight unseen and went to CA ready it for shipping to SC. It was an exciting moment to see it again after all those years. Mice had filled the engine cylinders with grains of rice, and the headers and exhaust system as well. They ate the seats, and the wiring harness, the ignition wires, and made mouse condominiums throughout the car - in the trunk, the main compartments, the glove compartment, the side door pockets. The shoes were fused to the brake drum, the brake and clutch cylinders were full of dark brown sludge as well as all the lines. The fuel tank had copper colored goop in it and a paper grocery bag - I don't know why. The car had started rusting away as well. Other than that, the car was fine and back where it belongs. I still haven't gotten it started, but I'll figure it out! Thanks for listening!
 

NutmegCT

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LJ - welcome to BCF. You have *quite* a story - and I felt the same about the "poor man's Jaguar" thing. That's why I got my own TR3 back in the day.

Rice in the cylinders, fused shoes and drums, brown sludge in the lines, paper grocery bag in the fuel tank. Yep, sounds typical!

Welcome (back) to the family.
Tom M.

Edit: over 1000 carrier landings. Wow. I'm a volunteer at New England Air Museum. If you're ever in the neighborhood ....

www.neam.org
 

DavidApp

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Hello LJ

Welcome to the forum.

The story sounds familiar. I went looking for a XK120 in the UK in 1967 or there abouts. Could not afford it so I settled on a TR2 Drove that one and a replacement one after the first was totaled when someone rear ended me for over 100,000 miles.

You will find the Triumph section is very active and you will get plenty of help, tips and advice for your TR restore journey.

Post some photos of your starting point.

David
 

EricG

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Welcome! Yes please post mouse photos-they sure make a mess of things. You have a very active British car club in Myrtle Beach.
Come to our Columbia SC British car club's British car show on April 6th to see lots of British cars. Thanks for your service! Eric
 
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