• 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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Glad to join the club

D.Brancaleone

Freshman Member
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Hi all, I'm David, and after several months searching here in Europe, well, UK, Ireland, and Holland, I found a car I really liked, a May 1960 TR3A. It was one of three or four I singled out. Why?
I liked its lowered head to 9.5. The engine mods, rally cam, and rebuilt SU, the fact that it has the extra power, but no rust. Restored a long time ago, but kept really well. There are a few things to add, but the cost needs to be spread out over time. My wife has to be initiated into teh joys of TR motoring, top down and fast, all year round, rain or shine. So we'll wait awhile.

I should say that I used to own a TR2 for many years, way back when. Now I'm in contact with the current owner.
After the first owner rallied it from new, and it was rallied up to the 1990s, the car got major, expensive mods (not mine). ANd then?
Then nothing. The current owner has sent me the 1955 photo of the car during a night rally in Scotland where the car was registered and bought by a headmistress. She's at the wheel. See below. I asked Phil if he'd sell it, but no. So it sits, gets polished, and driven to events. Sad, no? I think so. Then again, what if people like that didn't exist? How many more TRs would be "parts cars" today, rust buckets. So at least it's in Limbo, and maybe one day Phil will sell. But I won't be interested any longer. I just hope the car gets used again.

I was an active TR Register club member in Oxford and was attracted to rallying and used the car every day, and commuted to my job. The car was parked in the street. It had been shoddily restored, but when it didn't go wrong, as in the headlights going out at 100mph on the way to Le Mans, and the navigator, a South African, cool as a cucumber, wiggling the cables under the dash, then after several seconds that seemed like minutes or longer came back on, it was great. Oh, then there was the time the soldered gear stick came off in my hand in the middle of a roundabout and the supposedly rebuilt A Type Laycock-De Normanville gave up the ghost, and a few other incidents at the back of my mind, somewhere. Then I did some autotests (could have done better), and night rallies. Exhilarating!

The TR world divides into these categories, in my view, and I know which one I belong to. The first is the one of people who put the car into long-term storage, maybe for investment, then those who have given up a total restoration, but can't bear to let it go, then those who are summer only people, then the concours shiners, the daring rebuilders who made it (deserving of much respect), and then people who like to sue the car all the time and rally it when they get a chance. That was the old me and maybe the new old me, old in a new sense, pardon the play on words.

Years back, I edited a short-lived "Early TRs" bulletin with a friend and fellow TR2 owner. Eventually, it was published as an insert in TRAction.

For months, I have been a serious lurker. After the Early TR time warp, I see that now you can get a rack and steering setup, without having to find a Morris Marina in a breaker's yard and other mods that look very useful.
At first I believed in originality, then I lost interest. Now I believe in practicality. Power, torque, reliability and aiming for engineering perfection.

I learn a lot from all the technical discussions. Sus vs Weber, but what about Dellortos? Headers replacing cast iron standard TR exhaust manifolds, 4-2-1 set ups, wrapped, and so on. I don't know, I find all this fascinating. :smile:
 

DavidApp

Yoda
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Hello David

Welcome to the forum.

Sounds like you have had a long association with TRs.

You have probable already found that the Triumph section is very active.

I had a TR2 back in the late 1960s that was so rusty I was always afraid my feet would drag on the road. It got rear ended by a morris minor which sent it to car heaven. Wish I had kept it or the parts.
On another note I was brought up in Waterville Co. Kerry.

David
 
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