A close call!!

Last Saturday on our "last Saturday of the month drive"
We had a very close call. There was four of us LBC guys, a Mgb, TR3, TR3 and a Austin Healey. WE had our breakfast and were ready for the road, going thru the back roads around here are a lot of fun, two lanes, windey ups and downs. Long story short is that the TR3 behind me came in to the corner a little fast and the backend came around he over corrected a bit and went up the embankment and into a barbed wire fence. The driver is o.k. (no physical injuries) but his award winning TR3 is banged up pretty bad, He was able to drive it home with no ill effects. But it made us all think how lucky
we were, A roll over was very possible and we all know that that would not end well. We are not race drivers and we are driving 50+ year old cars. Most of us are 50+ too. It might be a good idea at the begining of a new year to reflect on the fun of the cars we drive, slow down and smell the oil. The TR3 will be repaired but I belive we all had a moment of clairty, Life is to short, don't help to speed up the inevitable.
Have a great year and drive safe!

Wow - I'm glad only the car was banged up.

Thanks for the reminder Dan.

From 1959 to 1965, I rallied my 1958 TR3A extensively. For regional rallies, I didn't drive the TR. We had a sponsor who suppied us with a Renault R-8. I was the navigator and I used to say to my driver, "Roger, It's Okay - slow down, drive sefely - I'd rather be 20 seconds late than 60 years too early!"

In the 1963 Rallye de l'Echo, I was driving my TR3A and ran into a fence-post at 3 AM where the road took a turn at the top of a hill and the tension in the fence wires held us from going down a 20 foot embankment into the raging white waters of the Riviere Rouge. See attachment below. It was scary but we finished.

BTW that bumper and front apron are still on my car today.

And this is what it looked like at VTR in 2007 where I was awarded 2nd in class.

eeep. Glad of no personal injuries.

Had so many close calls I shouldn't be here. Or I should write a book...

Glad everyone in each story had a story left to tell.
Don. amazed you've had the same car so long and it looks so great today.
When purchased new the car came with Black/red interior/ and a fawn top? Or did you add the top with that color later on?

Didn't realise you had done that too, Don.

I still have my original apron, but the bumper didn't make it back onto the car. This happened on my way to a club event during a sudden downpour.
I still compete in the odd rally. I'm not sure that they are any more dangerous than normal road driving, particularly with the standard of driving of many these days.

Nick,
heartbreaking but glad no one was hurt of course.
You've always had that paint scheme? And the red wheel was the spare so the car was once signal red?

prb51 said:

Nick,
heartbreaking but glad no one was hurt of course.
You've always had that paint scheme? And the red wheel was the spare so the car was once signal red?

Click to expand...

That was a few years ago. I bought the car from a dealer in Texas. Its first owner lived in Memphis and kept the car until '75. She gave it to her brother-in-law who painted and re-trimmed it. It was originally white, but he chose the two tone and red wheel combination. I have kept the black and white, just to be different, but I couldn't live with the red wheels! They are back to silver.
When I bought the car it had previous accident damage to the rear. The day I picked the car up after having it beautifully repaired I did the damage above!! Had I known that shortly I would be re-painting the front, I may have decided to put it back to white all over when I had the rear repaired!

Black/white with red wheels! Quite a statement....the black/white looks unique tho and understated for a two tone Nick, resprays are a pain and expensive.

Dan, I'm glad no one was injured. The car can be fixed . . .

I think the difficult part about driving LBCs is the difference of its handling characteristics from modern cars. Six days a week we drive modern cars, then on Sundays (actually far less often for most of us) we drive our LBC and sometimes forget that we're in a 30, 40 or 50+ year old car. That can be a painful mistake!

I'm with Dan: enjoy the ride and watch your speed! Virtually every system on your LBC is inferior to your modern Ford/Chevy/etc. In some cases, systems are dangerously inferior in comparison. Braking and handling are certainly near the top.

I always think of it this way when I want to go fast: the faster I go, the sooner I arrive at my destination (which shortens the time in my LBC)!

Slow down and enjoy the ride, my friends. :thumbsup:

prb51 - My TR3A came black with a red inteior and a fawn top and stick cover. I still use the original stick cover but the I bought a new tan Robbins top in 1989 and had the sidecurtains re-done by Larry Learn near Roadster Factory and since then, I've had the top up more at VTR and TRA concours shows than on the road in the rain. That's why in the 2007 view above it still looks new. It has been stored in the "boot" for 98% of the 102,000 miles I've driven since 1990.

If you compare the two photos, you will see how the new tan top is slightly different in colour than the original top colour in the 1963 photo.

Here is my original stick cover last summer.

Don,
Your car always looks great, I guess having one concerned owner all of these years made the diff.
I didn't look it up but thought the black/red/fawn unusual but it does look great.
I suspect a black top/weather gear would be more usual.
Interesting to as the lift the dots are oriented north south from the factory and I've had many tell me they should be east west from center line (two orientations depending on side).
Good stuff.