My dad owned a bar in Ohio for most of my life. This bar had been in the family for a long time -- 50 years when he finally closed it down in 2005. My dad was a generous man (sometimes to a fault) and often let people run up pretty big bar tabs. One time in the early 1980s, this torn up red TR6, filled with leaves and twigs and smelling like gas, pulled up in front of our house and my dad said it was payment for a bar debt that had gotten too high. My mom was not pleased, but my dad LOVED this car immediately. Often, Sunday afternoons were spent driving around the country roads in Ohio (dad, mom, and 3 kids -- no seatbelt laws or child seats back in those days!). This car had a bad habit of not always running and more than once, we ended up walking to find a phone to call someone to come find us.
Fast forward 30ish years and I spent the summer of 2012 in Ohio with my dad to help take care of him while he was fighting cancer. When I arrived in Ohio from Texas, I asked my dad where I might scare up a car to drive for the summer -- He grinned huge and said, "I fixed up the Triumph for you!" I assumed he was joking since I'd never been allowed to drive this car before. But truly, he had gotten someone to get the car running again ... sometimes. It still is pretty torn up, still smells like gas, and still only runs part of the time -- but, he loved watching me drive that car and even tried it himself one day. I've never seen him happier than when he drove that car across town one day, with me following close behind in case it broke down.
When it was clear that my dad was dying last summer and we'd moved him into home Hospice, one of the first things he told me when I got back home was that he wanted to make sure I brought the Triumph back to Texas with me. The picture that ran with my dad's obituary last summer was of him in this car -- everyone commented about how happy he looked in this picture!
I finally had the car delivered to my house in Texas this week and have really no idea where to start with fixing it -- Since Texas has pretty stringent inspection regulations, it may take a while before I can get it legally registered to drive here. I just thought I'd start here to meet other people who have Triumphs and who might be able to pass along a little wisdom from their own experiences with these cars.
Thanks so much!
-Suz
Fast forward 30ish years and I spent the summer of 2012 in Ohio with my dad to help take care of him while he was fighting cancer. When I arrived in Ohio from Texas, I asked my dad where I might scare up a car to drive for the summer -- He grinned huge and said, "I fixed up the Triumph for you!" I assumed he was joking since I'd never been allowed to drive this car before. But truly, he had gotten someone to get the car running again ... sometimes. It still is pretty torn up, still smells like gas, and still only runs part of the time -- but, he loved watching me drive that car and even tried it himself one day. I've never seen him happier than when he drove that car across town one day, with me following close behind in case it broke down.
When it was clear that my dad was dying last summer and we'd moved him into home Hospice, one of the first things he told me when I got back home was that he wanted to make sure I brought the Triumph back to Texas with me. The picture that ran with my dad's obituary last summer was of him in this car -- everyone commented about how happy he looked in this picture!
I finally had the car delivered to my house in Texas this week and have really no idea where to start with fixing it -- Since Texas has pretty stringent inspection regulations, it may take a while before I can get it legally registered to drive here. I just thought I'd start here to meet other people who have Triumphs and who might be able to pass along a little wisdom from their own experiences with these cars.
Thanks so much!
-Suz