Hi Guest!
Hey - did you know if you click on the title of a thread it will take you to the first unread post since you last visited that thread?
but were afraid to ask: 
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smilie in place of the real @
Pretty Please - add it to our Events forum(s) and add to the calendar! >> 
sicklydrooping
Freshman Member
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In 1969 a doctor in Stanford (San Francisco) offered to sell me his TR3 for $150 because he was sure that it needed a new engine. I listened to the exhaust (pop pop pop POP, pop pop pop POP, pop pop pop POP), put on a rubber glove, found the dead spark plug and replaced it. The car ran like new. No surprise, he changed his mind about selling it. AAARGH!!! He was an IDIOT! I should have just bought the car, he would have gone away happy and none the wiser. I have submininably (as George Bush would say) regretted this mistake for 52 years.
About 2 months ago my spouse and I, now resident in France, watched the Elvis Presley film Viva Las Vegas. Ann-Margret hopped into her TR3 without opening the door and drove it off in a cloud of dust.
Nice car! So I decided to put right an old mistake and bought a TR3 that had been imported to France from California in 2019. I was attracted to the ad by a photo of the underneath seeming to show NO rust and NO repairs. The reason for the sale was that owner had entrusted the car to a Maserati dealership that had neither respect for it nor understanding of it. They had supposedly rebuilt the carbureters and charged for the kits which they had not installed. They seemed not to have noticed that one of the jets was stuck and the choke was inoperable; they had set the mixtures so that the car would JUST start cold with much struggle and then produced clouds of black smoke when hot. They had tried to repair the steering, which was much too heavy and had about 20cm of free play, by just replacing the cover of the box, which they then didn't bother to adjust. ETCETERA. So the owner, who normally drives a TR4A, decided that the TR3 was SO much less usable than the TR4 that he sold it, in the apparent belief that its faullts were basic traits of the model.
NOW we have this TR3 and I've fixed the carbs (easy!) and with much help from my neighbor we're near to having the steering back in good shape, so I'm hoping that the car will be great to drive. It seems to be completely UNrestored except for a ten year old re-paint but comes with no history at all so it may be an old restoration. I find it hard to evaluate, a few traits seem to indicate that it has been hardly driven at all, while others indicate the reverse. Advice would be welcome! Maybe someone on the forum will know the car? Chassis TS/20378-L, engine TS/20693-E
Traits suggesting low mileage:
Zero side- play on carb spindle, but not new-looking; almost zero side- play on brake and clutch pedals, seats and pedals seem original, seats faded from sun but not worn. No bad noises from engine or diff, oil pressure steady at 50lb even at hot idle. Overdrive works fine. Very little wear on brake disks but nuts attaching them seem not to have been disturbed. ZERO rust, other than battery box and seat runners; no rust anywhere, even in outriggers, or inner sills, with no sign of repair.
Traits indicating higher usage or part-rebuild:
All panel fits quite bad though they all do close OK, some free play on door hinges (could be bad repair of minor accident?). Occasionally drops out of gear, cylinder head bolts have been disturbed (though the marks seem to be from tightening them, not loosening them so could be original?); front disc water shields missing.
Anybody know this kiddie? We'll call her Marguerite after Ann-Margret.
About 2 months ago my spouse and I, now resident in France, watched the Elvis Presley film Viva Las Vegas. Ann-Margret hopped into her TR3 without opening the door and drove it off in a cloud of dust.
Nice car! So I decided to put right an old mistake and bought a TR3 that had been imported to France from California in 2019. I was attracted to the ad by a photo of the underneath seeming to show NO rust and NO repairs. The reason for the sale was that owner had entrusted the car to a Maserati dealership that had neither respect for it nor understanding of it. They had supposedly rebuilt the carbureters and charged for the kits which they had not installed. They seemed not to have noticed that one of the jets was stuck and the choke was inoperable; they had set the mixtures so that the car would JUST start cold with much struggle and then produced clouds of black smoke when hot. They had tried to repair the steering, which was much too heavy and had about 20cm of free play, by just replacing the cover of the box, which they then didn't bother to adjust. ETCETERA. So the owner, who normally drives a TR4A, decided that the TR3 was SO much less usable than the TR4 that he sold it, in the apparent belief that its faullts were basic traits of the model.
NOW we have this TR3 and I've fixed the carbs (easy!) and with much help from my neighbor we're near to having the steering back in good shape, so I'm hoping that the car will be great to drive. It seems to be completely UNrestored except for a ten year old re-paint but comes with no history at all so it may be an old restoration. I find it hard to evaluate, a few traits seem to indicate that it has been hardly driven at all, while others indicate the reverse. Advice would be welcome! Maybe someone on the forum will know the car? Chassis TS/20378-L, engine TS/20693-E
Traits suggesting low mileage:
Zero side- play on carb spindle, but not new-looking; almost zero side- play on brake and clutch pedals, seats and pedals seem original, seats faded from sun but not worn. No bad noises from engine or diff, oil pressure steady at 50lb even at hot idle. Overdrive works fine. Very little wear on brake disks but nuts attaching them seem not to have been disturbed. ZERO rust, other than battery box and seat runners; no rust anywhere, even in outriggers, or inner sills, with no sign of repair.
Traits indicating higher usage or part-rebuild:
All panel fits quite bad though they all do close OK, some free play on door hinges (could be bad repair of minor accident?). Occasionally drops out of gear, cylinder head bolts have been disturbed (though the marks seem to be from tightening them, not loosening them so could be original?); front disc water shields missing.
Anybody know this kiddie? We'll call her Marguerite after Ann-Margret.
