Perrymip
Jedi Hopeful
Offline
I saw my first TR3 in a parking lot in 1960. It was British Racing Green, and I was certain in that instant that my life would be well oriented attached to such a car. That attitude persisted through the next year when I managed to acquire one that was two years old. And, remarkably enough, after almost fifty years, I still feel pretty much the same quality of affection. I can't imagine an object that could have given so much pleasure over such a span of time.
The car went with me from Washington state to the Bay Area and got to be a California car for a few years, then an Illinois car, then a New York car, then a Seattle car, then an Iowa car, and, now, once again, a Seattle car. It has been driven back and forth across this country (and the northern neighbor) twelve times, of course with numerous unscheduled stops for repair.
I have never had the background nor experience to be my own mechanic. But that's exactly what one is forced to become over time. I always have and still do respond to trouble exactly as I did as a teenager. I simply try to address the immediate problem as it arises. That means that many things have ended up getting repaired at least twice: the first as a trial rich with errors. But at some point, I began to find it unthinkable to give the car over to someone else even to repair the simplest thing.
At some time in my life I started making lists of things I would like to repair or address with the car. Since stumbling into this forum and starting to read its posts, these lists have become staggeringly long and ambitious. I'm not sorry. It is astonishing to me to be able to borrow from the collective experience and understanding that this forum demonstrates day after day.
The car went with me from Washington state to the Bay Area and got to be a California car for a few years, then an Illinois car, then a New York car, then a Seattle car, then an Iowa car, and, now, once again, a Seattle car. It has been driven back and forth across this country (and the northern neighbor) twelve times, of course with numerous unscheduled stops for repair.
I have never had the background nor experience to be my own mechanic. But that's exactly what one is forced to become over time. I always have and still do respond to trouble exactly as I did as a teenager. I simply try to address the immediate problem as it arises. That means that many things have ended up getting repaired at least twice: the first as a trial rich with errors. But at some point, I began to find it unthinkable to give the car over to someone else even to repair the simplest thing.
At some time in my life I started making lists of things I would like to repair or address with the car. Since stumbling into this forum and starting to read its posts, these lists have become staggeringly long and ambitious. I'm not sorry. It is astonishing to me to be able to borrow from the collective experience and understanding that this forum demonstrates day after day.