Everyone has a story....

[John_Mc]

As I was driving to my parents' house yesterday a guy on a Harley doing lane splitting next to me yelled "Nice car! I have a '73!" and off he rode. This morning I was on my way to church to help with building maintenance and at the service station the guy at the pump next to me said "Nice car. I used to have a '76 and before that I had a 4a". After being at the church and getting ready to leave an older couple out walking their dog walked up to me and the woman said "We love your car! We had a 3, a 4, and two 6's! Never went on to 7 though!" And I asked "Do you miss them?" To which the husband quickly and emphatically said "YES!" Seems like everywhere you go, someone has a Triumph connection! Glad I still have mine!

 

[DougF]

It's amazing the number of people who have owned our cars. It sometimes seems each car had to have exchanged hands 20-30 times for everyone to have owned one.

 

[Member 10617]

I have only had my TR3 since October 2009 (althougn I also had one back in '62)and I have had the same experience. Almost wherever I go, someone gives me the thumbs up and says, "I had one back in ...." It is amazing how many people either have had a Triumph or knew someone who had a Triumph. And, yes, most of them no longer have their cars... and they miss them.

 

[Don Elliott]

Ed - I know what you mean and I agree 100% with you. I bought my only Triumph brand new in May, 1958 when I was 20. I drove it and rallied it from 1959 to 1972. By then it was a basket case so I put it in the corner of my garage till my restoration from 1987 to 1990. I"ve driven "TRusty" another 104,000 miles since 1990 and I'm still getting the thumbs up from everyone. It's a 96 point (VTR 2007) concours driver. And I'm still 20. Life it great.

 

[Member 10617]

Don,

I had to give up my 58 TR3 in 1962 and was without one until October 2009. I decided that life is too short to live without one, so I took the plunge and acquired mine in 2009. My only regret: that I didn't do it earlier.

Back at the end of June, The Roanoke [Virginia] Times published this letter to the editor from me:

"Last week, I took three trips on the [Blue Ridge] parkway in my recently rebuilt sports car. On each outing I encountered friendly travelers from near and far. At Otter Creek, for example I met an irrepressible French Canadian couple who, along with their dog, had ridden their motorcycle from Quebec... [the couple asked to have their photo taken next to my car.] Driving north on the the parkway, wherever my wife and I stopped, people asked about the car. One was a mechanic from Amherst [who had recently restored a TR3!]; another was a British tourist who told me about his sports car in England; another was a Harley biker who greeted us with a thumbs-up and, 'That's a sweet car! Wanna trade?'...

There was more to the letter, but that gives you an idea.

BTW: Beautiful black and red TR3. Love the steel wheels. I prefer steel wheels to wire wheels, but that's what came with my car. Perhaps I'll change them some day if I can find some that are sound and not bent.

 

[Brosky]

The best part of the shows is having people come up and tell you their stories. Especially when they have their grand kids and tell them what they used to own. I can't tell you the amount of pictures taken with kids behind the wheel of my car to make a grandparent or parent happy. And the kids don't mind much either....

 

[tinman58]

I was at a car show yesterday wit about 250 cars, Most of the cars were domestic, Hotrods, classics,custom, and anything in between. On the BLC side was a Triumph spitfire a MGB, a 67 mini and my TR3. From my vantage point there was a bigger crowd of people around the four LBC's almost all day. Lots of photos taken and many stories. The story I liked the best was from an older gentleman that found a small mouth TR3 rotting away and is saving it by doing his own restoration, including a 302 small block. I asked why a 302 V8? answer because it will be FUN! He had to be 70 years young. I do love to hear about the history that these cars have made and the impact on there lives. We (my Wife and I) took 2nd place in the 1949-1960 class all cars included. The thumbs up and "nice car" is at every ride.

 

[Member 10617]

Let us be "missionaries" extolling the joys of owning and driving a Triumph. What other vehicle than a classic sports brings so many smiles and joy wherever it goes? Perhaps seeing these wonderful cars may inspire others to seek them out, rescue them from the rust-heap, restore them, and enjoy them. Perhaps seeing that ordinary -- not terribly wealthy -- people can afford these cars, will motivate others. Surely there are many survivors lying around going to ruin. They should be rescued. Like a great work of art, I consider my car not to be "mine" but temporarily "in trust" to me to preserve and to pass on to future generations. (Sermon over)

 

[vagt6]

Some of us remember that back in the day, there was a Triumph/MG/Leyland dealership in practically every city, at least in most of the country. Especially in the late sixties, it was fairly easy to get a franchise. Some didn't even have repair shops!

That's one reason why if you're old enough, you remember these cars even if you never got near driving one. They were just about everywhere, very popular cars. Not numerous like Chevys, of course, but nearly everyone at least had some experience with an LBC.

Now, they're rare as hen's teeth and no one younger than 40 has probably ever seen one.

Seems like just yesterday that I picked up my shiny new GT6 at the Triumph dealership.

 

[Member 10617]

Yes, indeed, there were dealerships nearly everywhere. Tucson, my boyhood home, had one, Precision Motors, right on the main thoroughfare: Speedway. No one could pass it without staring longingly at the MGs, Triumphs, Austen Healeys, etc. And Charlottesville, my graduate school home, had one on the main thoroughfare, 29 N/S. Then, they began to disappear. Too bad.

It is also interesting to see how many films featured the TR3 in the 1950s and early 1960s. It seemed to be the car of choice, especially of the "beach" movies.

 

[Don Elliott]

Here in Montreal when I bought my 1958 TR3A brand new, there were 4 dealers selling Triumphs. With 4 dealers, I was able to haggle the price and got it for $2300 basic + $150. for the overdrive option, $35.00 for the tar undercoating and $15.00 for the windscreen washers. Then there was $15.00 for the licence plate and 2% provincial tax in Quebec added another $51.00 - For a total of $2615.00 cash - not bad for a 20 year old who had saved all his newspaper money and income after finishing high school.

It was one of the best decisions I ever made, another was marrying the girl down the street whom I met when I was 15. The third was keeping the TR3A and the 4th was restoring it and driving it for the last 20 summers of joy, fun, picnics and all those "thumbs up"!

 

[cmacmillan]

he Enlgish guy across the street dreamed of having a TR6. The guy next door used to own a 6 and said it was the most fun he'd ever had on the road. The couple up the street had a 4 while they were dating and the first few years tey were married. The couple at the other end of the street always coveted a relative's 6. I really was amazed at the number of TR specific comments, as opposed to just "hey - nice car!"

 

[gardener]

six years ago on shiny sunday, I own a a mid 70 GT6 I think last production for h p before emission control, I was in the process of restoring this car so I doesn't has this car registered yet, so no plates I need to fill gas so I can tune it,what I do, I take the plate from a my Toyota 4runner put it on the GT6 a head to the gas station. I take an avenue shortcut, I was waiting the green light, when a small Jap car, with loud music, besides me, feeling the power of the 6-pack I felt in the error of letting The fast and The furious syndrome empower me, light green, 1st tire burning, 2nd tire screaming, 3rd looking by the mirror the jap, I don't get the 4st so I went to the gas station, for my surprise a state police patrol, I said surprise but you can imagine the real feeling, the police was a young man he get out of the car and come toward me start looking at the GT6, and the first question was "WOW What Kind of Car is this? I was looking at you when you was in the light, and this car is really fast" at that time I was filling the tank
and I don't feel when the pump stop so I continues pressing. He likes the car, I went home with a big smile and the heart in the hands!! For sure, if it was an American Muscle I still trying to get it out of the pound yard!!

 

[DrEntropy]

heh. I'm not a TR owner (tho have 'laid hands' on MANY of 'em), but the "syndrome" seems to carry throughout the various LBC marques. Lots of 'thumbsup' and "I had one of those back in..."

As for traffic stops, we've been stopped more times by police to ask about the cars than for violations. Always puts the heart in the throat, tho.

 

[AngliaGT]

I stopped at a gas station a couple of days ago
in the MGB GT,when an employee asked me "Is that your-
Triumph?".That's one I'd never heard before.
I also get the "nice car!" voices.I usually forget
that I'm driving the TR6,so I think - "what?".Then I
remember what I'm driving.

- Doug

 

[Mickey Richaud]

My favorite personal story was the time I stopped for gas in the TR3 I had several years ago. Was filling up, and a woman walked by and said, "I bet you don't have any trouble picking up women in THAT!" And winked.

To which I honestly replied, "That's never an issue." And winked back.

Wasn't wearing my clerical collar, obviously... :angel:

 

[GeeBee1]

Mickey:

That is a good one.

Pat

 

[John_Mc]

I went home with a big smile and the heart in the hands!! For sure, if it was an American Muscle I still trying to get it out of the pound yard!!

The muffler that was with the car when I bought it rusted off on the freeway about 6 months later. After getting my car out of the shop after getting a new muffler put on, I "opened it up" a little just to hear the exhaust note music. I was less than a half mile from the shop and got pulled over. I explained the story to the cop. He let me go with a warning.

 

[HerronScott]

My favorite personal story was the time I stopped for gas in the TR3 I had several years ago. Was filling up, and a woman walked by and said, "I bet you don't have any trouble picking up women in THAT!" And winked.

To which I honestly replied, "That's never an issue." And winked back.

Wasn't wearing my clerical collar, obviously... :angel:

Scott

 

[mrv8q]

About 5 years ago, I had just brought my TR3 back from a 20 year+ slumber, and I took it out on short duration drives around my house; I had no idea how reliable it was. One day I took it on a short spin to the local supermarket for a beer run, perhaps the 6th or 7th time I had driven it any appreciable length, i.e., more than around the block. I'm sure it still had it's flat-spotted tires on it .

I had just eased it into a parking spot, when a large guy in shorts and a Hawaiian shirt, blubbering like a baby, runs up to me in the car, crying real tears, and tells me about how his recently deceased father had a car <span style="font-style: italic">just</span> like mine, and how he and his brother took drives around Chicago in it, with 'Pop" at the wheel. He asked me to please wait, while he called his brother and told him about the car; I had to start the engine in the parking lot, so the brother could hear it rev up over the phone. Pictures were taken.

He offered me a ridiculous amount of money for it.... I'm still glad I didn't take him up on that offer, but I did make his day!