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How Much $$$ have you spent on your TR

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Lots.

My opinion is that you should only count once and hope that day never comes, because it means you're going to see the insurance adjuster. . .

Did that with the prior 6 in '95. Nothing like the sight of a grown man crying.

Fortunately, I found a cosmetic restoration that I swapped all the rebuilt parts into. No rust bubbles, 12 years and counting.
 
Not many of the big spenders seem willing to put actual numbers on paper, so I guess I'll embarass myself and detail my costs as a caution to others. I have clearly spent far more than my car is worth, though I have had many miles of enjoyment and many happy hours.
So here goes: Original purchase 10 years ago $8500
Repairs, upgrades and safety stuff in the first year $4500
(This includes brake discs, pads, clutch, overdrive and transmission rebuild, oil cooler and spin-off conversion, 5 new tyres and tubes and trueing and repainting wire wheels.)

Money spent over next 5 years "improving" the car $5000
(This includes buying new 72 spoke wide rim wire wheels with racing tyres,drilled Brembo rotors, high performance brake pads and linings, several sets, alloy drums,custom roll bar, recored rad, electric fan, gas shocks, a different set of gas shocks, lower,stiffer springs, high lift cam,lighter lifters, gas flowed head and valves, various sets of needles, another flowed head with bigger valves, special pushrods, master cylinder etc.)

2 years ago I crashed the car while racing, which resulted in a complete rebuild, which so far has cost about $15000
This includes purchase of donor car minus sale of body tub of original car,new soft top, carpet set, floors, chassis, paint, hardware, rad, fan, oil cooler etc.
So grand total about........... $33,000 and counting.

I hope I keep this car a long time as I may be conservative on some of these numbers!
Simon.
 
Why should you be embarrassed by this accounting? $33,000 divided by 10 years averages out to $3,300 per year. You wrecked it racing, which means you were enjoying it, not letting it rust away.

Anyone who belongs to a golf or country club will spend far more than $3,300 per year for their fun and have nothing to show for it (except clubs which are obsolete the day you buy them!). At least you have a beautiful car to have more fun with.

There are many other hobbies that cost a lot of money, but have no tangible return other than hours occupied pursuing the hobby. You have metal and rubber ready to roll at a moments notice for your enjoyment.

I think that it was money well spent.
 
va6gt - were you in Annapolis in the last 3 weeks?
I saw a GT6+ identical to yors on Hwy 2.
Remember - You don't lose money on a car,until you sell it.

- Doug
 
[ QUOTE ]
So grand total about........... $33,000 and counting.

I hope I keep this car a long time as I may be conservative on some of these numbers!
Simon.

[/ QUOTE ]


Just think of some cars on the road today (or not on the road) where you could have lost that in depreciation !
 
Purchased the car for $1900 4 years ago. Basically for parts. Refurbished what I could for about $1000 to drive it while building the V8 conversion setup. With that now completed and only paint to go I am at a total of $8,100. I've tracked everything from hose clamps to sandpaper.

I hope to recoup some costs by selling the original engine, tranny, air conditioner, differential, seats....

amazing how the dollars add up!!!!!!
jeff3113
 
I often think of all the 70's, 80's, and 90's Ford, GM, and Crysler cars that will only be collectors to the junk dealer.
There is going to be one or two generations coming that have few fun cars from their era.
There would be more of the earlier cars but we thought they would be making cars like that forever and we could just buy a new one.
That may be part of the reason why we prize these cars so highly today.
 
There is always the risk that my ex-wife (or worse, her lawyers) reads this forum, so I shall politely decline to respond! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nonono.gif
 
dont even go there!
my ex got my GT6 in the deal.............. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cryin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nonono.gif

but it was worth it to get rid of her! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/lol.gif
the car was more dependable than her,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
 
[ QUOTE ]
dont even go there!
my ex got my GT6 in the deal.............. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cryin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nonono.gif

but it was worth it to get rid of her! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/lol.gif
the car was more dependable than her,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[/ QUOTE ]

Please please please tell me you're joking!!!!!
 
I sold the GT6 about a year ago on EBAY to a chap in Jacksonville, FL. He paid top dollar :, flew up to Charlottesville then drove the GT6 back to Jacksonville, a trip of about about 1,000 miles. He later Emailed me to indicate he had no problems on the trip. I never had that kind of confidence in the car, sadly.

Yes, I miss it, but the '05 MINI S helps to ease the paid a bit.

I have my sights on a nicely restored MK II Spit owned by a friend near here, says he'll sell it to me next year. I hope I can wait that long . . .
 
My very first car was a '65 Midget that I bought in '68 and drove to high school my junior and senior year. I had to sell it for college tuition money, got back what I had paid for it two years earlier.

It was 35 years before I bought another, a '73 Midget...off Ebay...prettiest thing I had ever seen. I paid an outlandish $11,100 for it two years ago; last year I turned down double money. The month after I got it home I ran a tape on all the receipts in the legal portfolio that the PO (a judge that never asked a price) provided with the car. A little over $27,000, not including the engine by Dave Tabor. Taking the estimated cost of the engine into consideration I figure I paid about 30 cents on the dollar.

Why do I share this? When I look back, at all the toys over the years, look what I missed by not having an LBC. I can't wait to get home at night and take a drive in the cool evening air. If that 30 minutes of pleasure is worth just $3, that alone is about a $100 a month...just over a $1000 a year...times 35 years.

I'm making up for lost time.

Ray
 
You are correct, it is priceless. I hope to drive mine to the BMCNE barbecue tomorrow night, which will be my first drive in over a month since I took it into the body shop for the paint work.

I can't wait to give up golf Saturday to clean and wax it for Sundays British outing in Newport, RI at the Abbey.

If anyone would have told me 10 years ago, I'd be waxing a car instead of playing golf on a sunny 80 degree day, I would have thought that they were nuts! No, actually I would have thought I was nuts!
 
Lets all meet at Bill's garage in Louisiana. We can slice the palm on our right hand with an old muffler clamp, take a blood oath to never reveal this to anyone then tell each other what we really spent. If anyone ever tells our secret he or she has to surrender their LBC and drive a Pink Miata for the rest of their natural life!
 
how can i resist this question?
i am still spending and will continue to spend. i expect my tr4 will cost $40,000.00 before i am done and that is doing most everything myself.my project car cost $3000 canadian.dellorto's,roller rockers,electronic distributor,aluminum drums,tilton brake pedal assembly,my own design headers(building by me),and a list of "to come's" so long it will make your head swim. i showed the list before on the forum (ultimate triumph). i was going to build a car from scratch before i found a tr4. i was going to replicate a 1960 aston martin dbr2 with left hand drive but i always loved the look of the tr4-4a-250-5 and the rest is history.
in the end i will build the car i have dreamed about.i don't care about re-sale.i hope that one day it will be passed on to one of my kids and hopefully on to their kids.
it will definitely be a blast to drive (as long as there is fuel to put in it). if i won ten million i would order a titanium frame and aluminum tub and body panels from revington tr. this is about passion. there is no price tag for that.
rob
 
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