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TR2/3/3A TR3 discussion over on the Miata forum

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martx-5

martx-5

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There's a discussion on the Miata forum about a TR3 owned by a guy that has 400k miles on it. He is the original owner, and it's the ONLY CAR HE'S EVER OWNED. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thirsty.gif

Anybody over here know him?? Is he a member of the BCF??
 
Never heard of him, but 400K on a TR3 seems pretty feasible. The only car he's ever owned? Now that's hard to believe, but could be true. All I can think of is "he's missed out on some pretty great cars since the TR3 stopped production."

Of course, this doesn't come close to the Volvo P1800 owner that has well over 2 million miles on his car. Volvo did a story on him at 2 million miles about 10 years ago.
 
I'd rater push my TR, than drive a Miata /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/england.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/england.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/england.gif
 
There is a TR4 here in Tucson with about 400K on it... of course several engine & gearbox rebuilds have been done. The guy (and his wife) go everywhere in it. Went to both Portland VTRs (ME & OR), Redwing, etc. They just got back from a little drive up to Stowe VT to see some Brit cars.

Personally I don't see how he does it. I'll drive 500 miles in a day and maybe 500 the next day -- but then I'm ready for a break. He does have OD & Cruise Control and one very nice handling TR4 though.
 
There's a Miata Forum?

Oh, I see, I thought for a minute it was here on BCF... whew!

Those guys... they're way too young to remember when "Men were men and sports cars were sports cars". (AC in a convertible! Jeez, what's the world coming to!)

It is good for a laugh to read their impressions, overall. Someone even managed to reference tractors.

I kind of agree with the guy that commented the new Lotus is a great looking car, probably a top performer, and might even be "practical" if you kept it a few decades. But, I wonder if I'd still find it as "fresh" and interesting as my TR4, after the same 30 years I've owned that car.

I think the longest owned TR is Ken Gillanders' (www.britishframeandengine.com). He bought it new in 1955, if I recall correctly.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
I'm not the person mentioned on the Miata forum, but I'm the original owner of my 1958 TR3A and I've driven it 174,000 miles.

Don Elliott

Photo taken at VTR, Colorado in 2001

https://www.triumphest2006.com/images/clubcars/30donelliott'str3.jpg

[/ QUOTE ]

Don, it was great to see you chime in over there on the Miata forum. Despite what Alan says, we're not all a bunch of youngsters over there. There is a big Miata following that drove the LBC's in their younger days, and are now driving Miatas. I'm one of those old dudes...I'm just one of those that also still has an LBC. I've always had some sort of a TR in the stable since 1965. My Miata is basically a daily driver, and I don't tire of it. It's still a thrill to drive. It doesn't have all the charcter of a TR3, but, despite some of the modern concessions, it's got plenty of soul and is true to the tradition of the LBC's. And Don, I do have a tonneau cover for it.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif
 
This past spring, I got a call from a man who lives here in Montreal and who bought his TR2 brand new in April or May of 1954. He had stored it for the last 20 or more years in a barn and he was getting it back on the road. I helped out the mechanic who was doing it and a few days ago, he called me that next Monday, he will be getting the licence plate for it and back on the road. He drove it last week without plates on a quiet rural road about 6 miles and he said it goes like a bat out ..... (See attachment)

Don Elliott
 

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I like this response from Kenny in Ontario who said regarding his TR3, " It leaked the worst in rain."

Maybe it was the only car that guy has ever owned... He could have leased the rest. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Paul
 
[ QUOTE ]
" It leaked the worst in rain."



[/ QUOTE ]

I think I really would be worried if it leaked without rain.

And Don Elliott, what in the world are you doing over in that Miata forum. You know you don't belong over there.

Bill
 
Bill,

Don's doing what he does best, Telling the world about the TR3 legend, and educating the ignorant! Class act! Now for me it's a brisk 38 degrees F this morning and I'm going Miata hunting.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif
 
I have heard a "story" about the design and acceptance of the Miata. I cannot say if the story is true or just a good story. As the story goes, the Miata was designed in California and a team of Mazda executives, bosses, engineers, technicians, sales staff, etc., came over from Japan to look at it all and to come to a concensus about whether to accept it or reject it. In Japan, no single person makes the decision. It is a group/team decision by getting a concensus. Looking at the mock-up, they were impressed, but they wanted to get a "feel" for what the car would ride like, sound like, etc. So the Califorians called up the Triumph Spitfire owners that they had pre-arranged as they had anticipated that this might (would) happen. An hour later 38 Spitfires with 38 Japanese visitors were driving up Pacific Coast Highway to get the "feeling". This convinced them.

As we know, the Mazda Miata design was accepted and it has become the success that we all know about.

And now you know the rest of the story !
 
Very true what Don says about how the Miata was developed. For those of you that would like some more info on the subject, this archived thread from the Miata forum has lots of more info. Read the post by "bwob", more commonly known as the father of the Miata.
 
Don,
I never realised that you had owned your TR3 from new - good on you! I love the story of the original owner of the TR2. Please keep us posted about how he gets on.
Just a thought. I have a fascination with old British cars in the USA. If anyone is visiting a car show over there could you post some pictures for me to have a look at? Assuming that is OK and won't clog up the site.
Nick
 
Hello, Don, thanks for sharing that fine story and pix of the slumbering TR2 and it's owner. I'm sure you can convince him to be a BCF member. I think that's a terrific looking TR2! I sure wouldn't mind have one of those put away in the barn.... let us know how he makes out.
 
There is a big Miata following that drove the LBC's in their younger days, and are now driving Miatas. I'm one of those old dudes...I'm just one of those that also still has an LBC.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah-- I hang out over there too. I have an older Miata after haveng had a bunch of LBC's. I have encountered several over there who are former British car owners (and a bunch of other types of great cars. There are also a few who wouldn't know a TR3 from a MGB-- just because they weren't born yet or hadn't been around them.
 
I have several friends that enjoy their Miatas and I don't begrudge them one bit. They have a ton of fun without any of the heartache that we LBC owners endure. But ours is a labour of love. A younger fella asked me what it was about my car that I enjoyed the most and I told him that I had to drive her, she didn't drive me. I kinda look at her as being organic .


Bill
 
[ QUOTE ]
[Miata owners] have a ton of fun without any of the heartache that we LBC owners endure. But ours is a labour of love....

[/ QUOTE ]True, Bill. But having lived with various Triumphs over the years from new or nearly new, as well as those obtained much more recently, I still maintain that our ancient relics are no better or worse than anything else in the period when they were new. Actually, many Triumphs were actually rather modern in some spec's compared to other cars at the time. The Herald and Spitfire, with relatively few grease points and use of (at the time) fairly modern materials for bushings...compared to MGs and such that still used kingpins. And overall maintenance issues weren't really any more significant than most American cars of the period.

And that same sort of parallel is very much in evidence with today's Miatas...and everything else on the road. Frankly, thanks to 30-40 years' worth of improved technologies in ALL cars, I'd be much less fearful about buying a used Miata than I would've been about buying a used Mk3 Spitfire in, say, 1976.

Heck, if I had enough cash and didn't occasionally need to have a year-round car that could carry more than two passengers, I'd definitely consider an older Miata for that year-round car. As it is, I've "settled" in recent years for a Civic hatchback (since it was dirt cheap when I was desperate for something to keep the Herald off the salty roads of upstate New York three years ago)!
 
I believe I have met the owner of this car.

The owner is a retired college professor from the southern part of NJ. I saw it at a Moss Motors show a few years ago.

The car has about 400,00 and he told me that he put velocity stacks on it almost right away (so most of those miles were put on "unfiltered").
The car has had several sets of cylinder sleeves, clutches and so forth. For a long time, it had one fiberglass front fender, but he eventually put a used, steel one back on and had the car repainted. It was in generally nice shape, but not perfect by any means.

He told me it was the only car the had ever owned (but his wife had owned a car....also only one I think).

But the point here is this...the car I saw was a TR-4 , not a TR-3.

Granted, the TR-4 and TR-3 are mechanically pretty similar.

Considering the fact that the original poster on MiataNet was unsure about the type of Triumph, I'm betting the real car is the TR-4 I saw....the story seems too much of a coincidence. (and yes, I know that none of us would ever mistake a TR-4 for a TR-3!).
 
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