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Wedge TR8FHC to the rescue...!

swift6

Yoda
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This past Labor Day weekend my wife and I were looking at taking the three day weekend to ourselves, to celebrate our wedding anniversary and do a short bit of travelling to Southern Colorado, where my wife was born and raised. The morning we were to leave, I was out filling our Jeep with fuel and getting it washed up a bit. At the car wash, the Jeep refused to start. It seemed to have electrical to all but the starter. No click, no whirring, just nothing what so ever when I rotated the key to “start”. I rocked it back and forth in gear a bit, I ran the shifter through 1st to Park a few times to see if it could have been the neutral/park safety switch not catching. I checked the connections on the battery, the starter relay and the starter. Nothing seemed amiss and there was no warning to the sudden refusal to start. We decided that instead of taking the Jeep, it was time to load up the boot of the TR8 and continue our trip with the Triumph. After all, two weeks prior it hauled us up to the last two days of VTR in Breckenridge without issue and I use it daily for the drive back and forth to work and for errands, thus I had no reservations about using it. So I pulled out my trusty AAA card and had our Jeep towed to a friend’s shop.
The huge trunk of the wedge swallowed all of our pieces of luggage without issue, even with the battery back there. Topped off the tank, cleaned the windows and set off for Colorado Springs about an hour later than we intended to. We had reservations at a Hotel in Colorado Springs and had intended to explore the surrounding areas of things that neither of us had done. Saturday, we zipped around the surrounding areas of Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs, and Garden of the Gods, NORAD, and Pikes Peak and then that evening went to a hot air balloon festival where they had several balloons tethered. Sunday we ventured out to Canon City and the Royal Gorge, where my wife was born and raised. Drove across the suspension bridge, drove Skyline drive etc… Monday we headed for home (Loveland, CO) with a stop in the greater Denver area for shopping and lunch. Part of the shopping included the brand new IKEA, which if you have never been in one, seem to have their own time/space continuum. The TR8 FHC performed flawlessly, averaged 24mpg, and still turned a few heads. Especially a State Trooper outside of Penrose, CO who snapped his head around so quick I thought he might have broken it. He didn’t pull us over but he certainly had a long look after he turned around and caught up. Finally gave us a “thumbs up” and turned off to go write tickets elsewhere. The whole trip added just about another 600 miles in total to the odometer as it marches steadily towards the 180,000 mile mark.
The Jeep started immediately after it came off of the tow truck and did so all weekend long. My friend used it all weekend long trying to replicate the issue, but could never get it to repeat. Evidently it didn’t want to go on a trip, or the TR8 talked it into taking a dive. We will have to wait for it to happen again to track it down again I guess.
Just thought you all might like to know, TR8 to the rescue of a weekend away.
 
It just shows that sometime the old cars are more reliable then the new ones.
 
Shawn,

Good story.I didn't know that you got married - Congratulations!
And you moved too?

- Doug
 
After reading this story, I can't wait to drive mine again.
 
AngliaGT said:
Shawn,

Good story.I didn't know that you got married - Congratulations!
And you moved too?

- Doug

Just passed the one year mark Doug, moved about 10 miles south of where I was in Fort Collins.
 
You did right her out of any chance for the FHC in the prenups ,didn't you?
 
Too late, no prenups, but she is scared to drive it anyway. Being twelve years my younger she will probably need to learn sometime though. :wink:
 
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