What is your background

[hondo402000]

OK guys, I have read lots of posts and lots of technical questions answered so I thought I would ask what is your background? I have a degree in geology lot of good that did me, I worked for an engineering firm for 14 years and now I am in sales, selling industrial equipment, always worked on cars, especially in HS and college out of necissity, sometimes did it wrong but always made it work, I had a 63 volvo p 1800 and drove it for 10 years and never a major break down and even drove it to texas from NC over summer break in college, to work for the summer and never worried about it, young and stupid I guess

 

[R6MGS]

Good thread....I grew up around MG's(my brothers and dad had them) so thats where the car thing comes from...I bounced around many jobs in the begining...Now I am with ESSO(ie EXXON for you yanks) and have been for 25 years...dying to retire! Hoping to move to a warmer climate once I am done with work...Somewhere where 'the fleet' can get some real use. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/driving.gif

 

[Andrew Mace]

OK, dad bought first Triumph (1959 10 sedan) when I was five. Grew up loving the cars and learned to drive in his '64 Herald convertible, after spending a summer high school vacation doing bodywork and repainting it (with a friend) and beginning to learn how to fix things mechanically (mostly by trial and error...and by constantly trying to keep friend's VWs going).

Dad and I "graduated" to a used Mk3 Spitfire in 1971. I had a couple very bad experiences with the dealer service department, but good ones with their parts department. The manager showed me the Workshop Manual in the display case. Seeing as it covered our Heralds AND the Spitfire, I bought it on the spot and began reading and reading...and practicing and practicing! Truth was, being a poor college student, I never could afford to pay anyone for most service work, especially bad/incompetent work. So I just kept reading, practicing and learning...and here I am today!

Oh, and it has nothing to do with my "profession" or my "education" per se. I majored in American History and minored in Sociology, and then got a Masters in Library Science! But I've made more than a few bucks over the years "on the side"...helping out any number of Triumph and other British car owners (and a few Volvos, Saabs and other marques)!

 

[tomshobby]

My dad had always worked on cars and I grew up thinking everybody did. Dad worked for a company during WWII and actually reground crank shafts while they were still in the cars right in people's driveways. They had some kind of machine that bolted to the bottom of the block. That was when they still had babbit for bearings. Anyway, by the time I was in high school there was not much on a car I could not fix.
I have been in the mechanical/machinist world ever since, both civilian and for the military and DOD (weapons repair). Even when we had our farm I was a millwright at a foundry working on some pretty heavy machinery.
The last several years I just work at home doing mechanical design and CNC programming for companies all over the US. I was a part time machine tool teacher for the local Tech College. And used to design extrusion dies for wood/plastic composites for companies around the world. Things like deck planks and railings.
I have had a fasinating life and that is the short version.

 

[Ab Crevoiserat]

My back ground is as a Paramedic. No college to speak of, I never saw the point for me. School never interested me. That is untill I joined the local Vol. Fire Dept. I took my first "First Aid" course and I was hooked. One year later I was certified in Advanced Life Support, and not too long after I was on the County Ambulances, 33 years later I'm Still "in the street" and about ready to retire.

Dad an I never saw eye to eye about cars, so my interest was self motivated. He worked on his because he had to, I work on mine because I want to.

 

[MarkT]

Well now....

Professionally, I am a geologist, so that makes at least two of us who studied such so far - maybe three if R6MGS is on the upstream side of things as well. I am currently carrying out research at a University.

Mechanically, its all pretty much new to me. I messed around with VWs when I was in the UK (MkII Golf, MkII Scirocco), but prior to that I had no real experience - I think I took geology over metalwork at school. Its a huge learning curve, and a lot of that seems to be a head scratch followed by "how can I rebuild that without an enclosed garage??!" I'd been thinking about a TR for a long while, and I reckon its nicer to drive one in the sunny heat of Texas than the constant drizzle of the UK...

---------------------------
MarkT

1976 TR6
2001 VW Jetta - only because I had to!

 

[Brosky]

I started out as most kids in love with cars, working in a service station and went to a huge GM dealership that had 11 franchises including motorcycles and motor homes. Oddly enough, when I first started in 1967, they sold Triumphs. I worked my way through the shop from the bottom up, washing cars through the tech side, into parts then into management until I became the service manager. A lot of night college courses along the way. I then left that area and moved to RI where I ran another big Cadillac service facility for 8 years and moved into Lexus doing the same for another 5.

I got quite an education between GM Institute managerial training and the Lexus programs, which proved to be invaluable in my next gig for the marketing side.

About that time, I was getting sick of being stuck in the shop all day and an opportunity came up for a sales position which would allow travel and I would be dealing with engineers all day on product design and manufacturing. I took it and I love what I do. The hours can be long, actually, much longer than my 8-5 at the dealerships, but the fact that I enjoy it so much makes it worth while.

Since I got away from dealing with cars for a living, the LBC bug bit again and made me get the TR out more often and here I am.

BTW, my wife got our car new when she was in college and we have owned it since. I just never really did anything with it for about 15 years except an occasional ride to keep it running and the battery charged.

 

[Flinkly]

well i'm on the young side and have two more years of mechanical engineering. my family is more of a woodworking family, but i've always found beauty in the mechanical side, although i can do anything with wood too.

since i'm on an internship for 6 months at the moment, i find that i have alot of free time at night, so i needed a new project after i finished my personal arcade machine (woodworking and electronics). my girlfriends parents had inherited "my" gt6 from some deceased relatives and has sat in their driveway for two years (before that it was 20 in a storage unit). i decided it was time to get some personal mechanical engineering training and get a car out of it, so here i am with my free car and free time. i see this as the beginning of a long and beatiful relationship.

 

[Guest]

Have a degree in Avionics. Not enough plane crashes (so no work), and after graduating into a recession went off to be a computer geek. At the time I was grateful to have a job. Must be 1/2way competent, my company paid to move me here 8 years ago. Still here. Likely to stay...

Grew up in the UK so basically saw little but LBCs (and a few MBCs). I have owned a laundry list of poorly maintained British (and European) cars. Went through a list of bad ones in the Marina thread, but forgot the total worst one - a poop brown (I think that was the official name) Austin Maestro, a car that a friend gleefully reminded me of last week...

 

[donbmw]

Have been in General Aviation since 1977 when I got my A&P. Have play around on motorcycles and jet ski's, Got my TR3 from my uncle when he wanted his garage cleaned out in 1993 and was able to get it back on the road in 1998.
The wife and I started a Stained glass studio in 2000 as a 2nd job.

Don
www.reagarstainedglass.com

 

[LastDeadLast]

I grew up in a small town in Virginia. There were no Triumphs, only Fords, Chevy’s and the occasional Mopar. I started at 6 years of age with a mini bike and my fascination with anything with a motor began. Fast forward 9 years and my dad spends $200.00 for a totaled 84 Chevette. We worked together to make some strange contraption of 2x4s, chains and winches to pull out the caved in drivers side and slap about a ½ inch of bondo on the side and paint it. Didn’t look too bad for a Chevette. But I found a forgotten 1969 XKE with a blown engine in someone’s backyard and traded the RUNNING chevette even for it. Well, when I found how much a head cost for a Jag 4.2 engine, that was the end of that…so we put the Jag back together as best we could and sold it for $1200 (ahhh the stupid years, but it was a profit!). After that… no more stinkin imports… only Mustangs, Camaro’s and Trans Am’s for this guy. My dad… being the patient person that he was, would help me get these jalopies back on the road after I broke something… but after the $200.00 for the Chevette, he never gave me a dime to support my habit. Still I am what I am today because my father; he taught me to work hard, work on cars, a little bit of carpentry and most importantly how to be a good father.

I’d like to give him an old Ranchero one day…I think he would like that.

After college (I've got a degree in Finance and Computer Science), I got a Mustang, but had to give that up for reliability sake (oh yeah… and I got married and had a kid). I’m in the computer industry and the first part of my career required a lot of travel so I had to give up my hobby for a while. Now that I’ve settled down a bit, I figured I’d step outside my norm and get a Triumph. Honestly, I wanted a 68 Mustang fastback but I couldn’t afford one, however, the TR6 can still be had for a cheap cost and gets nearly as many looks as Nicole Kidman walking down the street in Saran wrap. I think I made the right choice: I can honestly say that the people that I’ve met (and written to) have been some of the nicest people I’ve ever had to pleasure of knowing.

 

[CaptRoy]

Boy this is going to be a long one.. Worked on cars since I can remember.. My first rebuild was a 41 chev.. Joined the Air Force and became a aircraft mechanic then a Flight Engineer... Had a 55 chev with 409 (yes I ran AV gas, 115/145 in it).. three 2's.. had a dodge hemi that I ran 9" slicks on the steet.. Drove a Bugeye for a year or so.. My room mate had a 57 TR3.. Left Georgia for Viet Nam with a 55 Ford Crown Victoria and sold it in Calif for $100.00.. Have had a 1600 MGA and several Dune Buggys and Baha Bugs.. Had a Covair spider conv with turbo and also had a 32 ford pickup with hemi..

Boy I wish I still had all those cars.. Now I have a 61 TR3A and after retiring from the Air Force in 1984 went to work for NASA and I am the Operations Manager for the Space Shuttle Simulators. I also run several Captain license schools in Texas, Louiana, and Washington.

Yea, I'm still a little nerv /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/driving.gifous about my up coming rebuild of the TR3 engine, installing rack and pinion with a Toyota 5 speed..

 

[Trevor Triumph]

I got the interest in the little cars when I was eight or nine. My grandfather took my brother, sister, and I to a foreign car garage in Brookeville PA about 1954 or 1955. There were Austin Healys, MGAs, Morris Minors. It seemed like an odd store for the rather out-of- the-way town. It was love at first sight.

Dad, on the other hand saw things differently and bought a 1958 DKW and then a 1961 Volkswagen. Never did I work on the cars until 1993 when I got the 1964 Spitfire.

I spent a lot of years teaching kids music which left little time for cars but the desire to own and work on the little foreign cars stayed with me. We, my wife and I, now have two Spitfires, one Austin FX4D, and a 1963 DKW.

I bought some retirement time so I could go to school full time to get a degree in clinical counseling. Now I need to find a job to support my brit car habit. T.T.

 

[kodanja]

Nice thread:
Ok, Im a PE. Civil and Environmental engineer. Been in corporate since Grad. 1983, till right after 9/11 when I decided to open my own buss. Iv'e been puttsing with LBC's since I was a Freshman in HS. 1974.
Seems like i've always had either an MG or a Triumph of some type. I fell in love with the feel of driving them from the 1st time I got behind the wheel of my brothers spitfire back in the early 70's,
Right now i'm working on a 71' TR6 and having a great time with it.
Working on and driving these cars just got much eaiser since I discovered this Forum, no more guess work, now if I have a question, I just ask and get the YEARS of experience of people that know these cars inside and out.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/patriot.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/england.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/england.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/patriot.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/driving.gif
It's a Beautiful thing

 

[Banjo]

I started by building model cars, lots of model cars. I took them to shows and would usually get a top 3 in juniors class. My first British car was a Lindburgh 1:32 TR3A kit that I had to assemble while sticking my arms through a box (so I coulden't see it) while the open side was twards the crowd. It was what they called a "blind model building contest" I won that.SO I always joked that I could build a TR3 with my eyes closed.
Mu first real car was a 74 VW Thing I bought it for $1 and realisied it was rotten and siezed up so it was sold for $50. THen I got a 67 Galaxie 500 with a 390. THat was a family car that I tried despratly to get restored but eventually gave up due to massive frame rot.
Meanwhile I took Autobody in highschool, then went on to get my associates degree in Automotive technics and management.
Out of school I wanted to be a body man, but every shop wanted experience, so I wound up doing mechanical.
2 years as a tec, 2 years as parts in a Ford dealer, a short stint in industry working on fiber optic amplifiers, then my favorite job at a Sportscar restoration shop where we specialised in TR3s. and most recently I'm back as a tec at a Toyota dealer. In the interm I've had a 62 A.H. Sprite (as my first LBC and that was my "bug bite") then a rusty 77 MGB, a 66 TR4A solid axle, and now my current crop of a TR2 and the 58 Jag saloon.
My dad had found an intrest too. We got him hooked up with a 69 MGB and now he and mom drive the wheels off it.
My dads family has always had forign cars. Renaults, VWs MGs Triumphs, Morris Minors, and whatnot. I always loved looking at the old pics in my dads photo album growing up. I bet that's where it comes from.

 

[dklawson]

My first car (age 17) was a very used BMW-2002. A dealership mechanic made the mistake of telling me "Oh you can't fix that yourself you need to bring it in and we'll...." I'd been helping a friend of mine fix his derelict 1964 MGB and the mechanic's comments were a challenge that sent me over the edge. I was off into cars to prove there was nothing that couldn't be fixed if you put your mind to it.

My high-school math teacher observed my aggressive approach to things mechanical and advised me to pursue a career in Mechanical Engineering. I've been happily designing machines and components for 25 years now. I still work on my old cars but don't have a clue what to do with a car outfitted with OBD or OBD2.

 

[billspit]

This really is interesting. Two geologists on one site. I too work in the environmental field for an engineering firm,but have two degrees in entomology. I worked in the ag-chem business for 10 years right out of school. Loved it. That went belly up in 1985 and I had to retrain. Went into asbestos consulting out of sheer despartion. Later got into regular environmental consulting.

I've always been interested in cars, especially British cars. My first car was a 1956 VW convertible. Boy do I wish I had that back. Finally got a TR3 in 1976 while I was newly married and still in school. Sold it several years later during the first of my two lay-offs. Stumbled across my 64 Spitfire by accident a couple of years later while trying to find another TR3 I cold afford. It was complete, but not running. I thought I could change the oil, tune it up and drive it until I could find a TR3. Several thousand $$$ and 15 years later, it still isn't completely finshed. I still need seats and the bumpers rechromed. I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease in the midst of the restoration and lost all energy and interest. That slowed it down a lot. Now I have the new (to me) 1980 Spitfire. It will go a lot faster.

 

[spineguru]

Many of you have replied that your interest in cars is in the mechanics of them / working on them / etc. My interest in the Triumph comes more from the driving experinece and the great memories it can create.

My Triumph was my Dad's and he got it when I was 1 yr. old. Some of my fondest Father / Son times was cruising in the Triumph with Dad. I now have to priviledge of passing that same experience to my kids. Just took a 30 minute cruise last night with the 2 boys (5 and 7 yr old) buckled in the front together and my daughter (10 yr. old) in back "seat". They love it, and it is my chance to do something with my kids that is just a "Dad activity" (my wife has only been in the TR twice - she says it is smelly).

The Triumph has always been about the experience, not the mechanics. There are a lot of cars that are more impressive performance wise, but I challenge anyone to come up with a car that gets more comments, stares, and questions. Being a 45 year old car, there is an entire generation that has never even heard of a TR3. When they see one, they are almost always amazed. A $100K Porsche doesn't even get a second look in today's world, but these babies sure can get someone's attention. Just the exhaust note will usually get someone to turn and look.

As I have only had the TR for a few months as my own, I have done very little work myself. As I said, it is really not my main interest in the car, but also knowing that the car is 45 years old, I am starting to get my self familiar so that I can at least keep up with the general maintenace and minor improvement things myself.

As far as background goes, my education is in Biomedical Engineering (BS and MS from University of Iowa - GO HAWKS!), but I have been on the Marketing side most of my career working for a company that makes Hips and Knees. I have been married for 15 years to my wiofe, Wendy, and we have 3 kids who are enjoying their sleep this summer while I get up and 5:15AM and run before heading into work (then they have the nerve to ask why I am falling asleep on the couch in the evening /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif). Austin, TX is great place to be and a great place to have a Triumph. I am finding that my summer drives are at 8-9 PM, but that is perfect. I'll get my daytime drives in in the other half of the year.

 

[MarkT]

Hi Bryan,

Have you joined the Hill Country Triumph Club? They are a pretty good bunch of people with a huge amount of cumulative knowledge and mechanical experience. Lots of TR3s too. They have monthly meetings (which always seem to clash with something else I'm doing) and fairly regular driving events.

Check out https://www.hillcountrytriumphclub.org/

Mark

 

[TR4nut]

I was hooked on model cars as a kid too - but I knew I liked to take them apart more than put them together - had a paper shopping bag filled with loose model parts just to use to customize the next one I bought. That was 'back in the day' you could get a model car kit for $2.

First car was a $200 Dodge Dart slant six rust bucket. Next one was a 67 Plymouth Baracuda, 318 smallblock, oversized tires on the back so large you had to buckle in to stay in the seat, and very noisy sidepipes. No, I'm not sorry I don't have that car anymore.

Always liked Triumphs, but the Spitfire with its lines was the first to catch my eye as a kid, also the first I Triumph I bought. Wound up taking it all apart and putting every loose thing in paper shopping bags just like my model days. Actually got it back together, wound up getting another Spitfire, GT6, couple TR6s and now my TR4s.

Chemical engineer by degree, work in the oil patch for an occupation. Not much formal mechanical training other than high school level and a whole lot of tinkering.