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Darrell_Walker
Jedi Knight
Offline
Your first "Triumph"?
I thought it would be interesting to hear the stories behind everyone's first "Triumph". There seems to be quite a mix of folks with one car and folks with "herds", and new owners and people who've had their car since new. I'll go first.
I purchased my first (and only, so far) Triumph in the summer of 1981. It was the summer before my senior year of high school. Technically, it wasn't my first car, but I think of it that way. I had a '71 Mustang for about 6 months (purchased for $1500, sold for $2000). I decided that I wanted a "two seat sports car". I didn't really know too much about British cars. I knew what an MGB and Spitfire was, of course, and the TR7 and 8 were still "new". In fact, I seem to have been in the minority that actually liked the wedge at the time. I had seen a few TR6s, as well, but knew little about them (and nothing about the earlier TRs). Anyway, with this vast knowledge, I set out to find my car in the metropolis of Bakersfield, CA.
There were lots of MGBs available, but almost all recent models, and well out of my limited budget (which was the $2000 from selling the Mustang). Similarly, most of the Spitfires were recent models, though I did look at one older model. For some reason it really didn't click with me, perhaps it was the 3" purple shag carpet. Though I thought (and still do) that the bonnet is about the coolest thing ever. I also looked at a clapped-out MGA, but it seemed a little old-fashioned for what I was looking for.
After a couple of weeks I was about to give up any hope, then there appeared an ad for a 1966 TR4A. I had no idea what that was, other than it must certainly be an earlier TR version, so I went to take a look. It was basically love at first sight. From the "power bulge" in the bonnet, to the aggressive stance, the car was what I was looking for, in ways that an MBG could never be. A deal was quickly struck, and the car was mine for $1850 (negotiated down from the asking price of $1900).
Fortunately, love is blind, because I'm not sure the car would be worth that much today, much less then (well, it was rust-free, so probably it would be). But I'll start my description from the cockpit. Recall that the car is only 15 years old and this point.
The was no carpet anywhere to be found, other than a few tatters in the rear shelf area. The bare metal floorboards were painted primer gray, which matched the gray vinyl that had been put over the door and rear panels (along with 1" foam padding, they looked more like pillows). The seats were original, but both had ripped out through the bottom. That did, however, really keep your butt glued to the seat (there were no seat belts, which was how the car was built. I thought that was really cool that I didn't have to have seat belts, since the law at the time didn't require that you retrofit). A PO had evidently put a lot of work in making a new dash -- out of regular plywood. I didn't look quite as bad as it sounds, and I thought the wooded dash was pretty cool. Much better than the contact-paper fake wood that was quite popular in cars of the time. And being the glove box door was ā¦ nothing. It was just an open hole. The center console was also stripped of any padding, but at least the natural aluminum matched the gray interior. The lower crash pad was missing on the passenger side. I made a replacement (came out pretty well), though it was a number of years before I knew it was supposed to have a handle (I just matched it to the driver's side). None of the heater controls were present, and in fact, the heater core wasn't even plumbed. Fortunately there didn't seem to be any problems with any of it, once it was connected. Though it was years before I had temperature control (such that it is) from inside the passenger compartment. A PO has installed a manual valve when they bypassed the heater core, and I continued to use that for some time.
The outside looked pretty good, but future work would reveal that at least 3 of the wings, one door and the boot lid where not original to the car. The B post on the driver's side was badly crushed, though the new rear wing hid it fairly well. The bonnet had some wrinkled paint in one area, where apparently there had been a small fire in the engine compartment. This appears to have been around the carb, as much of the wiring there had been replaced.
The engine and transmission would both be later discovered to not be original to the car. Both were older, the engine, based no the number, was probably from a TR4, probably 1964 vintage. An attempt had been made to retain the TR4A PCV system, but the block was missing the road draft tube (or a plug there), which was one of many sources of oil leakage. The radiator had clearly had a close relationship with the fan at one point, thought the damage to the tubes had been soldered, and I never really had any cooling problems.
The car had 14" alloy wheels, in a pattern that was popular on VW Bugs at the time, though actually looked pretty good (if not a little undersized). Fortunately, they managed to remain attached to the car even with a couple of studs broken off, and most of the remaining ones were the short, wire wheel length. While the car was delivered with disc wheels, at some point it had apparently been converted to wires, as it included four 4" wheels, and four trashed adapters.
So, let's hear your story!
I thought it would be interesting to hear the stories behind everyone's first "Triumph". There seems to be quite a mix of folks with one car and folks with "herds", and new owners and people who've had their car since new. I'll go first.
I purchased my first (and only, so far) Triumph in the summer of 1981. It was the summer before my senior year of high school. Technically, it wasn't my first car, but I think of it that way. I had a '71 Mustang for about 6 months (purchased for $1500, sold for $2000). I decided that I wanted a "two seat sports car". I didn't really know too much about British cars. I knew what an MGB and Spitfire was, of course, and the TR7 and 8 were still "new". In fact, I seem to have been in the minority that actually liked the wedge at the time. I had seen a few TR6s, as well, but knew little about them (and nothing about the earlier TRs). Anyway, with this vast knowledge, I set out to find my car in the metropolis of Bakersfield, CA.
There were lots of MGBs available, but almost all recent models, and well out of my limited budget (which was the $2000 from selling the Mustang). Similarly, most of the Spitfires were recent models, though I did look at one older model. For some reason it really didn't click with me, perhaps it was the 3" purple shag carpet. Though I thought (and still do) that the bonnet is about the coolest thing ever. I also looked at a clapped-out MGA, but it seemed a little old-fashioned for what I was looking for.
After a couple of weeks I was about to give up any hope, then there appeared an ad for a 1966 TR4A. I had no idea what that was, other than it must certainly be an earlier TR version, so I went to take a look. It was basically love at first sight. From the "power bulge" in the bonnet, to the aggressive stance, the car was what I was looking for, in ways that an MBG could never be. A deal was quickly struck, and the car was mine for $1850 (negotiated down from the asking price of $1900).
Fortunately, love is blind, because I'm not sure the car would be worth that much today, much less then (well, it was rust-free, so probably it would be). But I'll start my description from the cockpit. Recall that the car is only 15 years old and this point.
The was no carpet anywhere to be found, other than a few tatters in the rear shelf area. The bare metal floorboards were painted primer gray, which matched the gray vinyl that had been put over the door and rear panels (along with 1" foam padding, they looked more like pillows). The seats were original, but both had ripped out through the bottom. That did, however, really keep your butt glued to the seat (there were no seat belts, which was how the car was built. I thought that was really cool that I didn't have to have seat belts, since the law at the time didn't require that you retrofit). A PO had evidently put a lot of work in making a new dash -- out of regular plywood. I didn't look quite as bad as it sounds, and I thought the wooded dash was pretty cool. Much better than the contact-paper fake wood that was quite popular in cars of the time. And being the glove box door was ā¦ nothing. It was just an open hole. The center console was also stripped of any padding, but at least the natural aluminum matched the gray interior. The lower crash pad was missing on the passenger side. I made a replacement (came out pretty well), though it was a number of years before I knew it was supposed to have a handle (I just matched it to the driver's side). None of the heater controls were present, and in fact, the heater core wasn't even plumbed. Fortunately there didn't seem to be any problems with any of it, once it was connected. Though it was years before I had temperature control (such that it is) from inside the passenger compartment. A PO has installed a manual valve when they bypassed the heater core, and I continued to use that for some time.
The outside looked pretty good, but future work would reveal that at least 3 of the wings, one door and the boot lid where not original to the car. The B post on the driver's side was badly crushed, though the new rear wing hid it fairly well. The bonnet had some wrinkled paint in one area, where apparently there had been a small fire in the engine compartment. This appears to have been around the carb, as much of the wiring there had been replaced.
The engine and transmission would both be later discovered to not be original to the car. Both were older, the engine, based no the number, was probably from a TR4, probably 1964 vintage. An attempt had been made to retain the TR4A PCV system, but the block was missing the road draft tube (or a plug there), which was one of many sources of oil leakage. The radiator had clearly had a close relationship with the fan at one point, thought the damage to the tubes had been soldered, and I never really had any cooling problems.
The car had 14" alloy wheels, in a pattern that was popular on VW Bugs at the time, though actually looked pretty good (if not a little undersized). Fortunately, they managed to remain attached to the car even with a couple of studs broken off, and most of the remaining ones were the short, wire wheel length. While the car was delivered with disc wheels, at some point it had apparently been converted to wires, as it included four 4" wheels, and four trashed adapters.
So, let's hear your story!
