I have quite the same sentiments. When I'm in my TR6, I have people chase me
down to say, "cooool car". People stop me in parking lots to look at it, and
my students all go ga ga over it even though it is "slow" by today's
standards.
My sister has a Miata, the only time she gets a compliment is when she asks
how they like her car. And nobody has ever chased her down to get a look at
it. Miatas are a dime a dozen in my neighborhood
Jack W.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Grant Kester" <gkester@ucsd.edu>
To: <6pack@autox.team.net>
Sent: Thursday, August 22, 2002 10:26 PM
Subject: Zen and the Art of TR6 Maintenance
> My two cents regarding the debate over how to enhance TR6 performance.
>
> While I'd be happy to have a bit more acceleration in my TR6 this is
> definitely not why I bought it. If all I wanted was a two-seater with
speed
> I would have gotten a used Miata or BMW Z3 (well, I couldn't have
affforded
> the Z3), but there must be a dozen Miatas parked in front of houses within
> a two block radius of me. Not to mention the Corky Romano factor; they may
> be faster than a TR6 but god knows you pay the price in style. For that
> matter, I live in Southern California where I'm surrounded by kids in
Ninja
> Hondas that can blow the doors off of any Miata (not to mention my 33 year
> old Triumph), so I'm used to being passed.
>
> With my Triumph I'm owning, and sustaining, a piece of (design) history.
In
> an era of god-awful ugly car design (Azteks, PT Cruisers and, IMHO, Z3s
and
> Miatas) the TR6 has a really elegant beauty of line (thanks in part to
> Karmann). I like the idea of keeping a 33 year old car functional and
> on-the-road as opposed to the mindless drive to consume, dispose and
> destroy that guides most of our buying decisions. It probably sounds a bit
> strange, but my TR6 reminds me of the old Bonsai trees I used to see at
the
> Nat'l Arboretum in DC; maintained and passed down from one care-taker to
> the next, sometimes over hundreds of years. I got my car from a guy up
the
> coast who cared for it almost religiously, even down to the little details
> that you can't see and that don't always matter. I plan to do the same and
> if I ever sell it I hope to pass it along to a like-minded person.
>
> Grant Kester
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