Before I describe the Turbo TR6, let me digress into how I came upon it in
the first place. An apartment-dwelling friend of mine told me that a
neighbor had a "modified" TR6. On my next visit there, I spotted it and
noted that it had original TR6 wheels, with brand-new trim rings installed.
I've been looking for a good set of orig. wheels for some time now; the
Revolution wheels and V-rated Pirelli's that the PO put on my car are OK,
but I'm in the middle of an all-original restoration. So I knocked on his
door and asked if he'd be interested in a trade for some "really nice mags
and low-mileage tires". The college sophomore said he was interested,
which made my day, but next we went out to look at his car. Didn't take
much of a look to notice that the new red paint was over a rather poor body
job; the new hood had been torn when he had tried to stow it improperly;
the interior was decent but not maintained. Then he popped the bonnet ---
a 2.3L turbo four from a Merkur XR4Ti (!)... Didn't seem to have required
an awful lot of mounting mods: the turbo made a slight intrusion into the
right wheelwell, a couple of angle-iron brackets held the radiator. Didn't
look back of the engine to see how the tranny fit. The owner said that "me
and my dad built this car", but it was obvious that "dad" was the operative
word here. He didn't have a clue about what was really going on with the
car, other than "it's got a lot more kick than the original".
Anyway, the wheels do seem to be in good shape, and he's got five of them;
he says he wants to trade wheels with me, but he "has to OK it with dad".
I left one of my wheels with him to "show dad". I've still got to take a
look at his original wheels and see if they're all straight. They've been
cleaned up and painted, and as I said, the trim rings are brand new. One
or two lug nuts are missing, but they're easy to get.
Oh, it's not currently running -- "electrical problems". Seems that the
Merkur motor was mated to the Lucas harness, and the Prince has voiced his
displeasure with the marriage. So the owner is saying "I'd sell it for
half of what I've got in it". At first I thought "parts car", but after
looking it over, there's not really a lot of good parts still there.
Anyway, I asked about what that amount might be. "We've put in about
$8000."
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA...
I couln't help but dream about some of the immaculate Triumphs, MG's, etc.,
that can be had for under $8000. And even for half that.
Lee M. Daniels - Laboratory for Molecular Structure and Bonding - Texas A&M
daniels@lmsbvx.tamu.edu | DANIELS@TAMLMSB.BITNET | (409) 845-3726
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