Bob:
I know why you wrote it...and thanks! I always thought that if my
relationships could be as faithful and as fun as my LBC (it was a bright
red '70 MGB, but I'm not supposed to mention that on this list!) then life
would be much better.
Well the little 'B' after fifteen years of faithful service and over
200,000 miles, sacrificed itself for my freedom. (The attorney took it
in exchange for the divorce fees.)
I now have a '73 TR6 that is in great shape and is a joy to drive. But
more importantly, I have a wonderful wife who looks the other way when
parts bills come in, who thinks it's cute when I act like a kid at
Christmas when the UPS truck pulls up to the door, and who thinks the TR
is cute and fun, as long as I keep her '75 VW Cabriolet running so she
can put her top down in a civilized manner.
So, like LBC's the right ones are out there and they are well worth
maintaining!!
Michael
On Wed, 13 May 1998, Robert M. Lang wrote:
>
> Liseters,
>
> Seeing the posting from a week or two ago reminds me of how owning a
> Triumph has transformed my life.
>
> You see, I was a wee lad when Dad brought that first Triumph home - I'd
> never heard of a TR6 - I had heard of a TR4, and I was able to deduce that
> a TR6 must have six cylinders and that I really really really wanted to put
> a 327 in one and change the little tail marknings to TR8... little did I
> know that the "boys in Coventry" had the same idea (and a few more folks
> besides them!)
>
> But, it was love at first site. Ironically, that TR6, a '71 arrived
> literally at the same time the love of my life was to move away to a town
> about twenty miles away. In the last weeks that she was around (before the
> move) she and I would sit in the TR6 in the driveway and talk about what it
> would be like when we both got our drivers' licenses - I promised that I'd
> pick her up in the TR6 and we could go for long drives with the top down.
>
> That was not to be, however - that's how it is when you are young - lots of
> dreams. Then reality set in. I didn't get my license for another year or
> so, and in the meantime, the young lass found that she was quite popular in
> the new school...
>
> So, I spent the next 5 years or so polishing the TR6 - 'till it went away,
> it was replaced by CF 14111U. I used to polish that car even more than the
> older car and I was deeply saddened that Dad would trade in the '71 for the
> '74 for $1500 - I actually had the money to pay him $1500 at the time. I
> think he knew this was the case - even though I never told him - and when
> he passed on, it was his express desire that CF14111U be handed down to me.
>
> The car sat in the garage for about 6 years because I was newly married,
> and every time I discussed spending money on my little "dream machine", my
> then-wife would indicate other issues were more important - thus the car
> languished, unused.
>
> Finally, I had collected the parts and the desire to get the car going
> again. The mitigating factor was that the car was located in a garage at my
> mother's house, and her new husband (a car guy) wanted to utilize the
> garage for his own car things... so, in very short order, the car was made
> roadworthy and moved to my house.
>
> For the next several years, I had all kinds of fun driving the car as much
> as 10,000 miles a year - to work, to the store... I would volunteer to go
> to the store several times a day - just so I could drive the TR6. I hooked
> up with some local car clubs, and then I started driving all over the place
> - Nova Scotia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania - you name it.
>
> After a while, the wife started balking at going for long TR trips... it
> was on one of those trips that she indicated her desire to end our
> relationship.
>
> So now I still have the TR6 but all the relationships have gone out the
> window... hmmmm. What's up with that? In fact, I've started building
> another TR6. I must be a realy glutton, eh?
>
> I don't even know why I wrote this.
>
> Have a nice day!!!
>
> And drive your Triumph!!!!!
>
> Bob Lang
> TR6's
>
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