Friends,
As I leave the office tonight my (73 TR-6) odometer reads 99,966 miles. Its
third time around. I'm feeling intro and retrospective. Helena and I bought
the TR in the fall of 1995, a couple of months after our wedding. 20,000 on
the clock $4000.00 USD out the door of the dealer. We made the down
payment. $1500.00 out of some of the wedding proceeds. H is one woman who
has always loved British cars. Having been born in a Wolverhampton
farmhouse in her grans feather bed I suppose this only follows.
The first few months of ownership were a rocky road. Within 5000 miles but
after the warrantee had expired the head gave out. Bad casting on water
jacket around #6. Burned a hole through the head between intake and exhaust
valve. New heads were expensive then for a couple of struggling students
holding down low paying day jobs and attending college evenings. But we
fixed it anyway.
Next to go was the front suspension. Didn't realize that there was a
problem til I put the mini lites from my previous TR-4A on it. Front rims
scraped on the upper A arms. Needed all new bushings, trunnions, and had
bent vertical links to boot. After only 25,000....those first 20,000 must
have been rough miles. Discovered the problem just before we were to drive
to Florida from the Chicago area for a Christmas/New Years delayed
honeymoon in the Keys. Picked up the car from the mechanics the night
before we drove away. By the time we gor to Georgia it was apparent that
something was still wrong. The outside edges of the new redlines were
exhibiting extreme wear. The fool mechanic had not done an alignment (that
he charged me for) after the rebuild. No place in Georgia to do anything
about it. I was somewhat fearful of even being in the that state as we were
extremely counterculture and my long hair and Illinios plates produced
glares and comments at all stops. We finally found a Triumph mechanic in
Daytona Beach who resolved the problem, but not in time to save the tires
which by now were showing steel belting through the rubber. Another couple
of hundred for two new red lines. That was a significant part of our
vacation stash.
But Daytona Beach was beautiful then and the A1A bore little resemblence to
its modern high rise shi shi counterpart. Drove the beach at Daytona even
venturing into the surf to be "cool".It wasn't til years later that I would
truly regret that bit of foolishness.
A day at Disney World (only open about a year as I recall) then onward to
the Keys stopping in Fort lauderdale and Miami Beach on the way to visit
friends. We made camp at Pennycamp, snorkled the reef and explored the keys
down to Key West. It was there while attempting to find the elusive clunk
in the rear end that i disciovered just how rough the first 20,000 must
have been. Front rear end mount right side cracked and flapping in the
breeze. Oh joy oh joy. Well I knew that would'nt be fixed in Fla....way low
on dough.
I knew if I took it easy on acceleration that the clunk could be controlled
and I had no real fear of loosing the rear end. so we chalked it up and
just enjoyed ourselves. After a New Years eve of extreme partying on Key
Largo. Remember I said Counter Culture and that meant FULL TILT BOOGIE we
spent a couple of days recovering with plenty of hair of the dog and
groggily made our way back north. As we hit Missouri the temp dropped fifty
degrees to -10F. It remained that way all the rest of the way. There is
nothing colder than the inside of a TR at 70 mph and 10 below. (except
maybe a 56 olds coupe with no heater or defroster in the same
circumstance...but thats another story). Full blast the heater would not
even keep our feet warm. We stuffed clothing everywhere we felt wind
comming in...and that was just about everywhere. Rolled into our little
rented farmhouse late on a Sunday night, stiff with cold, tucked the TR
safely in the garage and built a fire to warm our frostbitten pieces. God
it was nice to be home. And thats only the prelude to the whole story.
Now I really think something is deeply wierd about the two (or should I say
the three) of us, because throughout this odyssey and to this day 23 years
later we still love this car. At 300,000 miles it is in the best shape its
ever been in.... and we ain't so shabby either) ... and the three of us
have shared more high times and low, more feasts and the famine, more hair
raising adventure and more of this great country then I could have ever
imagined The TR has become like a family member loved because it was
associated with our nuptuals and more so now because we did not have
children. The car and our pets (now including our 85 Jaguar.... love of
Brit cars is a hard habit to break) have been the family. H and I are still
madly in love with each other and with most things British and to celebrate
the oddometer's turn over we'll drive up to the Napa County vinyards this
weekend, with the wind in our hair. and the Stones on the CD and pop a
bottle of Champaign and celebrate our lives and drink to the proposition
that in a Triumph GETTING THERE IS ALL THE FUN. Here's to us and here's to
you and to the cars and women we love.
Next time if your'e very very good children we'll continue the saga with
the adventures of our westward migration. Same cast same characters
Deano
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