Fellow infected ones,
I gather from a few of the stories in this thread that I might be a little
less experienced in life (ie younger) than some of the others who have
posted their stories, however I started early in life with Triumphs so I
feel I've caught up a little.
My interest in Triumphs was started by my Science master in High
(Secondary) School, he had a 1200 Herald. As a result of his influence, my
first car (bought before I had a licence) was a 948cc Herald Coupe S (ie
twin carbs and almost enough grunt to pull the skin off a rice pudding).
That car taught me about mechanicals quick smart, but it was much easier to
work on that my fellow school mates cars (such heaps of rubbish as late
'70's Ford and Holden (Austrlian GM) V8's, simple but VERY crude), they all
had no space, and everything weighed a tonne.
After a few years service the Herald was replaced as an everyday car with a
Ford Escort Panel Van (in a great shade of 70's purple) that I need for
work, however the Herald was not abandoned, just not used as much. Some
time around here I saw an add for a Spitfire MkII, so I bought that too. So
19 years old, and I already had two Triumphs, and the 2 - 3 tonnes of
spares that came with the Spitfire! Was my mum impressed (they lived at
here house - whilst I didn't, she had a garage) - I think not.
I Finally decided to head to university, so I sold the Herald (the Escort
was also to be sold, however my little brother wrapped it around a Toyota
my last day of work!) and the Spitfire had to live in the garage at home
for a while (because I had run out of points on my licence and so had to
take public transport for a while until the decided that I had learnt not
to speed, that Escort had started out standard, and ended up able to give
stock V8's a big scare at the lights!).
After a year of storage the Spitfire was taken out and used as my car
whilst I was at university, this had the usual effect - especially as I was
using it for club motorsport at the same time. When I finished uni I
decided tol take it off the road, and save up the money to put it really
right. Retrenchment, and then 2 years on the other side of the country
slowed that down - however it is now being restored (in the meantime I gave
it to my wife as a wedding present).
Whilst everything else was happening I couldn't just have one car, we
acquired a Spitfire MkIII, which was originally going to be a wedding
present, however it ended up being part of the house deposit. And a GT6
came over from the US, and somehow ended up in our garage as well, it is
now RHD (with an overdrive 2500 gearbox - and that's another long story
told elsewhere) and used by Sal for daily transport (I get to drive the
company car!), it's also ended up being my club toy (if we would only stop
spending our money on something else!).
So I've had Triumphs in the driveway for all of my driving life, and I
can't see myself Triumph less for some time.
Bill
Bill and Sal Birney
'67 Spitfire MkII - Under resto
'70 GT6+ (RHD)
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