Short story:
Since so many have gone before me I hereby submit my Triumph bio. I hope
this isn't too long. I'm 43, have a beautiful TR loving wife, and 3 TR
loving kids (16-G, 13-B,11-G). We've been to 4 VTR Nationals as a family
(Savannah, Asheville, FT. Worth and Hudson). We have 2 driver TR6's, 1 still
apart frame-off TR6, another parked, a TR3A racecar, a Devin TR project car,
and a rusted out SCCA champ TR4A racecar with spare donor TR4A (anyone
looking for a project?). I've sold my 3 TR250's. I sell John Deere
construction equipment and thus must drive a TRuck, and we have an old '88
Safari van and a Taurus for the newbie driver (who wants the parked TR6
ASAP). My wife prefers to drive her TR6, but often must settle for the van
due to space requirements. We live outside of Austin TX on the shores of
Lake Travis. The boat barn holds numerous dead TR's (mine and Roger
Bolick's), and I have rustic garage that holds 5 TR's. (Oh what a lucky man
I am). As for humble beginnings, I worked my way through college on the
extended plan as a manager of Mickey D's, finally graduating (MGMT), but not
leaving the burger biz until we moved to TX to open up a pet store in 1984.
We did that for 13 years until industry trends cut into our business
(Petsmart and Petco). We were smart enough to sell 2 of our 3 stores before
it was too late and closed our original store in 1996. I had already moved
out to become business consultant but after a year and via TR club
connections landed an equipment sales job. The DEERE guys were happy to get
a "CAT" salesman.
TR Details:
At 14, I had my first vision of a Triumph, a red TR4A, owned by the guy to
taught us how to sail after my family bought a sailboat. My sister dated the
guy for a few months so the car came to my house. He was cool, I wanted to
be, and I was hooked. In short order, I found a $175 TR4, but couldn't talk
dad into a project. As a car hungry 17 year old suburban NY teen, I begged
borrowed and cajoled to get my parents to co-sign the loan for a '68 Camaro
SS Convertible. After a year of drag racing, 3 Muncie 21's, a cam and
lifters, and much abuse it threw a rod and died on the side of the
interstate in the Bronx. Most of it was gone the next morning! I hadn't yet
found my individuality so I succumbed to female pressure and jumped into the
Van craze with a '76 Dodge van which I out-fitted. I was temporarily a
drop-out, mostly to pay vehicle expenses. I came to my senses after meeting
my wife to be, and finally thinking about the future I sold the van and
went back to college. Her parents weren't much impressed with a boy with a
van anyway. It was time for a TR so I bought a TR250. I got so excited that
I didn't check it out very well. Said 250 had 3 different size tires made by
4 manufacturers, camber problems, drank LMA heavily and ran a little rough.
One evening/morning I crossed a small iced over bridge (39 degrees on the
bank sign!) and pitched back and forth 3 times before sliding sideways into
a tree. My first parts car! In school but out of work, I still had some
cash from unloading the van. I found a TR6 that needed lots of work, mostly
parts off the TR250. A few months later, I had transformed a dingy, BRG '69
TR6 with rust on all 4 corners into a Corvette White bondo queen. Before I
even got it back together someone driving by offered my about $200 more than
I had in it, and knowing I still had lots of parts for a replacement, I sold
it. I quickly replaced it with a running Mustang for $200, and a '72 Damson
TR6 that wouldn't run for $750. The TR6 needed a coil (dumb-*^$ used car
lot) so I had it running quickly. Good thing too, cause when I dropped the
Mustang off at a service station to mount some used tires, they left it
parked on the street for a drunk driver to total. My camping gear was in the
footwells. I did get $365 for it, and began a long relationship with
CC75059L as my only transportation for many years and my ride to the church
when Barbara and I married in 1980. I still have it. It lives on in a '73
TR6 that I bought without a title. The car itself is a rusted out hulk and
has provided parts to at least 5 cars in our local club. This is the TR that
wouldn't die! As it turned out, it had been rebuilt after a serious
accident, and the whole passenger side was replaced and the frame was
plated. It was most likely a totaled car that someone saw fit to fix.This
same car was rear-ended one Christmas Eve and totaled, but I took the $ and
rebuilt it. On the way back from the Savannah VTR meet, it was hit from
behind to the tune of $1750. I managed to fix it with spares I had
collected, but it was totaled for the 3rd time the next Christmas Eve
morning when a truck backed into it (front-ended?). No that's not the end!
Barbara called me to come get her, and I pried the fenders off the tires and
drove it home. After settling with the insurance company for $5750, I bought
it back for $1100, pulled a few dents and drove it for another year until
the tranny finally gave out. I spent both the $1750 and the $4650 on a 73
TR6 w/o title, but 31,000 original miles (car was stolen when almost new,
bought from Sheriff and parked for 9 years, title lost). CC75059L lives on.
Hope I haven't bored you or killed the server!
Bob Kramer
Hill Country Triumph Club
Corinthians Vintage Auto Racing Club
TR3A, TR6, TR4A
rgk@flash.net
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