My 2 cents worth: The three catagories of TR's, that I would consider
buying in the future:
1. A totally restored Tr6( with documentation) that someone has to unload
because of financial emergency!
2. An original; unmolested, from the original owner, is road worthy,
dependable, faded original paint and worn interior a plus !
3. A cheap 73 or74 with no rust frame, complete, all parts there intact,
cost under $ 1000.00, with overdrive, that I know I'm going to take my time
to do it right, 2 or more years.
Where I'm comming from: First of all I'm mechanically challenged and own a
limited supply of tools. Also, I enjoy driving the Six, not repairing,
however once my TR becomes roadworthy and dependable, set up correctly, I
will truly enjoy maintaining the car ( with pride). Let me further explain,
I breifly owned a spitfire in 1975, owned about a month, then totalled it.
After lurking around the list for about 6 months, I bought a TR6, for
$5900, advertised in Auto Trader for $7500. Although the car looked really
good,and there were definately $5900 worth of new parts, I paid $500 to $
1000 too much for the car. Although I have placed second in a car
show(popular choice) beating out ground up restorations.
Luck would have it ,that it was involved in an accident. I ran it into my
house, foot slipped of the break. Insurance company agreed to fix it,and
give me a complete paint job. It was at this time I decided that I wasn't
going to put a new paint job on any rust or bondo. Most of the medal, has
been replaced. I also decided to change the color from ARREST ME RED to
BRG, so I pulled the engine and decided to have the engine rebuilt by
someone who has built Triumph racecars. My point is this, I have learned
the hard way, but when the ride is complete, I will know the car has been
done right. My goal is to have a dependable, nice, daily driver.This is
going to be hard to do in Florida without AC.
My next car, bought by using method 1,2,3, will be a Mustang covertable,
1964-1968. I will not spend what they want for cars these days to have them
fall apart in 5 years,and be worthless.(ALTHOUGH I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE AIR
CONDITIONING!) Thanks for the Bandwidth, waybe this will help someone
wanting to buy a TR. In my opinion, car clubs are the best places to look
for cars!
Phil Smith
69 TR6
" More Dreams than money "
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