>>Don't really
>>know what I'm getting at here but I guess that I would be reluctant to do
>>that again as being compared to those perfectly restored cars
> It upsets me too,
The first thing you need to do is decide the purpose of the vehicle. Is
it to be a show car or a daily driver? If it is a show car you get to
become an overly obsessive authenticity nazi (My house mate coined that
phrase when I was rebuilding my TR). I've noticed an increasingly
higher percentage of show car owners with Triumphs in my local club over
the years and correspondingly fewer driving events. Back in the mid
eighties when I first got my TR, show car oriented people got Jags and
people into driving got TRs, MGs or Morgans. My local club had driving
events on the club calendar 3 or 4 weeks a month during the dry season.
You couldn't be an active club member without putting at least 300 mi,
often 500 a month on the TR just in club events. Sometime while my TR
was undergoing its lengthy and extensive rebuild Triumphs became
respectable for the show crowd and driving events dropped to one or two
on the calendar per month.
Somehow, I think that's sad. Folks who had dependable drivers that were
not kept in like new condition felt an unsaid peer pressure. Some
rebuilt their TRs, most seemed to have left the club scene. I
occasionally see old TR friends at field meets who dropped out because
of the focus change and we talk old times as we tour the field. Its
silly to get nestolgic about the days when just driving the Triumph was
a primary club focus and not how like new original a TR appears.
Anyway, I've gotten off track from what I originally wanted to say.
somwhen you need to decide what is most important to you as a person and
your imagined ideal lifestyle, a show car or a daily driver then rebuild
accordingly.
> although I'm perfectly capable of holding my own
> when it comes to what's original and what's "wrong" with my car. All
> of my modifications are deliberate, it's what *I* want my car to be
> (this month), and anyone who says that's wrong can go soak their heads!
That's almost exactly my feelings as well. When I went to rebuild my
car I thought it was just totally worn out needing a drive train and
suspension rebuild, a fresh interior and respraying the engine bay and
boot area to match the colour of the body (body was Chevy white with
flat black engine bay and boot area). Six months and I would be back on
the road for late summer and fall club driving tours. I took the car off
the road the day after the club participation in a local Christmas
parade and I wanted to get everything done to miss the least amount of
the dry season summer tours. No problem.
Amazing what paint, bondo and fiberglass can cover. Within 3 months the
freshening up became a take down to bare metal to find all the rust
project that ended up with over 60% of the body metal being new to that
vehicle.
Once I knew I was faced with a complete restoration I set my design
goals. I decided I didn't want a concourse or field meet show car but a
daily driver since I was having a lot of fun at club driving events. My
design goal became a period weekend SCCA racer. A reproduction of a
daily driver that got driven down to a local air strip and raced on
weekends, driven home then commuted to work on week days. The DOCEs,
Wiend valve cover, Moon eyes breather and four tube headers
intensionally locked me away from serious show competition. It clearly
placed my car out of purist owner originality consideration. So I
wouldn't have to deal with people like me who could go over a TR3 and
tell you exactly what is "not correct" for that car.
> For that reason (and the fact I've never finished it), I'm very
> reluctant to show my car. I generally park it on the street and enjoy
> looking at all the perfectly restored cars anyway.
Since my TR is intentionally not a recreation of some imagined factory
precision assembly but a recreation of some imagined daily driver that
sees lots of use I don't worry about peer pressure when displaying my
car at field meets. I enjoy the show cars but I enjoy the daily drivers
more. I know there are a few individuals who can build a show car, put
lots of miles on it and still somehow manage to maintain it to look like
a show car (Hi Jim) but those people seem to be few and far between.
What saddens me as someone who loves to drive her TR3 is the change of
club focus I've seen from driving events to show events. I'm not trying
to judge other's preferences, just a personal sense of loss of a group
activity I enjoyed.
>I think many people (myself included) come across as being
> critical when that really isn't the intention.
I often do that too when I come across a 3 rebuilt for field meets and I
dislike that tendency in myself. I just somehow feel compelled to judge
a "show" 3 against what I remember of the TRA concourse book.
>not that there's anything
> actually wrong with having it that way if you want to.
I full agree. If you decide to build a TR that would get a gold at a
club funcourse don't let people like me phase you. Its my problem, not
yours nor your cars.
>>4. I am desperately looking for a luggage rack as I need to transport a
>>wheelchair for my wife.
One thing I have discovered is that TR3 boot lids do not take weight on
a boot rack well. The factory style puts weight stress on the boot
hinges (good) and on unreinforced sheet metal near the bottom of the
rack (bad).
If you drive with much weight on a factory style rack and I suspect an
AMCO style rack, the boot lid will develop indentations where it mounts
against sheet metal (I have been known to tour with period ice chest and
large thermos on the rack). I suggest adding a reinforcing strip of
some kind on the underside of the boot lid where the lower mounts fit.
Depending on how big the chair is you might just find the rear seat area
actually is the best place to store it. The racks are not all that big.
See if you can talk someone who has a rack installed into a trial fit.
> I have the "original style" rack from TRF,
Same here. They seem to me to be more heavy duty than the AMCO style
and it can be removed when not in use.
TeriAnn
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