Steve wrote:
>I am 47 and really surprised at the number of guys in their 30's who own
>the TR's - actually its pretty cool. When I was growing up in (get this)
>Berkeley California, there were loads of TRs of all kinds driving around
>but I was just a kid who got to look at them as they were parked on the
>street. By the time I could drive, they were already disappearing and
>even the TR6 was in it's final years of production and was no longer in
>vogue. I suppose if you are currently in your 30's perhaps the exposure
>to these cars was from your parents or someone else from that generation
>when you were very young?
>
I don't remember any little British cars where I grew up in rural
western Pennsylvania. There was a fiberglass Corvette a neighbor's kid
owned, I remember farmers saying it could shatter any day. I always
watched him go by, but it never broke up near my farmhouse.
When I finally got around to buying a car, I was just married and 25.
(I'm 38 now, two boys 6 and 7.) I wanted a cheap convertible I could
learn to work on. I started buying Practical Classics magazine, and then
joined the british-cars list and soaked it up. My wife had a college
boyfriend with an MGB and she was surprisingly enthusiastic (hmmm?) as I
looked at MGB's and Spitfires in the D.C. area. I test drove a blue
Spitfire, and as we drove I asked the owner why he was selling. He said
"I want more power so I'm getting a TR6." So I thought "well then *I*
want a TR6!" I had MGB and Spitfire money, though, so I was only able to
afford a disassembled TR6. Over the next couple years I dedicated ... a
few hours here and there to rebuilding the car. Then I traded the car
and many many boxes of parts for a restored '47 CJA jeep. Later I sold
that and got my TR6 money back, and felt like a genius. Till eBay was
invented.
Eight years later, I bought an assembled, low mileage TR4. For five
years it's my family car, commuter, fun weekend car, grocery getter. I
honk and wave and rev the engine so in 20 years when the neighborhood
kids grow up they'll want little British cars. :)
PS prepping for my wife's 40th birthday party, I dug up a photo she took
of a TR4 while she was in college. No wonder she likes my car!
http://www.newellboys.com/parts/pam-tr4.jpg
--
Steven Newell
Littleton, CO
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