OK, I've gotten drawn into this discussion, but I'll try to make it short
and easy to read.
My name is Dean and I turned 52 last October. The first time the LBC bug
bit me was at 2 years old sitting in the back of dad's 1952 MGTD. This is
the first car I have any memory of.
Dad continued to nurture bug with subsequent purchase of an Austin sedan,
and then a Jaguar Mk VII. I learned most of what I know about basic
mechanics helping him maintain the Jag, from basic tune-ups, to brake jobs,
to a full-on engine rebuild. When I was 13, fate played a cruel trick and
dad traded in the Jag on a Plymouth Valiant. He never looked back. I never
forgot.
At 17 I was given the Valiant, which I promptly cleaned up, repainted, and
sold to fund the purchase of a Sunbeam Alpine that I drove all through
college. It was cheap and abused, and I honed my mechanical, body work, and
trimming skills on that car.
Sold the Alpine when I graduated from college and bought a 1970 Rover 3500S.
This car was phenomenal when all was right, and the most evil manifestation
of automotive black art when it wasn't. I sold it after a year (and a
rebuilt diff that had exploded because one of the ring gear bolt keeper tabs
had not been bent down at the factory).
The Rover funds went towards a Datsun 240Z. This began a long dark period
of wandering with well-engineered Japanese and Swedish cars. They were
reliable and drove great, but something was missing.
After many years of missing LBCs in my life, and having some extra cash from
selling a house in the Bay Area, I bought a TR3A when I entered grad school
in 1980. After two years of living in Baton Rouge with heat and rainfall in
a side-curtains car with a propensity towards rust and no A/C, I again lost
my way and traded the TR3A for a VW Scirocco. Darkness returned. This was
later replaced by an RX7.
On turning 40, and again having some extra cash, I found a 1965 TR4 in the
Washington Post, and bought it as a birthday present to myself. Light and
happiness returned to my automotive world. The TR4 remains as my best
single source of mental therapy. I've had it apart enough times using the
tools that I inherited from dad that it is fully "mine". I plan to keep the
car until I'm too decrepit to get in and out of it.
Dean Mericas
1965 TR4
1974 2000 GTV
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