Hi list,
I am an avid digest reader but infrequent contributor. I just "celebrated" my
56th birthday on Pearl Harbor
day. My first encounter with a British sports car was when a good friend of
mine bought an MG Midget in 1966
right after we graduated from high school here in Fort Wayne. I never knew how
much fun driving a car could be
until I drove that car. I soon found a 1959 TR3A at our local British car
dealer for $850. It ran, but had
problems. Over the course of the next 2 years I put ins 87mm liners and
pistons from JC Whitney ($84, stock
size was $89) and contemplated a Judson Supercharger for $189 from the same
place. I kick myself now for not
getting it. I also had the transmission rebuilt. As luck would have it I got
drafted into the USArmy in
January of 1969 and drove the TR back and forth to Ft. Eustis, Virginia while
training for helicopter
maintenance. Sent to Nam and came home for good in August of 71. Where this
gets interesting is that in 1972 I
sold the TR to a friend of mine who did a partial restore and paint job on it.
After 3 years he sold it back
to me as he had no time or place for it. I kept it until 1982 and sold it to
my uncle who started a frame off
and did a lot of body work for about 3 years, then it sat again. Finally, in
August of 2001, he sold it back
to me as he had too many other cars to work on. It was in boxes and I spent
the next 2 years reassembling it.
I have driven it for the past 2 summers now and made it to the last 2 TRA
conventions with it. I have also put
in a TR6 transmission so I could put in the overdrive my uncle had acquired
when he had the car. I have also
owned a 1969 Datsun roadster, a 1969 Jag E Roadster which I should have kept,
and 1970 Jag E 2+2 which I'm
glad I didn't keep.
Bob Maassel
TS39869LO
Fort Wayne
|