Shall we start referring to you as Phaedrus? <g>
Mark Hooper
-----Original Message-----
From: Grant Kester
To: 6pack@autox.team.net
Sent: 22/08/02 11:26 PM
Subject: Zen and the Art of TR6 Maintenance
My two cents regarding the debate over how to enhance TR6 performance.
While I'd be happy to have a bit more acceleration in my TR6 this is
definitely not why I bought it. If all I wanted was a two-seater with
speed
I would have gotten a used Miata or BMW Z3 (well, I couldn't have
affforded
the Z3), but there must be a dozen Miatas parked in front of houses
within
a two block radius of me. Not to mention the Corky Romano factor; they
may
be faster than a TR6 but god knows you pay the price in style. For that
matter, I live in Southern California where I'm surrounded by kids in
Ninja
Hondas that can blow the doors off of any Miata (not to mention my 33
year
old Triumph), so I'm used to being passed.
With my Triumph I'm owning, and sustaining, a piece of (design) history.
In
an era of god-awful ugly car design (Azteks, PT Cruisers and, IMHO, Z3s
and
Miatas) the TR6 has a really elegant beauty of line (thanks in part to
Karmann). I like the idea of keeping a 33 year old car functional and
on-the-road as opposed to the mindless drive to consume, dispose and
destroy that guides most of our buying decisions. It probably sounds a
bit
strange, but my TR6 reminds me of the old Bonsai trees I used to see at
the
Nat'l Arboretum in DC; maintained and passed down from one care-taker to
the next, sometimes over hundreds of years. I got my car from a guy up
the
coast who cared for it almost religiously, even down to the little
details
that you can't see and that don't always matter. I plan to do the same
and
if I ever sell it I hope to pass it along to a like-minded person.
Grant Kester
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