I would like to think Scott Barr for introducing ne to this list. I
hope that I will be a worthwhile member of what I have had described as
"the greatest list on the internet".
For the benefit of those not already familiar with me, here's a brief
biography of my dealings with Triumphs.
I saw my first Spitfire in 1963 when my father had me drive his Morris
Minor to Odessa, Texas for service. There wasn't much in the way of LBC
expertise in Lamesa, Texas (a town of fewer than 10,000 people). I took
the car to a foreign car dealer that happened to sell Triumphs and on
their showroom floor was 3 new Mk1 Spitfires (Red, Black and White, as I
recall). Needless to say I fell in love and swore I would one day have
one of them. Now I have two.
While in College at Texas Tech, I worked for Emmett Whittington
(Emmett's Imported Car Service) in Lubbock, Texas where I learned some
of the finer points of servicing Triumphs and even helped with race
preparation on some Spitfires and other marques that participated in
regional SCCA road racing and local autocross action. One especially
quick Mk3 we prepared made it to the nationals at Road Atlanta in the
late 60's. The owner/Driver's name is Kent Clark (not to be confused
with Superman).
The Vietnam War took me to England for a tour of duty (ain't war grand)
and I was able to bring back an MGTD when I returned. But I got rid of
that to buy a new Corvette in '75. I kept that lemon for 5 months and
traded it for a van but after suffering from LBC withdrawals for a few
months I found an especially nice (ugh) '67 MGB. But I was forced to
sell it when I had to evacuate Texas and move to Washington.
A few years passed until the Bug bit again and although it took 2 years
before I fond the right car, I bought my first Mk1 (Huxley, in honor of
the writer who died the same year the car was born). It was in pretty
sad shape with rust through along every single lower panel, but the
commission number was sufficiently low that I couldn't stand to see it
continue to erode. 12 months and $15,000 later it was a class winner at
the Seattle ABFM in its first outing.
With that project completed, I decided that I really needed a race car
in an attempt to rekindle my fading youth. I found Tiny Tim (another
Mk1) in Tacoma Washington. He was sitting in a very old man's garage
waiting for someone to fix the damage that been done in a wreck by a
previous owner. Except for the damage to the front, the car is
amazingly sound for a car in Washington. Very little rust to repair and
the floorpans are actually intact. Even the battery box is solid.
Knowing that I was going to move to Arizona, I didn't start the project
until I got situated. Now I am hard at work on converting a cripple
into a sprinter.
With Kas Kastner's Help (THanks again Kas) I have reintroduced the
Spitfire Camber Compensator patterned after his original. It is
available now but I'll spare the commercial plug. I will say that I
have also developed a longer version of it for the longer axle
Spitfires.
I am currently parting out a GT6 Mk3 in order to use the chassis, brakes
and rotoflex suspension for the race car. The engine I will be using is
an early 1296 from a '67 Mk3. The transmission is slated to be a
modified GT6 because of the close ratio gear set. I am open for
suggestions from the list as to what other things will help make this
the quickest autocross car in D Modified.
I originally thought about Vintage Racing but because of the limits on
my pocketbook and calendar, I would not be able to attend more than 1 or
two events each year and I felt like that was hardly worth the effort.
Now I will be concentrating strictly on SOLO 2 competition. There are 2
or 3 separate competitions around the area each month year round.
I said this would be brief but I guess I lied. Now you all know who I
am and I appreciate your accepting me into your group.
Best Regards,
Joe Curry
--
"If you can't excel with talent, triumph with effort."
-- Dave Weinbaum in National Enquirer
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