I was told about a Triumph Special that had resided in a garage about a
half hour from my house since 1977. I was told that the owner had too
many projects and he might want to sell it. Expecting and hoping to see
a weird and wonderful rare TR, my son Tony and I went to look at it
Sunday afternoon.
It was weird, all right, but not too wonderful, and it aroused my
curiosity.
The "car" was an early TR chassis and drivetrain, apparently completely
stock. A fiberglass body had been set on it. Nothing had been done to
finish the interior. No floorboards other than plywood, and no inner
rear fender wells. The front fender wells and firewall were the TR4
parts, crudely torched off.
Why am I bothering all of you with this? Well, the body was a source of
great curiosity to me. It was a direct knockoff of a Lotus Elite -- the
coupe, of course. It looked like it had been lifted directly from the
Lotus.
I thought I'd seen or heard of all the kit car bodies that had been
stuck on TR chassis -- but obviously not. Has anyone heard of a Lotus
Elite look-alike kit car body being available, or was this a one-off?
By the way, the owner said he is going to "spend a couple of months and
get 'er runin' and then driver 'er up and down the gravel roads and then
use it for landfill rather than sell it for what I offered............
--
uncle jack - red, white, and New Blue
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