I also belong to a GMC Motorhome mailing list and sometimes use the Triumph
Signature file at the end of my messages. I thought that you might enjoy the
note I got today. I laughed all the way through it.
TW
--
Thomas P. Winslow
1966 TR4A IRS - CTC57665L <> 1968 TR250 - CD4783L <> 1968 TR250 - CD5272L <>
1980 MGB LE GVVDJ2AG503563
189 Hicks Creek Road, Troutman, NC 28166
h704-528-5868 * f704-528-5868 * p704-878-1157
E-Mail: winslow@vnet.net * tom_winslow@msn.com
Web Page: http://www.iredell.com/triumph.html <>
http://www.iredell.com/gmc4sale.html
-----Original Message-----
From: RickStapls@aol.com [mailto:RickStapls@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, October 26, 1998 12:29 PM
To: tom_winslow@msn.com
Subject: Triumphs
Tom,
With all the discussion of signatures on the GMC-net, I couldn't help
noticing yours. 3 Triumphs!? 2 TR250s?? I assume you're familiar with the
term "patience of Job"....
Though I confess that I tend to agree with the customer who once
exclaimed
"Only the Brits would have the gall to call that a Triumph!", I do
empathize
with your hobby (after all, I have a GMC, and so shouldn't throw stones).
;-)
Moreover, you brought back memories (some happy...) of the summer of
1968,
between semesters at UMass Amherst, when I worked as a grease monkey in the
now long-defunct Triumph dealer in Northampton, MA. As I recall, I was the
first person there to have the joy of changing a TR250 oil filter. (I did
get
the canister and all out, WITHOUT drilling or cutting any body work!) I
seem
to remember something about installing a grease fitting to lube the steering
racks, but having to reinstall the factory plug as it secured a couple of
ground wires. Bit of a pain.
I came back to Mon-Cen Motors, as it was called, briefly the next summer,
and then again when I was forced to drop out of UMass in ~'71. In that
stint,
I got promoted to parts manager, when the old mgr. died. For about 2 years
I
was a totally untrained Triumph (and Renault and Peugeot!) parts manager. I
recall the new ~'72 TR6 that came off the truck with a rod knock. After
much
haggling with the Triumph people, we got authorization to tear down the
engine, only to discover that the oil passage to the front main bearing
(and
thence the #1 rod journal) had never been drilled at the factory. Refusing
to
authorize a new short block, Triumph (or their rather independant
distributor,
Genser-Forman) insisted that we DRILL A NEW OIL PASSAGE THROUGH 2" OF CAST
IRON BY HAND! Doubt if they ever got all the chips out, but it ran!
I could go on, but, as Tolkien wrote in The Lord of the Rings, "...my
heart
bodes that, ere all is ended, you, Frodo son of Drogo, will know more of
these
fell things than (I).." 8^) I'm sure you have your grease gun full of gear
oil to properly lube the trunnions (Don't worry, neither did the
dealer.)....
But on a sunny day, when you clean off the windscreen, fold down the hood
and snap the tonneau over it, stow a picnic in the boot, check under the
bonnet, and motor off into the country, it's all worth it. Just don't dent
a
wing, or you'll need a date with the panel-beater! Oh, and though you
probably already know it, recall the song sung by a Triumph driver when he
spins out: "Hark, the Herald Axles Swing"! 8-O Ducking for cover, I
say...
Good luck, hope the rust doesn't get to your scuttles,
Rick Staples,
'75 Eleganza, Louisville, CO
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