I make the trek between Southington, CT and Schenectady, NY several times a
year to visit, pick up, or return my mother inlaw to her NY home. I take
several different routes and try to find new ones because I have been doing
this for almost 30 years, and I am bored out of my mind with the drive.
One of the routes takes me through Sheffield, Mass. where a certain garage
caught my eye a few years ago, as there was an XKE parked in the repair
paddock. Later a TR4. Then last summer there was a TR3A and a Morgan. It
was driving me crazy, because the place was never open when I would be
driving by. Usually I make the trips on a weekend or at night, but as I had
today off, I made a point to stop in on my may back from Schenectady.
What a treat! The owner, Al Stalker Jr., is a friendly guy that obviously
enjoys talking about cars. He showed me around his shop along with the
projects under various stages of restoration or repair. There was a Morgan
(with an original Morgan engine, not Triumph), 1954 Austin Healey 100-4,
Austin Healey 3000, TR4, 1981Alfa Romeo, 50s Ford Woody, and a 69 Chevelle
being worked on by it's owner. Al has an assistant, Collin (from South
Africa), who does most of the welding and tin smithing.
I was asking about parts and he wasn't sure if he had anything for a TR3A but
he said that he had two barns full of stuff that he had to sort out someday.
The trouble with so much stuff is that he has forgatten what's there.
Well, if my mother inlaw wasn't waitng in the car, I would probably still be
talking to him. As it was, I had left the motor running and turned up the
heat so she wouldn't get cold. When I returned to the car she had the window
wide open as she was dying from heat prostation because she couldn't firgure
out the dash controls. Well, it almost worked, maybe I can jam the doors and
windows shut next ime. Just kidding.
The name of the garage is Custom Classic Repair & Restoration. By the way,
does that TR4 in his garage, belong to any list member?
Happy Holidays,
Gary Bouffard
59 TR3A TS 58399
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