Fred Thomas wrote:
>
> How about what year & what kind was your 1st car, and not just a T/R, "no" I
> will not go first :) "FT"
I suppose I, too, should jump in here. First one of my own was a `63
Spit, bought in Hawaii:
http://www.zianet.com/mporter/triumphs.html
Bought in Hawaii in 1968 when I was stationed there. I mention on the
web page that it met an untimely end when I'd gotten out of the army and
was in school in Massachusetts.
I'd put it up on blocks for the winter, put the tires in a closet in the
apartment, and forgot about it. About February of 1972, I got a call
from a local police lieutenant, who said, "we traced an abandoned car
back to you." Oh, said I, what car? "A Triumph." Oh, you mean the red
one in my apartment parking lot, private property, which is still
registered and insured? "Uh, we didn't check that." Would you, please?
About a week later, the policeman called back, saying, "we checked, and
it's okay--we'll take it off the list of cars to be picked up."
Didn't think anything of it, until late March. Sound asleep one Saturday
morning, hear the intercom buzzer and there's someone incoherently
saying something about the car... pulled on my pants, went downstairs,
and when I finally got the guy slowed down enough to explain, he told me
that a National Guard truck with a crane had come along, and the Guard
had wrapped a chain around the middle, hoisted it onto a flatbed, and
taken it off to the junkyard. They had even taken the blocks it was
sitting on.
After numerous calls, I tracked down the junkyard, and went to have a
look. The chain had pretty much wasp-waisted it, and they'd dumped it on
its nose--frame was bent and the front end shoved in. It was totalled.
On top of that, they'd broken into the trunk, stolen all my tools and a
couple of cases of oil, and then claimed it was that way when they found
it... as if I didn't walk past it every day to my other car, and
wouldn't have noticed the crowbar marks under the latch.
Couldn't get the police lieutenant--was told he was on convalescent
leave. About a month later, he called, saying, profusely, that he was
sorry. He'd taken the car off _his_ list, but had forgotten to call the
National Guard to tell them to take it off _their_ list. Then, he went
into the hospital for a double hernia operation. So, I might have had
the only Spitfire to be totalled by a double hernia....
In truth, he tried to make it up to me--found a guy who wanted to get
rid of a `58 MGA that had been sitting in his yard for ten years, and
worked out a deal to transfer the title to me, but it was in terrible
shape and the engine was seized, and I had no money or space to work on
it. Today, I could have taken advantage of a deal like that, but, not
then. Ah, well....
Cheers, all.
--
Michael D. Porter
Roswell, NM (yes, _that_ Roswell)
[mailto:mporter@zianet.com]
Don't let people drive you crazy when you know it's within walking
distance.
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