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Triumph TR3 - Possible new owner

Hello All! I have been thinking of buying a Tr3 for a number of years now. (Iknow, Iknow, what's taking so long right?) I prefer small mouths, and not too many seem to be available. Well, I think I've finally found what I want. It's not a matching numbers car, rather, it's been assembled. Owned by the same person for 20 yrs. who's also a club member. It's a '56 Tr3 w/ a synchro trans & OD. It also has other extra equipment I am looking for. He's won a number of 2nd & 3rd place trophies and all the major things seem to have been done. If all goes well, and I'm the next owner, I'll probably join the western MA VTR chapter. I'm quite excited, yet also apprehensive. Any advice?

Thanks so much,

Mike Gambordella

P.S. By the way, great forum
Mike Gambordella

Three words of advice - Just drive it - drive it and drive it. Having a TR and leaving it in the garage at home will rot it. They have to be driven.

Did you know that in 1960 or so, a TR3A went to Monza in Italy with 5 college students as drivers and they alternated for a 24-hour speed test. For over 23 1/2 hours, they averaged more than 100 miles per hour. And they weren't racing car drivers. What went wrong was the last driver flicked it out of overdrive at 105 mph and the higher revs blew the engine.

They just keep on going and going.

And I drive mine hard. In 12 years I've driven "TRusty" over 70,000 miles and took 2nd or 3rd in my class in all the last 5 VTR judged concours. This year I drove over 8400 miles and all I did since April when I took it out was change the oil, grease it and I bled the clutch line once. It drives like a modern car and it's all original. So am I.

Don Elliott, Original Owner, 1958 TR3A
Don Elliott

Don, Great advice, but I planned on doing that anyway! I've seen several of your threads where you speak of driving 7-8 thousand miles annually. Down here in Massachusettes our insurance industry more or less regulates us to limited driving. How does the system work up there? I've got to find a way around that nonsense! Also, I've talked to several people about what to pay particular attention to when looking at buying these cars, and read Bill Piggott's ORIGINAL TRIUMPH TR 2/3/3A book. Any thoughts?
Footnote: I went to the show in Stowe, VT last year in September - saw lots of nice Tr's. Were you there? What color is "TRusty"?
Thanks for replying.
Mike Gambordella
Mike Gambordella

This thread was discussed between 23/10/2002 and 24/10/2002

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