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Triumph TR6 - Can an old TR ever be new







Hi guys,
Have a question for you. Over the past year and a half
I have rebuilt my TR6 down to the last bolt.
Every part on the car has been rebuilt or replaced
except the odometer which has 70,000 miles on it.
Since there is no moving part on the car that has
70,000 miles on it anymore, do you think I can roll
back the odometer to zero to reflect that?
I realize I'm talking about ethics more than mechanics
here but I'm not going to sell it and if I did I would
tell them.
What do you think? Thanks in advance.

Chris
catrace@primus.ca















Christopher Trace

Why would you want to?
AAD

Because the car I started with had 70,000 on it
and the one I have built does not
Christopher Trace

In the states I believe that is a federal offense.You call it rolling back the odometer and in Washington a sleazy car salesman just got big time for that
Don
DON KELLY

And the next time you rebuild it it will have 140,000 miles on it and think of the good shape it will be in. In N.Y. it would not be a crime, it would be disclosed on the vehicle title.
AAD

First, the ethical thing, as long as you don't try to convince someone that the miles are actual, I see no problem. I can tell you that when Nisonger rebuilt the speedometer on my TR6, I just had them reset it to zero. Now to to the legal thing.

I believe that in the USA at the federal level it is based upon a specific year cut off (best guess would be very late seventies/very early eighties when the Feds passed laws mandating manufacturers use the long serial numbers, the 85 mph speedometers and record hundred thousands of miles on the odometer. I want to say that the law was passed in 1977 with implementation expected by the 1980 model year), and at the state level varies by state. Hey, at least the Feds woke up and saw the futility of the 85 mph speedo.

The out under any circumstance is that if you have to declare mileage, as long as you report it as being unknown and provide a best honest guess or a corrected mileage due to recording equipment replacement/rebuild you are compliant. I can't speak for other states, but neither Texas or Georgia have required the declaration of mileage on our Triumphs which are from the early and mid seventies. The reason, the law didn't apply back that far in those states.

I guess the main thing is not so much what is applicable down here, last time I checked Canada hadn't been annexed as the 51st state, so it really boils down to what Canadian law has to say.
SteveP

Thanks Steve and AAD
I'm not selling it , I'm not trying to fool anyone,
I guess just wanted to make it as perfect as I could.
As AAD says, what happens at the next rebuild?
I hadn't projected that far in the future.
I have since learned that rolling the odometer is a
felony in Canada so I guess I won't be doing that.
However, regardless of what the clock says, I'm going
to be driving a brand new Triumph this spring.
Thanks to everyone.
Christopher Trace

Chris;
Start a log book and note the mileage when put back on the road. Log every repair, adjustment, and oil change with date and mileage. You will be surprised after a few years how much you will refer to that.
I use inexpensive pocket spiral notebooks,with a pen in each, one for each car. These also go a long way toward credibility, if you do ever sell.

Pete Haburt
Pete Haburt

Ha Chris
How ya doin'? So you are finally on the road EH? Well a big congratulations to you. Put 650 miles on mine for the shake-down year. Looking forward to spring!! Yes keep the odometer at the 70K. That is part of the heritage of the car. Will e-mail you off the BBS so we meet this summer in Alliston. Father-in-law bought a red 1987 250SL...NICE! Talking on another thread here re the pressure relief valve and oil pressure....your thoughts and comments welcome and appreciated.
See ya this summer
Rick
Rick Crawford

I am having a 1976 TR6 rebuilt now. The car will be made one from 2 donors. I am not planning on rolling back the odometer even though this car never existed in nature so to speak. I will be keeping a log that will start with the pictures from the rebuild and will have all of the history of the car from this point forward. Also the car will never be represented as anything other than a 'combined restore/build'. This being the case, the transmission was rebuilt as an overdrive unit and the interior will be leather. I am proud of the work that is going into it! Yeah it will not be original, but it will be really nice (and mine!!!)

bob g
bobsbritcars@attbi.com
1976 Inca Yellow TR6
1978 Pagaent Blue MGB
Robert Gloyd

By rolling back the odometer it sounds a bit like the recent movement of being a 'born again virgin'. And we all know how real that is.

Enjoy the heritage and age your car is. Also it saves the chatter of explaining to everyone who looks into your car and is curious why the odo is so low. Besides in 30,000 miles the car will have 0 on the clock again.

I think that for most collectors the originality of the car is what is important and monkeying around with the odo opens you up to suspect.
steven

When I bought my 1958 TR3A here in Montreal, the odometer had 7 miles on it. That was legal, because I bought the car brand new from a Triumph dealer.

Last August, on the way back from VTR in Colorado the speedo stopped working with 138000 miles on it. By October, I had driven another 4000 miles and while I happened to be on business in New Jersey (top down in the TR), I drove to Nisonger's, took the speedo out and left it for repair.

I asked them to advance it the 4000 miles so the mileage would be correct. They wouldn't do it. They said it was illegal. I hadn't asked them to turn it back - but forwards !

Now I have it back, I plan to connect it to a slow speed electric motor to advance it to the mileage that the car really has. I want my lists of technical records (relative to the mileage) to be correct.

I have no plans to cheat the next owner. I plan to keep in another 30 years.

Don Elliott, Original Owner
1958 TR3A
Don Elliott

This thread was discussed between 08/02/2002 and 10/02/2002

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