[TR6 DCJ 973L]

Hi Derek,

 

No problem.

 

T&M sold the car to the chap I purchased from. All I remember was that he lived near Coventry and had only owned the car for approx 12 months, covering hardly any mileage. I did approx 3000 miles in my time with the car before selling it. I've looked for records of the sale but can't find anything. I do remember the classic car dealer was on Worcester High Street, right next to the railway station and that they went out of business some time after my dealings with them.

 

It was clear that the car had money thrown at it. It was the definitive 'nut & bolt' restoration (and yes the cupro nickel piping was a work of art)! The shell was a headache if I'm honest because the shut lines were not good at all, hence me spending time having them 'reset'. I don't think the 'first owner' bothered to go back to T&M to have the shell reset. They looked much better after I had them worked on but were never quite perfect, at least not to my eye.

 

There were some original photographs of the car prior to it's restoration which I assume must have taken by you Derek? They clearly showed the car in it's Emerald green colours...yuk! The paintwork done by T&M was better than perfect. The paint was like a mirror finish with a lovely deep deep shine to it. They painted it with 2 pack and I remember them re painting the drivers door for me after a stupid 'accident' with my garage door (pushing the car into the garage because the heavens opened just after I'd cleaned it - hood down - drivers door still open - door + brick wall of the garage = nice long scratch in door resulted in me drowning my sorrows for the rest of the evening). Suffice to say that T&M did a fantastic job of covering up my stupidity.

 

I know T&M went out of business because one of them was ill but don't know anymore than that. I visited them a few times whilst I owned the car. It was a strange place consisting of some old barns (where they stored a few 'treasures') and a couple of workshops where they carried out the work plus an old caravan they had as an office. All down the end of a farm track. The thing that amazed me was the quality of their paintwork given they did it in nothing more than an old barn! Amazing! I also remember meeting a chap by the name of John every time I visited. He seemed to be good friends with Tony and Malcolm and he owned a beautiful French blue TR6. Not sure if T&M worked on that one too but it was of a standard comparable to DCJ.

 

I've managed to dig out a (poor quality) copy of the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust certificate I obtained for the car which clearly shows the Chassis and Engine numbers, plus the original supplying dealer. I hope it's of interest? I've also attached some scanned photographs of the car. I'm sure I've got a few more somewhere. I remember doing the London to Brighton classic car run and have a photograph of the car crossing the line in Brighton somewhere but I can't put my hand on it. It chucked it down with rain all day so the car was filthy by the time the dun came out on Brighton sea front. If I find anything else, I'll put it on the forum. In the meantime, I hope these attachments are of interest.

 

Andrew

[TR6 DCJ 973L]

Hello,

 

I owned DCJ973L for a while. It came with a lever arch file full of receipts so yes, it was virtually a second mortgage. I'll have to dig through my files because I can't remember the year I bought and sold it but I do remember buying it from a chap near Coventry. I think he was the first 'owner' after the restoration was finished. It was Christmas Eve or New Years Eve and the roads were covered in snow so, with the help of a friend (ex girlfriend) in the motor trade, we borrowed a trailer form her employer, along with a 4x4 and towed it back home to Lichfield were I happened to live at the time (didn't want to get it covered in slush and road salt).

 

If I'm honest, it was pampered more than used during my ownership. I covered around 3500 miles in just over 2 years. It had some work done too. The body work needed some 'fettling'. The Heritage body shell wasn't the best fit as far as body panel alignment was concerned. Much work was done by me to getting looking right. The boot lid and doors in particular. I remember driving down to the Beualieu (not in the TR) auto jumble to source an original TR6 steering wheel which I thought suited the car better than the leather and chrome Motolita. I changed the original steel wheels for some chrome wires (I kept the originals and they stayed with the car when I sold it). I also changed the fuel tank because it started to leak, for a very expensive aluminium tank. The gearbox gave up just before I sold it so that had to be rebuilt. I think it was the lay-shaft that basically tried to destroy itself and the rest of the gearbox. Luckily I caught it in time!

 

The car was looked after by the late Denis Welch of Welch Motorsports in Yoxhall (the Austin Healey specialists). I was really saddened to hear that Denis was killed in a motor racing accident last year. He was such a nice chap and was always pleased to see my TR6 (normally once a year for it's MOT and a quick check over). He loved it.

 

I only really sold the car because I moved abroad and taking it with me just wasn't an option. It was actually sold on commission (because the move abroad was taking up all of time) by a classic car dealer in Worcester. Their name escapes me for the moment but I might have a record of it somewhere.

 

If you're interested, I'll try and dig out some photographs of the car and some paperwork. I don't own a TR anymore and have only really registered on the form because I was doing a search for DCJ973L (like you, I guess I was curious as to it's whereabouts) but I will check in on the forum again.