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dykins

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  • Location
    Woore, Nr Nantwich, Cheshire
  • Cars Owned:
    Currently bereft of a TR

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About Me

The first TR that I can remember was a Magenta TR6 that I used to see as I waited for the school bus at the top of Porthill bank (near Newcastle under Lyme) in the early 1970's. I'd always had an interest in cars from my early years and was able to recognise any car that I'd see. I used to hear the 6 before I saw it, and I swear that the owner knew that he had an appreciative schoolboy watching out for him every morning, as it seemed that most days he'd hold back a little to let those cars in front create a bit of space, then he'd drop down a gear then gun it up Porthill bank - what a sound it made! I can picture it - and hear it - in my mind even now.

 

In 1983, I bought my first TR - a Pimento Red 1973 TR6 UYE 760 M. It was bought from TR Bitz who at the time were at High Legh Filling Station near Lymm in Cheshire and I paid £2,250. When I viewed the car, it had just had a new set of carpets and with no other trim or upholstery fitted, Mark Crook literally picked up a seat and placed it in the car, and told me to take it for a spin.

 

I kept that 6 for 11 years, and through this time, I got married, bought a house, had our first child. The TR was used as my only car at one stage. Reliability was not one of it's best features however. The notorious PI system meant that we'd start a journey never quite knowing if we'd get to our destination. A company car meant that the 6 was put into the garage to await a proper restoration. A familiar tale perhaps, but the restoration never happened and the 6 started to deteriorate.

 

It was sold for £4,650 in 1994 to a chap who lived near Stafford who was going to undertake a proper body off chassis restoration. Funnily enough it has never been in the Register since. A few years ago, it was privately advertised in Classic Cars as requiring work as it had suffered from standing outside near Edinburgh. I was tempted...

 

I bought my current TR, a 1963 4, in 1997 from near Bedale in North Yorkshire. The owner had fully restored the car in his single garage to such an exceptionally high standard that even now it still looks fantastic. He was not really interested in using it, for him the pleasure came in restoring the car to a condition that was probably better than it was when it left the Triumph factory in 1963. He wanted to sell it and to move on to his next project. It has needed little since that time other than routine maintainance and consummables. Within my ownership, it has rarely let me down and when it did it was the result of having fitted poor quality new parts.

 

There have been times when I've thought about selling my 4, but have never gone through with it. What would I replace it with? I can't think of any other classic sportscar that gives the same amount of "fun per pound" as a Triumph TR.

 

If you want to see a short video of my TR6, I compiled this Youtube film http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpH9Jw3DI6w

 

and this one of my TR4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebaQlYXvkXk

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