TR in Hawaii

[2long]

Here is a nice picture of my car. A surprising number of early TR-2s were exported to Hawaii, and TS1 LO is also here . . . for now.

 

[TomMull]

Certainly a nice looking TR2 but I wonder why anyone would want to drive a sidescreen Triumph in Hawaii. I did hear that TS1LO was again for sale. Really, really expensive too (I hear). Tom

[sidescreen]

Indeed a nice looking TR !

 

But with all respect, I must say it a little disappointing that some aspects has been lost such as wheelspats and authentic colour combination for instead ........

 

Regards - Raymond van Donk

[2long]

Color is surely wrong (inside and out), but there were never spats with the factory wire wheels. With a build date in May 54, it was one of the earliest with factory wires. Those should be 48 spoke chrome, but that is for another day.

 

Dan

[Rodbr]

Hi There,

Again with all due respect to all, but my TR 2 preceeds this car by nearly 5 months and is British Racing Green and Beige or Tan interior and factory wires. Never been anything else, so would you say it is not authentic???? Log book, Heretige trace and Standard register all agree on the colour combination.

Dan,

Why do you say colour combination is wrong unless it differs from the traces from Heretige and Standard Register?

Raymond.

Why do you say disappointing the spats are missing?

 

By the way Dan, lovely car!!!!!!!!!

 

Intrigued

Rod

Edited November 15, 2010 by Rodbr

[2long]

Rod:

 

I think January 54 was the start of the wire wheel options, so when I said mine was one of the earliest, I meant by a few months. Pretty sure only about 10 per cent had the factory specification wires, at least in the TR2 run.

 

Dan

[2long]

Rod:

 

The color is wrong since it was the last one made in olive yellow, and it should have blackberry, not purple, interior.

 

Dan

[Mychael]

Don't know if it's just the angle in the photo or my eyes but to me it seems to be sitting very high on the suspension.

 

Mike

Edited November 15, 2010 by Mychael

[Rodbr]

Hi Dan,

Yup mine is January 1954 and probably one of the first with wires, skinny type.

As for colour it is for your own wish as to what colour you have the car and the yellow is certainly not to my taste. I got from the way you phrased your reply that you weren't sure about the colour. My point is that even if it wasn't a factory option there were some trial colours done to assess them. Early colours were awful IMHO.

 

I like your combination and think it sets the car off.

 

Rgds

Rod

[vivdownunder]

Dan, what a rare find and a lovely car.

 

Black was a factory TR2 colour and Targo Purple was a TR3A trim option, so I think you have an interesting combination of sidescreen colours.

 

I can understand why some PO didn't keep the Olive Yellow which was a bit like the inside of a filled baby's nappy.

 

The aeroscreens appear`to be the original type with slightly taller glass fitted.......probably the prefect accessory for motoring around Hawaii.

 

I wouldn't rush to fit original 48 spoke wheels though, as they are high maintenance compared to your 60 spokers. Also their narrower 4" rims ideally need 155x15 tyres which are fairly scarce, and compromise safety with less rubber on the road. You'll probably find one in the spare wheel well, as 60 spokers with 4.5" rims and 165x15 tyres don't fit.

 

I often wish I could get my TR2 back, but it was dismantled in the 80's. At least I have the commission plate which was kindly donated by the last owner.

 

Regards,

 

Viv.

[Andrew Smith]

Unbelievable!

 

Dan posts a very nice picture of his TR2 and gets unkind comments in return, such as ‘I must say it a little disappointing that some aspects has been lost such as wheelspats’, ‘I wonder why anyone would want to drive a sidescreen Triumph in Hawaii’ and 'seems to be sitting very high on the suspension’ – gentlemen, I feel your comments are uncalled-for and discourteous.

 

Dan, enjoy your lovely TR2, particularly with the aeroscreens fitted. I for one would like to see more photos and hear a bit of history about your car.

 

Cheers

Andrew

[Mychael]

Unbelievable!

 

Dan posts a very nice picture of his TR2 and gets unkind comments in return, such as 'I must say it a little disappointing that some aspects has been lost such as wheelspats', 'I wonder why anyone would want to drive a sidescreen Triumph in Hawaii' and 'seems to be sitting very high on the suspension' – gentlemen, I feel your comments are uncalled-for and discourteous.

 

Dan, enjoy your lovely TR2, particularly with the aeroscreens fitted. I for one would like to see more photos and hear a bit of history about your car.

 

Cheers

Andrew

 

 

Well for myself no insult was intended. It was an observation. You will please note I did not anywhere say his car was "wrong". In fact if you re-read my post you could take it as much as a query as anything given that I said it might be photo angle or my eyesight.. I'm as much interested in Dan's car as any other TR enthusiast and asked to encourage discussion not as a critisim.

 

Mike

[Andrew Smith]

Well for myself no insult was intended. It was an observation. .............I'm as much interested in Dan's car as any other TR enthusiast and asked to encourage discussion not as a critisim. Mike

Mike,

 

Then why not say so, rather than make an ‘observational’ comment which could be misinterpreted?

 

Cheers

Andrew

[jobster]

Not being a purist, I don't really care what possibly could be off on this nice specimen. I just wish I had this car AND to be able to drive it in Hawaii!

[2long]

Hello all:

 

Don't worry - I would never take offense. Anyone reading this forum probably loves TRs, so I know the intentions are well meant. In fact, since there are so few TR-2s in my neck of the woods, I am thrilled that people have something to say other than "Is that an MG?" I intend to post more items for discussion, and now that I have figured out the photobucket thing, watch out! Here is a painting my Dad did. He is no artist, and the perspectives are a bit off, but it is still cool.

 

Aloha

 

Dan

[TomMull]

Unbelievable!

 

Dan posts a very nice picture of his TR2 and gets unkind comments in return, such as 'I must say it a little disappointing that some aspects has been lost such as wheelspats', 'I wonder why anyone would want to drive a sidescreen Triumph in Hawaii' and 'seems to be sitting very high on the suspension' – gentlemen, I feel your comments are uncalled-for and discourteous.

 

Dan, enjoy your lovely TR2, particularly with the aeroscreens fitted. I for one would like to see more photos and hear a bit of history about your car.

 

Cheers

Andrew

 

 

'I wonder why anyone would want to drive a sidescreen Triumph in Hawaii' A rhetorical question mate: Driving a TR2 in Hawaii would be as close to heaven as one could get in this life. My apologies if that was not obvious. Great car, great color, wheels and all the rest. I guess I still have language issues. Tom

[Alec Pringle]

Aloha,

 

Wasn't it Longfellow who wrote "all things must change, to something new, to something strange" ? Another poet of the New World with some useful observations for citizens of the Old !

 

Hell's bells, just because a car is half a century old, it doesn't have to be an original time warp or a recreation of its original self. Sure it's nice to have the odd original one around, but sporting machines evolve with the passing years, it's in the nature of the beast, and of its successive keepers. Olive yellow and blackberry is an unusual combination, quite outstanding some might say, and it's great to see occasionally - but hardly everyone's cup of tea. I recall seeing a car in that combination decades ago, the bloke with me looked distinctly uncomfortable, grimly observing that last night's excess of curry and red wine was returning to haunt us . . . . I had to drag him away sharpish, before his stomach (and mine) reacted in sympathy to the car.

 

Your car Dan, you're paying the bills, paint and trim it any colour you damn well please. If you're thinking of giving it away, I'll gladly take it just the way it is . . . .

 

Cheers,

 

Alec

[sidescreen]

Dan,

 

As I said before, indeed a very nice looking TR !

I started my answer "with all respect", because I always tried to kept things gently.

It was certainly not my intension to evoke negativism

 

 

Rod,

 

I've seen TS1 "alive" in Malvern-UK 2004 in which I thought the "original" outfit, that's where my judgement was based on.

 

Andrew,

 

Apologise that my reply came over to you in a bit negative way, "it was certainly not my intension to evoke negativism", I still respect Don's creation !

 

 

After all we all TRing for fun..........have a nice day !

 

 

Best regards - Raymond

[Willie Felger]

To add to the originality debate..... I feel that one can go too far.

 

I run (as the operations manager, sadly not the pilot) an iconic and unique old aircraft from the Imperial War Museum airfield at Duxford. I say unique because it is the only A-model F-86 Sabre in the world and it is the oldest jet still flying.

 

It looks original down to the gunsight and everything visible within it - up to a point.

 

We can either keep it completely original - with an archaic ejector seat, ancient radio et al - or we mod it lightly and keep it operational as safely as we can. We take the risk because there are a couple of non-flying and original ones still around in museums.

 

IF our early TRs were rare and exotic there would be a case for complete originality. But of course they are not. They were cheap cars, not very well made and there are hundreds of them on the road.

 

Of course there is a strong case for keeping some TRs, for example TS2, completely original but that hasn't happened because it has various unique and visible standard parts removed and others fitted - which it it shouldn't have.

 

I know from the experience of restoring and running a TR3 and 3A in Germany and Kenya - that it is frustratingly difficult and I often had to made do with what I could get, such the much later

master cylinders on my 3A. But you know what - I don't care because there are dozens of immaculate ones around which are as good or better that new. Would anyone dare to criticise Raymond's beautiful TR3A becaiuse it is much better than a new one?

 

I for one take my hat off to you Sir, for running such a beautiful TR2 in a windy and salt-laden place, even if the sun does shine in Hawaii.

 

Me? I'm off in my very non-standard TR3A in the sunshine - without a hood even though it is only 2 degrees C outside - and I can enjoy it because I have a non-standard heater.

 

 

 

Good luck buddy and Happy TR-ing

 

Willie Felger

 

Camb Follower

[Wee Willy]

Just to join the debate as TS 2 was mentioned by Willie, when we rebuilt it 10 years ago, it was using pretty well entirely authentic original style, if not actually original , parts,,...the car has now done 45000 miles with many hundreds of different drivers, and has borne up well...however, a number of compromises have had to be made for practical purposes along the way, for this car is USED, not just polished....Triumph's soon discovered that a number of the first features of the TR2 were poor/impractical...that's why they modified them of course...yes, we could have kept it totally to original spec , kept it at Didcot and just looked at it, but that's not what we decided to do...it could of course always be done in the future....we the trustees think we did right...others are free to disagree..

 

By the way, wire wheels WERE available virtually from the start of TR2 production, certainly before jan 54...for instance TS78 (ORW 600) built 6th Nov 1953 definitely had wires from new........ Bill Piggott

[2long]

Hello:

 

Just so that my car does not become the standard bearer for non-original restoration, I do feel that I am a caretaker of an important car, and it does have much in the way of originality. First, it only has 54,000 miles. The drivetrain is all original, the body panels are all original (except some floor sections which were cut out), all the engine and Lucas ancillaries are original and correctly date stamped, and all the tools are original. The accessories like aeroscreens and Al-Fins are correct factory parts but did not come with my car. On the other hand, the color and interior are not original, obviously, and my original bumpers are not there (I have ordered a set of the stainless ones being remanufactured). There are also lots of bits like fasteners and so on that are not original, but there is where you start getting a bit overboard.

 

Bill: Thanks for the correction on the wire wheels. I saw the reference in your book to January 54, but you were also careful to point out that there are exceptions to every rule. For example, the books say that the tenax posts were switched from the scuttle to the capping rail at TS 1869 or so, but mine is 1911 and the posts are on the scuttle. I think that since my body was painted Olive YUellow, it may have sat for awhile before being given the commission plate. My EB number is lower than the TS number, which suggests the same thing.

 

Dan

[JDB]

Bill, intrigued by your reply. Was TS78 the first to be distributed with wire wheels from your records? Also, I looked in your book last night and am interested in the metal tonneau cover. Were the ever produced for production or were they built for speed models like mvc575 or the Tr2 that won at Macao.

 

By the way Dan, I love the car. Could you make it out to the Triumph National Convention 2010?

 

JDB

[vivdownunder]

JDB, I meant to post this on the thread discussing SP cars. Here is the long door TR2 SP tribute I helped build, but it wasn't fitted with a Jabbeke type streamlining cover as it needed to carry a passenger. (The owner didn't drive in his latter life)

 

It has most of the "high speed equipment" except Alfin rear drums and an alloy sump. A partial windage tray was made up that fitted around the sump.

 

The rear spats are original NOS Stanpart items that were supplied in red primer.

 

If you wanted to fabricate a metal cover I imagine you could remove the tonneau 'lift the dot" pegs and use the holes for the fixings.

 

Regards,

 

Viv.

[BrianC]

I feel I'm living dangerously with no seatbelts, but a metal tonneau cover in close proximity would be a step too far - makes me think of guillotines and bacon slicers. It does look impressive though.