PRESIDENT’S REPORT – April 2021

We are now in the depths of Autumn and approaching that time of year when we put our Triumph in the garage, hang up our gardening gloves and start searching Google for quality mulled-wine recipes.  But don’t despair; you can work on your Triumph in the garage and enjoy the various Club activities scheduled over the next few months.

On Sunday 18 April, a number of club members attended the Vintage and Classic Car Parade at McLaren Vale and 24 members wracked their brains on the Observation Run.  The Run took us through the Adelaide Hills and the upper reaches of the Fleurieu Peninsula arriving for a Club BBQ lunch at Mt Compass in perfect weather.  Two highly competitive couples won prizes at each event –

 

Noel and Cindy Schmidt – Best Dressed at McLaren Vale

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roger and Cherri Lange  – Best Answers at Mt Compass

At our last meeting attendance was down slightly but, nevertheless, the level of conversation/discussion was quite lively.  Duane rounded the meeting off with an interesting quiz focussed on Dolomites.  This was particularly relevant given that 2021 is their 50^th anniversary year.  Despite a large groan for getting one of the questions correct, Stephen Wade agreed to continue the quiz at our May meeting.

And while on anniversaries, TSOA Victoria celebrated their 60^th anniversary recently with a drive to Ballarat and a book launch on the Anzac Day weekend.  Hopefully, Greg Page our librarian can get a copy of the book to add to the library.  I believe it has more than 300 pages so it should be an interesting read.

Subscriptions for 2021/22 will increase to $50pa from $40pa this year.  Despite this, a deficit is predicted for the year and our overall cash balance will reduce in line with our aims to promote additional member benefits and maintain a lower level of cash reserves.   The $50 compares more than favourably with subscriptions of other car clubs and is still significantly lower than the level that existed before Covid restrictions were imposed.   Notifications will be sent out in the next few weeks.

In previous Reports I have signalled why I chose my TR6 (because I liked the colour green!) and indicated that I would provide further details later.  Well, that time has arrived.   What follows is an abbreviated version of my ownership of TRSIX6 for just under 20 years and my subsequent purchase of TR8080 4 years ago.

My TR6 &TR8

My first involvement with motorized transport was at Uni when I thrashed around in my mother’s Ford Prefect.  I then purchased a Vespa 150 GS when I was about 19/20 years old.  This was followed by a Toyota Corona when I was 23 and after that I had a random set of vehicles rarely tinkering with any of them or even looking under the bonnet to see what was there.  In my 50’s I thought I might like to restore an old sports car and at an All British Day at Uraidla in the 1990’s I fell in love with a midnight blue TR6, on display with TSOA.

In 2016, much to the amazement of fellow TSOA friends and myself I sold our beloved TR6.  We purchased the car in pieces from a deceased estate in 1996 and I must thank Ron Corso for assisting with the sale.  Somehow, I got the silent vehicle home and into our garage.  It had been converted to RH drive, was mostly complete, rust free and came with a few boxes of miscellaneous spares.

A builder friend lent me some scaffolding which enabled me (and him) to remove the body and suspend it close to the garage ceiling and above the chassis.  This was pretty scary stuff, as I soon realized how much the body flexed when it was not attached to the chassis.  The car was now ready to work on.

At this stage I could put my lack of automotive skills to good use.  Over a period, I was able to remove the wiring loom, engine, differential, gear box, fuel tank, starter motor and other major/minor items from the chassis and their housings, as well as refurbish items such as nuts and bolts and make up a new veneer dash.  In between, I hand rubbed down to bare metal the body, doors, bonnet, and boot (ably assisted by Dave Wilson), removing 2 layers of blue paintwork and having the car resprayed in the original emerald-green.   The interior trim was also beautifully jazzed up by Alan Smith on Regency Road. Some tears on the chassis (where the diff. is fixed) required welding and the chassis was then sent off for respraying.

The engine and diff. were thoroughly reconditioned by Bob and Vin Anderson respectively (thanks guys).  Somehow, I had arrived at a point where I could attempt to reassemble all my gleaming components.  I was convinced it could look like a TR6 again, but this required a range of skills that I was well short of.  So the pieces sat in the garage for a further 2 years.

The hero in this story is another TSOA member Rory Gibson, who was a power station engineer, a good friend and a TR6 owner who had a lot of experience in the intricacies of what went where and why things worked.  Rory joined me at home every Wednesday for about 2 years and finally in 2002 a brilliant emerald-green TR6 was cleared by the Regency Park Vehicle Inspectors.  Subsequently I won 9 National and 6 State awards with the car.  And then I sold it (it is now in chilly Norway), replacing it with a genuinely nice TR8 (green again) which we still have.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I tell this abbreviated story to inspire others as I started with no intricate knowledge of cars and no specific knowledge of TR6’s but an overriding confidence in the support I could get from being a member of TSOA.  Dreams can come true but not necessarily on time and on budget!

Well I hope you enjoyed this story.  FasTRak is a great avenue for members to tell their own individual stories and for us all to get to know each other a little better.  I’m sure there are plenty of interesting stories out there and so I will be calling for volunteers in the near future.

PS Congratulations to Kaye and Laurie Placing on getting SA plates for their Stag.

 

Kind regards,

Peter Davidge (President)