Summer 2010 - The Toronto Triumph Club

Transcription

Summer 2010 - The Toronto Triumph Club
T h e M a g a z i n e O f T h e T o r o n to T r i u m p h C l u b S u mm e r 2 0 1 0
Around
the lake
Triumphs Run Circles
on Sold Out Tour
Drain Troubles Cured • Spring Fling Report • Perfect Timing
contents
Shop Online ... www.VictoriaBritish.com
or Request Your
FREE Catalog Today!
Fully Illustrated
FREE Catalogs
Summer 2010
34
Member’s Pages
From the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
From the President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Club Hub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-11
Owner’s Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31/33
18
Features
Problem Solved:
Radiator Drain Valve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Unblock Your Scuttle Drain . . . . . . 16/17
28
26
40
Quality Parts & Accessories
Fully illustrated catalogs with the parts you need. Specify your
make and model to get a FREE catalog.
Fast Service, Simple Ordering and Convenient, Quick Delivery.
TR2, TR3, TR4, TR4A
TR250, TR6
TR7, TR8
GT6, Spitfire
MGA
MGB, MGC
Midget
“Keep’em On The Road™ ”
Alpine Tiger
www.VictoriaBritish.com
Shop Online ... Fast, Simple & Safe
1-800-255-0088 Orders - Catalog Request -Status
The Wedgetarian:
Let There Be Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40-42
The Magazine Of The TOrOnTO TriuMph Club
SuMMer 2010
Around
the lake
On the Cover
Ragtop
IS
ummer
I 2010
Restoration:
Six & Two Threes Part 6 . . . . . . . . . . 43-46
Activities
Events:
Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12/13
Spring Fling Round-Up . . . . . . . . . 26/27
Clive Huizinga keeps his
flock of Triumphs together
on the Cape Vincent ferrysee photo round-up on
pages 20-25
Photo by Andrew Grace
On The Road:
Larry’s TR7 Troubles . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28/29
Historically Speaking:
TR6 Factory Hardtops . . . . . . . . . . 34/35
TR6 After Market Hardtops . . . . . . 36-38
Triumphs Run Circles
on Sold Out Tour
100-4, 100-6, 3000
Sprite
Triumph Tunes:
Perfect Timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18/19
Drain Troubles Cured • Spring Fling Report • Perfect Timing
www.torontotriumph.com Club Events:
Around The Lake Tour . . . . . . . . . . . 20-25
3
INSURANCE
INSURANCE
INSURANCE
ANTIQUE, CLASSIC
AND SPECIAL
INTEREST
ANTIQUE,
CLASSIC
AND SPECIAL INTEREST
TM
AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE
AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE TM
TM
TM
SUBMISSIONS
N o w ava i l a b l e a c r o s s c a N a d a
ANTIQUE, CLASSIC AND SPECIAL INTEREST
TM
AUTOMOBILE
INSURANCE
ANTIQUE,
CLASSIC AND
SPECIAL INTEREST
Format: MS Word files are preferred. Send via
email or on CD, 10Mb limit on email files. Send
photos separately, do NOT embed in the text file.
Hard copy submissions are acceptable, but not
preferred. Graphics must be in major graphics formats, jpeg, tiff or Photoshop files. In Person: To the
editor at the monthly meetings.
Mail: 2421 Poplar Crescent,
Mississauga, Ontario L5J 4H2
E-mail: ragtop@torontotriumph.com
TM
TM
AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE
ANTIQUE, CLASSIC AND SPECIAL INTEREST
AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE TM
from the editor
TM
TM
ADVERTISING
Contact the Club’s advertising representative for
details of dates and submissions. Submit ads as
high resolution (min 300 ppi) PDF files, saved for
print in CMYK format, fonts embedded, by E-mail
to ragtop@torontotriumph.com
The advertising year is from Jan.1 to Dec. 31. A
copy of Ragtop is sent to all paid advertisers.
2010 ADVERTISING RATES
TM
TM
TM
TM
TMSTREET
MODIFIED,
ROD AND
CUSTOM
MODIFIED,
STREET
ROD AND CUSTOM
TM
AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE
AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE TM
MODIFIED, STREET ROD AND CUSTOM
TM
AUTOMOBILE
MODIFIED,
STREET INSURANCE
ROD AND CUSTOM
AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE TM
MODIFIED, STREET ROD AND CUSTOM
AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE TM
Rear Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $500 per year
Inside Front Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $475
Inside Back Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $450
Full Page Inside . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $305
Half Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $185
Quarter Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $115
Business Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $70
Full colour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $115 extra
Second colour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $75 extra
Flyer Inserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . $190/issue (max 4 pgs)
(All rates are for 4 issues, except flyers)
2010 SCHEDULE
Issue
Deadline Mailed
Spring . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 2 . . . . . . . . . End of April
Summer . . . . . . . . . . . June 11 . . . . . . . . . End of July
Fall/BCD Program . . .August 14 . . . Mid September
Winter . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nov. 20 . . . . . . Mid December
24hr InfoLine
416-410-4TTC
Those of you who attend our monthly meetings and events (and there
are more and more of you at every meeting - thank you) have heard
my pleas for stories, anecdotes, restoration diaries, calendar cars and
travelogues. I can picture your eyes glazing over now! Well, once again
I have had to rely on sources outside of the TTC for content in this issue.
They’re great articles, yet I know you don’t want to read about TR6s all
the time and frankly, neither do I.
I love publishing Ragtop for you, so PLEASE guys and gals, I really
need you to step up to the plate and help me out with stories. If you
have a story to tell or a tip to share, don’t be shy or worry about your writing skills and
remember... the beatings will continue, until morale improves!
On a more positive note, the website is improving almost daily and the introduction
of an online forum should certainly help me with getting content for Ragtop (see page
11). The 6-PACK forum (www.6-PACK.org) is where I get a lot of the material from for their
magazine, which I also publish and, as a result, I am rarely short of stories. Take a look and
see how it works, the TTC forum should be online by the time you’re reading this.
The 25th Anniversary Canadian Classic is almost here and at press time we have 70 people registered for the event, there may still be time for you to join us, so contact me today
to register. Deerhurst will hold our special room rates until the last minute, but I do need
to give them the final numbers for food etc. 10 days prior. Details and a registration form
are on our website.
Thanks to everyone who has submitted material for this and previous issues and I look
forward to receiving lots of great stuff from new people for future issues of Ragtop.
Enjoy this issue and the driving season. ragtop
— David Fidler
Ragtop is published quarterly by the Toronto Triumph Club Inc. (“TTC”) and is distributed to its
members as part of their annual dues. The TTC or
the Editors cannot accept responsibility for the
safe return of any submitted material. We will do
our best, but accidents do occur.
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We accept no responsibility for errors or omissions.
Opinions expressed are those of the authors and
do not necessarily reflect those of the TTC Executive or Membership.
Copyright © 2010 by the TTC.
Non-profit groups may reprint articles from this
publication, where the author has not reserved
rights, provided we get credited and both the author and TTC receive a copy of the publication in
its entirety.
Distribution by Pillar Direct Marketing Services.
Printed by Printwell Offset for the Toronto Triumph
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Canada Post Publications # 40022175
Canada
12/30/08 11:38:19 AM
Ragtop
IS
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www.torontotriumph.com 5
Obsolete Auto_MG&TRIUMPH AD2.pdf
19/02/2009
8:22:06 PM
from the president
Toll Free Order Line: ............................................. 1-800-265-7437
Customer Service / Technical Advice: ............ 1-519-337-3232
24 Hour Fax Line: ................................................... 1-519-336-5936
Website: ............................................................www.obsoleteauto.com
Business Hours: ........................... Monday to Friday - 8 AM to 5 PM
Executive
President
David Tushingham 289.338.3330
Vice President
Ian Parkhill 905.317.3784
Past President
Johan Aaltink 705.456.4276
Secretary
Jack Willekes 905-820-0269
Treasurer
Chris Lindsay 416.236.0353
Membership
Larry Llewellyn 416.245.9217
Communications Director
David Fidler 905.829.9340
142 Kendall Street, Point Edward, Ontario CANADA N7V 4G5
MG & TRIUMPH Specialists
C
Sub-committees
Ragtop Magazine
Editor & Publisher
David Fidler 905.829.9340
Distribution
Rod Jones - Pillar Direct 416.755.9494
Official Photographer
Larry Llewellyn
Art Director
Michael Cleland mcleland@cogeco.ca
Advertising Sales
Ian Parkhill 905.317.3784
David Fidler 905.829.9340
Web Manager
Michael Hale Info@torontotriumph.com
Website Classified Coordinator
Vic Whitmore vicwhit2@rogers.com
Browse the website
www.obsoleteauto.com for
updates on stocked parts and secure
access to online ordering. The parts
you need, any time or day.
Interclub Coordinator
Ian Parkhill 905.317.3784
BCCI Representative
Chris Lindsay 416.236.0353
Historian/Archivist & PR
Frank Manning 905.643.2359
Meeting Committee
Brian Clark bclark4@cogeco.ca
Jack Willekes 905-820-0269
Volunteer Coordinators
Bill Alexander 905.841.1079
Sponsors
Frank Manning 905.643.2359
Motorsports
Simon Rasmussen 905.853.2514
M
Y
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K
Request a FREE copy of the
Sports Car Chronicle.
Call: 1-800-265-7437 or 519-337-3232
Email: mail@obsoleteauto.com
GARAGE SALES!
That’s right. Check out our annual
Spring or Fall Garage Sales and browse
endless deals.
Each issue is packed with super deals
on parts and accessories along with
technical articles to help you do the job.
A great resource for YOUR sports car!
Payment Options:
Visa, Mastercard and American Express
Marque Coordinators
TR2,3,3A & B
David Tushingham 289.338.3330
Malcolm Taylor 905.880.0079
TR4, 4A, & 250
John Lille 416.231.3092
TR6
Wayne McGill 905.847.5532
Fred McEachern 1.888.485.2277
Spitfire-GT6
Don Johnson 705.721.1231
Grant Buss 905.576.0817
Stag
Tony Fox Sr. 905.632.0479
Robin Searle 705.484.0071
TR7 & 8
Glen Donaldson 905.825.4908
John Broomer 416.745.8866
Event Coordinators
British Car Day
David Tushingham 289.338.3330
Spring Fling 2010
MGCCT mgclub@mgtoronto.com
25th Canadian Classic
David Fidler 905.829.9340
Shipping: Canada Post and most
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General Mail/Membership
Mail P.O. Box 39
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Ragtop mail & E-mail:
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L5J 4H2
ragtop@torontotriumph.com
ALL TO PRESERVE AND DRIVE THE TRIUMPH
Ragtop
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Season in Full Swing
It is almost the end of June as I write this and
we have certainly been very busy since the last
edition of Ragtop.
Our driving season is in full swing and we
have already had a number of great events. I
made it to Stratford along with 31 other Triumphs and 18 MGs for the annual Spring Fling.
This year’s event was hosted by the MGCCT and
Chairman Peter Mittler did a fine job of entertaining us for the weekend. I was one of 70+
TTC members who chowed down at the Busby
Park BBQ and picked up some tips on BBQ’ing
from our meeting coordinators Brian Clark and
Jack Willekes. The 2nd running of the “Around the Lake” tour was a tremendous success and
I was fortunate to be one of the 30 cars to participate in this great adventure. Special thanks
go out to Clive & Jaquelynne Huizinga and Robin & Ria Searle for all the planning, preparation and stress that went into running this event. A great time was had by all.
The next few months are also filled with great events and I encourage you to get out and
drive your Triumph. David and Gloria Fidler have been busy putting the finishing touches
on the Silver Anniversary Canadian Classic at the lovely Deerhurst Resort in Hunstville, Ontario. Don’t forget Brits in the Park in Lindsay and Brits on the Lake in Port Perry for great
day outings with your LBC and friends in the TTC. Be sure to visit the Events Calendar on the
TTC website or look in this issue, for more information on these great events.
Our British Car Day Committee has been working hard as well and as Chairman this year,
it has given me a better understanding of the tremendous amount of work and organization that goes into putting on this big event. This year we will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Triumph Stag and we hope to have as many as 40 on the field in September.
Your Executive has also been working hard behind the scenes and we hope that you
have recognized some changes we have made in the past several months. Looking back to
my first message to you as President, I indicated one of the areas we needed to focus our
improvement efforts on, was communication. I believe that we have been doing a better
job of this by utilizing both Ragtop and the TTC Website as our main tools.
We now have a up-to-date website and the ability to accept PayPal payments for things
like membership renewals or event registrations and you do not need your own PayPal
account to use this feature. This is indeed a big step forward. We are sending out frequent
electronic newsletters to keep you apprised of upcoming events and deadlines. We have
also been testing a new ‘live forum’ software and you can read about this on page 10.
Last but not least, we have Ragtop magazine, a club magazine that is unrivaled by any
other I have seen and one that we should all be very proud of. ragtop
— David Tushingham
www.torontotriumph.com 7
club hub
Meeting Reports
Come to Summer Party 2010 on July 30-31!
June
The theme for Summer Party this year will be “24 Hours
of LeMans.” Participants can dress up or turn their cars into
LeMans racers. Events will include Drag Racing, Poker
Rallye and Mountain Tour, LeMans Start Contest, Autocross,
Social Events, Parties, Concours d’Elegance and much more.
Inexpensive camping is available on the polo field at TRF,
and a list of local hotel accommodations can be found
through links from our web site. For more information and
a registration form, please refer to the web site.
Our annual BBQ was held once again on the
river at Busby Park in Oakville and pleasant
weather was enjoyed by over 70 members,
wives and guests. Jack Willekes and Brian
Clark cooked the food, while their wives
prepared fixin’s, thanks very much for all of
your hard work guys!
Mike Kadzielawski, a member of the
American TR6/TR250 Club “6-PACK” joined
us from Cary, North Carolina. Mike was in
the Toronto area on business and it was
Subscribe to TRF’s E-Mail Newsletter
great to have him along (he’s the one with
the flat cap next to me in the group photo).
Future meetings
Attendance at our meetings has grown tremendously this year and the meeting organizers and your executive thank you for your
support. We are always open to suggestions
for new places to meet and events to enjoy,
so please send your ideas to: president@torontotriumph.com or mention them to any
of your club officers. ragtop
Every week, twelve-thousand Triumph and MG
enthusiasts in countries around the world receive an E-Mail
Newsletter from Charles Runyan. The newsletter always
includes wonderful offers on parts, shipping deals, and other
TRF news. The newsletter includes links to current Web Site
Specials and Weekend Features which change every week.
To subscribe to the newsletter, please follow the simple
instructions found on the TRF home page. Note that
unsubscribing is also easy if you change your mind later.
Join TRF Car Club
Hundreds of customers of The Roadster Factory belong
to TRF Car Club. The club exists to promote TRF Customer
loyalty, and it includes $300.00 in gift certificates each year
that you can use as cash to purchase parts. Dues are $100.00
per year, but you also get a parts credit in the amount of
$100.00 every year after the first. You will receive a
membership card and sticker. Beautiful club logo. Great
T-shirts available. Please join on-line, or just phone the sales
line, and ask to join TRF Car Club…
TRF is The World's Greatest British Sports Car
Company
Whether you show your car in concours events, enter it
in competitive driving events, or drive it to work every day,
you can do so with confidence knowing that The Roadster
Factory is always there for you—on-line or just a phone
call away.
The Roadster Factory
P.O. Box 332, Armagh, Pennsylvania, 15920, U.S.A.
Telephone: (800) 234-1104 • Fax: (814) 446-6729
Internet: www.the-roadster-factory.com
by
David Fidler
May
Some great Spring weather saw us back
at Jake’s Boathouse, but this time we had
more than 25 Triumphs turn out for an impromptu Show n’ Shine. Jake’s sectioned
off most of their main parking lot so we
could have our cars together and we filled
every spot. TR3’s, Spits a TR4 and 250, plus
the ubiquitous Sixes, were all there for us
to admire. Bar food was served in the Chart
Room, but unfortunately there was a bit of
a snafu concerning the quantity of chicken
wings and veggies ordered, which meant
that many people missed out. We’re very
sorry if this included you and we promise
to count heads better next time!
We were very pleased to see a lot of
new and also some returning members
there. One or two have been members
for a few years, but had never attended a
meeting before! Well, we hope to see you
all at many meetings in the future, your attendance is always appreciated.
Ragtop
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club hub
Save Time & Money Pre-register For British Car Day!
Website Upgrades
by
David Fidler
“pre-registration” area for British Car Day. This is also linked to
PayPal, so you can pay your $15
per vehicle registration instantly.
Everyone who attends British Car
Day will have access to this (not
just TTC members).
Finally, by the time you read
this, an online Forum will be
available for TTC members and
non-members to post questions
and comments about the club,
their cars or anything in general.
It’s easy to use, you just need to
choose a cool username (mine is
‘flyingfid’) and a password, then
you can post away. Forums are a
great way to keep in touch with
your friends in the TTC, talk to potential new members and others
who own Triumphs, help people
with technical problems or just to
describe a great drive or vacation
you’ve enjoyed.
Please visit the club website
often, changes are happening almost daily and there will be lots for
you to see and do as we continue
to improve it. Coming up next?...
hopefully a club shop where you
can buy regalia, clothing, souvenirs
and books at great prices... watch
this space! ragtop
Hot on the heels of my announcements in the last issue
of Ragtop, I’m pleased to announce many more improvements to your website.
The membership database is now searchable by
City, Car Type or Member’s
last name. You no longer
have to use guesswork and
a lot of time consuming ‘narrowing down’ to find the information you need. Really
handy if you want to find all
the TR6 owners in your area,
or the phone number of that
new member you just met at
one of our meetings!
You can now pay for a new
membership or renew one using the PayPal online payment
system. You DO NOT need
your own PayPal account to
do this, just follow the simple
instructions and you’ll be able
to pay instantly by any major
credit card. If you do have a
PayPal account, then you can
also use a debit card or any
money in your PayPal account.
It’s all very easy to use, secure
and instant.
We are implementing a
• Diesel Engines
• Gasoline Engines
• Marine Engines
• Race Engines
• Vehicle Services
by
BCD Committee
We are in full swing organizing this year’s
British Car Day event and it promises to be
better than ever.
During the last couple of years, we have
faced many challenges due to the recession,
not least of which was losing our biggest
sponsor and then there’s been our ever increasing costs (why do they never go down
in a recession?). We are a relatively small
club and this is the largest one-day British
car show in North America, which brings
with it equally huge costs.
To ensure these costs are fully covered,
every year we review our pricing for registrants and vendors. We do know that times
have been tough and in respect to everyone
who supports and enjoys British
Car Day, we have kept our prices
the same for many years.
The good news is, we can continue to
charge our usual $15 per car by offering
everyone the option to pre-register online
using PayPal (no account required), at our
website: www.britishcarday.com
Pre-registering saves you time and money! You’ll avoid the line-up for registration
and can use our ‘Fast Lane’ access to the
park, which gets you to your parking spot
faster. Once you have pre-registered, you
will receive a windscreen card in the mail,
just display this and use the ‘Fast Lane’ and
you’re in!
The price for on-site registration will be
$20 per car, payable at the gate.
All British car clubs who are members of
British Car Club Insurance (BCCI), are being
sent a notification about pre-registration, to
circulate among their members. Please tell
anyone you meet who is planning to attend
that the entry fee is still $15, as long as they
pre-register. Cut-off date for pre-registration is August 31st.
Thank you for your cooperation and understanding, we look forward to seeing you
all at British Car Day on Sunday, September
19th, 2010! ragtop
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info@winslowdelaney.com
www.winslowdelaney.com
2338 Wyecroft Rd., Unit K5-7, Oakville, Ontario L6L 6L4
Tel: 905-825-2045 Fax: 905-825-0208
Your source for all your repairs
10
www.torontotriumph.com
Ragtop
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Ragtop
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Welcome New Members!
events
AUGUST 2010
Events Calendar
JULY 2010
Saturday, 17th, 9:00 am
All British Car Day
Britannia Park, Ottawa
Spend the day with our Friends from the Ottawa Valley Triumph
Club. Please see the OVTC website for more information. www.
ovtc.net/index.html
Sunday, 18th, 9:00 am
Brits in the Park 2010
Lindsay Ontario
A great event hosted by the Victoria British Car Club held in Victoria
Park, Lindsay. More information can be found on the Victoria British
Car Club website at: www.victoriabritishcarclub.ca
Friday, 23rd - 25th, 2:00 pm
25th Anniversary Canadian Classic
The “Canadian Classic” is having its
Silver Anniversary!
To celebrate we’re
pushing the boat
out and heading to
Deerhurst Resort,
near Huntsville, ON.
Full details are on
the TTC website.
12
Sunday, 8th, 9:00 am to 4:30 pm
Brits on the Lake 2010
Port Perry, Ontario
The second annual Festival promises to be one of the best British
car/bike/bus events that you’ll ever experience! ‘Brits on the Lake’
will add all of the nostalgia and beauty associated with British
family saloon cars, sports cars, motorcycles and buses in a perfect
fit with the charming atmosphere of Queen and Water Streets in
Port Perry. www.britsonthelake.com
Sunday, 8th, 9:00 am
First Annual Valve Cover Race
The Durham Eastenders are running
their 1st annual Valve
Cover Car race at the
Brits on the Lake show
at Port Perry in August. The cars are self
propelled...no rubber
bands, motors, gears,
rocket propulsion etc...
and are made out of
valve covers (rocker,
cam covers etc.) Rules for Durham Eastender Valve Cover Races
are available at:
www.eastendersbritishcarclub.info
Friday, 13th-15th, 4:00 pm
401-PACK Chapter mini-TRials
Ottawa, Ontario
If you are a TR250 or
TR6 owner then this
is the event for you!
Come join other
TR250/TR6 owners
for a weekend of
fun in and around
the Ottawa region
with the Ontario/
Quebec chapter of
6-PACK, the “401PACK”. Monitor TTC
website for details.
Thursday, 9th-12th, 9:00 am
2010 6-PACK TRials
Oxford Ohio, Sept 9th-11th
This is the annual
National convention for the Triumph TR250 and
TR6 Club of America - 6-PACK. Members of the Ontario/
Quebec Chapter of
6-PACK, the “401PACK”, will be caravanning down for a
weekend of fun. Come join us! For more information on the 2010
TRials, please visit the 6-PACK online forum at: www.6-PACK.org,
or triumphtrials.jimdo.com Visit the “401-PACK” Chapter Forum at:
www.6-pack.org/sixpack/phpbb2/viewforum.php?f=27
Sunday, 19th, 9:00 am
27th Annual TTC British Car Day
British Car Day is
hosted by the Toronto
Triumph Club. The
event is the largest
all-British one-day car
show in North America, with visitors from
all over Canada and
the northeast United
States. Over 50 Britishrelated vendors offer
their new and used goods for sale, including car parts, whole cars, tshirts, hats, tools, books, supplies, and so on. Many vendors offer endof-season specials so there are lots of bargains.
The venue for British Car Day is Bronte Creek Provincial Park, about
20 miles west of downtown Toronto, conveniently located at the
Burloak Drive exit, north off the Queen Elizabeth Way.
You can now pre-register your vehicle at www.britishcarday.com and
save $5 off the on-site registration fee.
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Name . . . . . . . . . . . . Location . . . . . . . . . Vehicle . . . . . . . . . . . . . Year
Neal Barkhurst . . . . . Toronto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Joerg Hess . . . . . . . . . Mount Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Robert Bruce . . . . . . Oakville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
joseph Ciancio . . . . . Toronto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Paul Green . . . . . . . . Thornbury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Sal Guzzo . . . . . . . . . .Toronto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Michael Hunter . . . . Fonthill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Tony Koski . . . . . . . . . Woodstock . . . . . . . . . TR6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1973
Ken Stahl . . . . . . . . . Alton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Gerry Duffy . . . . . . . . Schomberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Membership Status
Due Soon
Name
Member #
Renewal Date
John Broomer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2665 . . . . . . . . . . . . 08/01/10
Malcolm Bull . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2680 . . . . . . . . . . . . 09/01/10
Les & Moira Campey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1531 . . . . . . . . . . . . 09/01/10
Bill Clark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2714 . . . . . . . . . . . . 09/01/10
Doug and Maureen Crane . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2267 . . . . . . . . . . . . 08/01/10
Michael Cropper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2918 . . . . . . . . . . . . 08/23/10
Margaret and Doug Dalgetty . . . . . . . . . . 1075 . . . . . . . . . . . . 09/01/10
Sylvain and Liz Demers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2669 . . . . . . . . . . . . 09/01/10
Anthony Fox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1821 . . . . . . . . . . . . 09/01/10
Mark Gillies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2664 . . . . . . . . . . . . 08/01/10
Evelyn Susan & Jim Holubeshen . . . . . . . 2721 . . . . . . . . . . . . 09/01/10
David Hughes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2919 . . . . . . . . . . . . 08/05/10
John Kearsley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2708 . . . . . . . . . . . . 08/01/10
Steve Kennedy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2917 . . . . . . . . . . . . 08/24/10
John Lett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2604 . . . . . . . . . . . . 09/01/10
Dan Mallette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2554 . . . . . . . . . . . . 09/01/10
Ian Marlatt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2678 . . . . . . . . . . . . 09/01/10
Scott McCoy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2722 . . . . . . . . . . . . 09/01/10
Trevor & Dorothy Metcalf . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2336 . . . . . . . . . . . . 09/01/10
Ian Millar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2916 . . . . . . . . . . . . 08/23/10
Wayne Owen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2914 . . . . . . . . . . . . 08/18/10
Gordon and Martha Peters . . . . . . . . . . . . 2275 . . . . . . . . . . . . 09/01/10
Chuck and Gail Phillips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2209 . . . . . . . . . . . . 09/01/10
Robert & Allison Polutnik . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2844 . . . . . . . . . . . . 08/21/10
Graham Purvis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2672 . . . . . . . . . . . . 09/01/10
Deanna and Dennis Richardson . . . . . . . . 1997 . . . . . . . . . . . . 09/01/10
Ken Shaddock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2727 . . . . . . . . . . . . 09/01/10
Brian Smith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2608 . . . . . . . . . . . . 09/01/10
Kieren Smyth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2734 . . . . . . . . . . . . 09/01/10
William & Sandra Sotnikow . . . . . . . . . . . 2333 . . . . . . . . . . . . 09/01/10
Archie Thomas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1069 . . . . . . . . . . . . 09/01/10
Jim Turnbull . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2913 . . . . . . . . . . . . 08/18/10
Geoff Van Der Lee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2484 . . . . . . . . . . . . 09/01/10
Peter and Denise Warren . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2711 . . . . . . . . . . . . 09/01/10
Dave & Liz Wright . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2120 . . . . . . . . . . . . 09/01/10
Due Now
OCTOBER 2010
Saturday, 2nd-3rd, 9:00 am
British Sportscar Leaf Peeping Rally
Primary contact & organizer is TTC member Robert Polutnik, rpolutnik@technolutionsci.com
Please visit this link for further information.
www.technolutionsci.com/LPR/2010/2010_Leaf_Peeping_Rally.htm
August 21st 2010 11:00am - 5:00pm
Shaw Festival
Vintage British Motorcar Exhibition, Shaw Festival Theatre
10 Queens Parade, Niagara on the Lake, Ontario
All British Cars Welcome, $10 at the gate.
www.torontotriumph.com
SEPTEMBER 2010
Name
Member #
Renewal Date
Geoff Anderson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2911 . . . . . . . . . . . . 07/26/10
Don Gorman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2910 . . . . . . . . . . . . 07/26/10
Tom Opratko . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2832 . . . . . . . . . . . . 07/06/10
Andrew Grace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2842 . . . . . . . . . . . . 07/28/10
Deirdre Howard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2909 . . . . . . . . . . . . 07/26/10
Lyal Moffatt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2835 . . . . . . . . . . . . 07/24/10
Warren Rice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2912 . . . . . . . . . . . . 07/26/10
Please go to www.torontotriumph.com and renew today!
Valid as of July 5th 2010
I 2010
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www.torontotriumph.com 13
Pssst!
Want Some Great Advice?
problem solved
Drained
of Ideas?
by Jim Wendel
You could search big catalogues for the best price
You could buy parts from various suppliers
You could pay huge shipping and crazy broker fees
You could be returning the parts
You could...
...but why would you?
1565 Hwy 5 West, RR#1
Troy, Ontario, L0R 2B0
Toll Free 1-888-485-2277
Local: 905-627-9995
24hr Fax: 416-410-6479
E-mail: britishautosport@bellnet.ca
When a pinhole developed at the upper hose
connection tube, I realized it was time to install a low point drain in the radiator instead
of busting my knuckles trying to wrestle off
the lower hose and possibly damaging the
lower hose connection, every time the cooling system needed attention.
I jacked up the front end onto stands and
crawled under to mark a location on the radiator that would be accessible and permit the
installation of a valve, without any conflicts.
At this point the radiator is removed and
after center punching the location (punch
lightly) prepare the surface as shown, then
using a Unibit, gently drill a hole approximately ½” diameter, so that the shoulder of
We are your local source for quality parts and only stock
the best. When you consider the benefits of friendly local
service, no quibble exchanges, next day delivery or same
day pick-up, plus great advice and customer service,
British Auto Sport is hard to beat.
the hex rests on the radiator and acts as a
stop. After making sure that all surfaces are
cleaned and flux is applied, heat the copper
fitting with a torch making sure to avoid applying the flame directly to the surface of the
radiator. Using regular plumbing type solid
core solder, touch the solder to the radiator
(not the adapter) testing to see when the
temperature is sufficient to permit the solder
to properly flow. As the solder flows around
the fitting (capillary action is a wonderful
thing), remove the heat and let it cool. Note
that the original solder on the radiator surface was not disturbed. When it cools, clean
it up, repaint and install the valve and plug.
ragtop
Parts List
1 - 3/8” copper x male adapter
1 - 3/8” Ball type gas cock
1 - 3/8” brass plug
Plumbing type solder and flux
Benz-o-matic , or plumbers
torch
Try us for your next project!
British Auto Sport
Toll Free 1-888-485-2277
- 6pack
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www.torontotriumph.com 15
problem solved
1
Unblock Your Drains
6
W
hen I began restoring my ’74 TR6
5 years ago, the first thing I removed were
the rotten front fenders to gain access
to the sills. Once removed, I was greeted
by two small rubber hoses protruding
through the side panel not more than 5
inches long. The design intent was to carry water (and debris) that entered into
the scuttle vent on top to exit out the
hoses and drain out the vehicle via two
small indentations formed in the sill. If
your car spent most of its life in the snow
belt, as mine did, then it was susceptible
to road salt and freezing/thawing water
sitting inside this dark cavity. After 30+
years, the lack of rust proofing in this
area took its toll (photo 1).
After many hours of metal work and
16
3
2
painting, I was determined to find a solution to prevent water from entering this
area. 6-PACK member Paul Rego came up
with an elegant solution using the drain
plugs off a 65-66 Mustang. The nice surprise is that this upgrade can be accomplished for about $20.
Parts include: 5/8” OD x 1/2” ID vinyl tubing, Home Depot, $8.00, 2x Small hose
clamps, Home Depot, $1.25 each, 2 x 3/4”
Wire clips, Home Depot, $1.95, 2 x 1/4” Machine screws, washers, and nuts, 2 x Rear
Quarter Drain Plugs 65/66 Mustang, Part
number 11201 01, Mustangs Unlimited.
com $2.95 each, body sealant or caulking
of your choice. Just a couple of assumptions: Your front fenders are off the car or
the splash shields can be removed to gain
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the other end of the hose through the
hole in the side panel (photo 3).
I am using new splash shields from The
Roadster Factory. You will need to drill
three holes. Two outer holes attach the
rubber drain plug and the larger center
hole is the exit for the vinyl tube. The drain
plug holes are 2” apart and the vinyl tube
hole is 3/4” from the lower drain plug hole.
With the vinyl hose hole, I used a step drill
bit to create a hole that was slightly undersized so the tube would pass through
the hole but would be held in place with
friction (Use safety glasses when drilling/
deburring the holes) I used a small section
of tube to determine the correct diameter
(photo 4). The holes for the rubber drain
plug are 5/16” for the lower, 3/8” for the upper
Ragtop
Chimenti - 6pack
4
7
access to the cavity behind the fender.
You can gain access and remove the
existing rubber hoses located at the far
corners, behind the dash. The first step
is to clean/unplug the vent area on top
of the scuttle. If you have taken off the
plastic grill or vent door, now would be
a good time to coat the inside area with
a rust preventative. I used a long, flexible
stick with a small brush attached to the
end which was soaked with POR-15. Make
sure you have a bucket to catch the liquid
exiting out the drains. Next, slip the hose
clamp over the end of the vinyl tube and
place it on the nipple end of the drain and
secure. The nice part about vinyl is that it
is much more flexible than the hardened
hose it is replacing (photo 2). You can feed
by Tom
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5
9
hole. I determined the best placement for
the hose to exit was at the lower portion of
the splash shield (photo 5).
Insert the free end of the hose through
the splash shield and bolt the shield in place
(photo 6). I trimmed back the excess tube
sticking out of the shield to 1/2” (photo 7).
There is a slit on the back side of the drain
plug that will need to be removed with a
pair of scissors. Once removed, the vinyl
tube will be able to slip inside the drain
plug. The rubber drain plug has two mushroom heads that need to squeeze through
the holes. They are a little tricky to push
through, a little dish wash soap will help
seat them in place (photo 8).
Next step; to prevent the hose from loosening or hitting the inside of the fender, I sewww.torontotriumph.com 10
cured the hose with a 3/4” wire clamp. I drilled
a 1/4” hole through the side panel, in the
ribbed area. I did this so the head of the bolt
used to secure the clamp would not interfere
with the interior kick panel. I used a 1/4” screw
with a fender washer on the inside rib and a
split lockwasher/nut on the clamp surface. I
sealed the hole and behind the fender washer with 3M body sealant. When mounting the
clamp, ensure that the hose is not kinked and
the hose continues its downward journey to
the splash shield (photo 9).
Finally, I applied body sealant under the
drain plug and around the holes to prevent
water from intruding (photo 10). The end
result is a clean looking application that will
allow water to exit and prevent debris from
entering into the vehicle. ragtop
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Triumph tunes
Vacuum reading
19” of mercury
Perfect
Timing
Finding Your ‘Sweet Spot’
by
Ken Dalhonde - 6pack
Connect gauge to
brake assist vacuum
pipe on early TR6
F
irst let me say that this is not an argument
against ignition timing for the TR6 being between 10 and 14 degrees BTDC at idle. It may
well be that your engine’s sweet spot lays
within that range. But how do you know
when you are in that range?
Most people will say “by using a timing light and observing the timing marks
on the crankshaft damper”, but therein
lies the problem. While the timing marks
were considered accurate when the engine was fresh and new, time has taken its
toll on the components that control the
damper marks’ relationship to the pointer.
If you’ve ridden a bicycle or used a chain
saw, you already know that chains stretch
and sprockets wear. Same applies to our timing chain and sprockets. We all know that a
gear set wears, such as in our transmissions and
differentials. So too the camshaft and oil pump
gear sets. I think it should also come as no surprise
18
that the distributor’s driving dog’s relationship
to the distributor’s drive gear, becomes more
spacious from the constant pressure of the
spinning, especially at start-up.
The consequences of all this, plus the
possibility of deterioration of the actual
damper’s bonded components, leads to a
cumulative effect, which affects the accuracy
of the timing marks.
So what’s the solution; how, with the inevitable inaccuracy, do you find your engine’s
sweet spot for the ignition timing?
Well, if you’ve spent anytime on the 6-PACK forums, you’ve probably seen topics on using a vacuum
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gauge as a visual aid to finding that spot.
Why a Vacuum Gauge?
The answer is, in order to eliminate
or ignore, if you will, the inherent inaccuracy of the timing marks on an older
engine’s damper.
How does timing relate to a vacuum
gauge reading?
An internal combustion engine has
been described as an “Air Pump” and
whether or not we like that characterization, we can’t deny that without air
the engine will not function, no matter
how much fuel or spark we feed it. Air is
sucked in and pushed out and by measuring the air sucked in, we can judge the
engine’s efficiency in ‘breathing’.
We use the volume of air in relation
to the volume of fuel to evaluate the efficiency of carburetors or injectors and
the quality of the combustion, and we
use the manifold vacuum to evaluate the
efficiency of the engine’s ability to digest
the fuel/air mixture. By ‘digest’ I mean
determining if combustion was complete enough so that the combustion
chamber could be nearly evacuated by
the exhaust cycle and empty enough
to accept an adequate supply of fresh
fuel and air mixture. The vacuum present in the intake manifold reflects this
ability to inhale and the optimum timing of combustion within the chamber
(cylinder) that enables it.
Most internal combustion engines at
sea level are designed to operate with a
manifold vacuum of 17 to 21 inches of mercury, at idle speed.
Exceptions would be due to a cam whose intake and exhaust
valves overlap in open duration or high altitudes, where atmospheric pressure affects vacuum.
Now, I’d like to bring up some points specific to our stock TR6
engines.
Do not strive for the maximum vacuum reading. If the distributor is oriented properly, the tachometer cable will probably restrict the clockwise rotation (advance) of the distributor.
With the tach cable disconnected, I have been able to advance
the timing to the point where the Vacuum Gauge reads in the
low 20s, which is over advanced in anybody’s book.
Remember that the vacuum gauge is a ‘visual aid’ and if the
engine sounds rough, uneven, or the valves rattle (ping or pink,
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A vacuum gauge like this can be bought for under $35.
This example also reads fuel pressure
depending on which side of the pond you’re from) upon hard
acceleration, the timing is not right, regardless of the reading
on the gauge.
Another thing to remember is that with a change in timing,
idle speed will change. Maintain your desired idle speed by making equal adjustments to your throttle stop screws. Also, leave all
vacuum connections in place on the distributor, just as they will
be as you drive normally. Specifically the vacuum retard and advance, if that’s the way you run.
While on the subject of vacuum lines, the question may have occurred to you as to where to connect your vacuum gauge?
If your car was equipped with an Anti Run-On Valve (ARV) you
would have a banjo fitting on the intake manifold with one nipple
for the ARV and another for the brake servo. Disconnect the hose
on the nipple for the ARV and make your connection there. Don’t
worry about plugging the hose to the ARV.
If your engine did not use the ARV (69-72), use the vacuum
gauge adaptor on the vacuum pipe for the servo; no need to plug
the servo either (see top photo page 25).
Let the engine warm up before evaluating the vacuum gauge
readings and if the needle is anything more than a quiver, then you
have other problems, assuming a stock cam, and refer to the link
provided for help in diagnosing the problem. The vacuum gauge is
an invaluable tool for diagnosing certain engine problems.
Go find your engine’s ‘Sweet Spot’, but just keep it out of the 20s!
ragtop
Links:www.secondchancegarage.com/public/186.cfm
http://automotivemileposts.com/garage/v2n8.html
www.torontotriumph.com 19
club events
Around The Lake
I
t’s almost like one of those latter day exploration challenges, such as rowing
across the Atlantic or sailing around the world. The circumnavigation of Lake
Ontario held a lot of appeal for me and so it did to many other TTC ‘explorers’. While not an opportunity for me to get into the ‘Guinness Book of World
Records’ (at least, not for driving around the lake!), it was a fantastic chance
to take my wife Gloria on a “pre-wedding anniversary” mini-vacation and the
other lady in my life, Rosie, for a nice long drive.
Clive & Jacquelynne Huizinga and Robin & Ria Searle organized a well presented and memorable three day event, which everyone enjoyed tremendously - thank you!
Rather than write a ‘blow-by-blow’ account, I thought I would let the photographs do the talking and one or two members tell you a little about what
made the 2010 Around The Lake Tour memorable for them. So ladies & gentlemen, start your engines!
by
David Fidler
Breakdown Brings Out
The Best in People
by
Line up for the Glenorra ferry
Following the lake on Highway 33 from Glenorra to Kingston
We just missed the Wolfe Island ferry and watched it leave
on its one hour return trip
Relaxing in Bowmanville the evening before the start
Lunch at Lake On The Mountain
Peter May
We broke down east of Bath - total power failure - just as if we had ran out of gas. Shortly
after, the next ferry load of TR6s came along and everyone jumped under the hood to
figure out what had happened - from changing the coil to testing a spare rotor. Nothing
worked, so everyone went on to Kingston and we waited for CAA. In the meantime we
phoned our daughter and my sister-in-law to search the internet for a repair company in
Kingston who can fix TR6s. They both came up with the same name - Madeley Automotive. While waiting for CAA, a local came out of his house to offer us a soft drink, shade and
the use of his toilet if needed. Later he came back with a photocopy of the yellow pages
showing repair companies in Kingston that might help - what a nice person. One other
individual who had previously owned a TR6 stopped to assist.
CAA came along and took us to Madeley Automotive on the flatbed. Brian the owner,
who was such a nice and helpful person, did a few tests and determined that it was in fact
the ignition rotor after all! The other spare we tried from the group must’ve been faulty.
Not having any in stock, he contacted Ron Minaker who had a couple of TR6s. Ron was so
kind and took one out of his car. Brian sent a courier to pick up the part and installed it. It
fired up and we were on our way. To top it all off Brian did not charge us a dime as he just
had a great interest in getting us back on the road to catch up with the tour.
Without the enthusiasm of people who stopped at the side of the road to assist us, plus
in particular Brian Madeley and Ron Minaker, we would not have had such a wonderful
weekend ‘Around The Lake’. If anybody needs assistance in Kingston, Brian is your man.
Fid & Gloria
take their
parking spot
on the Wolfe
Island ferry
On board the Glenorra ferry
Cars Parked during lunch at Lake On The Mountain
Gathering for the start at the HoJo Bowmanville
20
Rosie among friends on the Glenorra ferry
- while Mrs. Fidler sleeps!
www.torontotriumph.com
Cap’n on the bridge! Clive Huizinga and Syl & Liz Demers
make sure the Wolfe Islander is steered straight
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www.torontotriumph.com 21
On the road leaving
Henderson Harbor
Other Triumphs and an Austin Healey joined us for the BBQ at the Aspinwall
Motel, Henderson Harbor, NY
Packing them in on the Cape Vincent ferry, with the USA in the background
Cars sporting their
ATL signs at Alton
Antiques
Ooops, someone got run over!
Fixing a leaky bottom hose in Alton,
with lots of experts on hand
Packed onto The Wolfe Islander
while Clive attends to his car
Wind Turbines on Wolfe Island
A beautiful 1966 Healey
Line up for the Cape Vincent ferry
Party time at Henderson Harbor - l to r Bernadette May, Liz Demers and
Pauline DeCarlo...
Terry & Maureen Dunne wait for the Cape Vincent ferry
22
Clive (centre) waiting to get the flock off the ferry
www.torontotriumph.com
... Tom & Ann Gifford cutting the rug
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Moonlight Boat Cruise
by
Lunch at Mariner’s Landing restaurant in Olcott, NY - the table on the left
saying “cheers” are some of our newer members, Gord Linkletter & partner
Fanny Gragor and Jim & Carole Dunkley
Lunch at Steger Haus, Sodus Point, NY
Dinner in Canandaigua, NY at the New York Wine & Culinary Centre
Cars get a wash while we eat at Steger Haus
Objects in
mirror are
closer than
they appear
Fid tries the local Sled Dog brew, his verdict? This horse will never race again!
Andrew Grace & Rachael Evans saying goodbye at the border
Sodus Point Lighthouse
Terry Dunne steers the ship during the moonlight cruise
Group photo taken after lunch in Olcott, NY
24
www.torontotriumph.com
Gord Linkletter
After a great meal at
The New York Wine
and Culinary Center,
Clive had about 15
cars lined up to leave
for the moonlight
Cruise. We headed
out East on US 20 and
then South onto 247
through some beautiful farm countryside.
Once we got further
down and onto 364
the terrain started to
get more interesting,
as in more twisty bits,
through the valley
down towards Lake
Keuka. Our leader
was a bit slow, to fully
stretch the legs of our
eager TR6. However, in
the interest of safety
and common sense,
we did not attempt to
pass. We then headed
west along the lake towards Branchport where we arrived at the dock to meet our Hosts for the 2 hr
cruise on Lake Kueka.
The Esperanza Rose is a wooden hulled boat, painted and preserved in great
condition. We were welcomed onboard with live music which continued all
evening. The Captain did a great job piloting his ship through a narrow 7 foot
deep channel out into the lake. We then cruised approximately 20 miles under
clear moonlight skies enjoying the music, drinks and great company. The Captain had to return through the very narrow entrance to the dock, but this time
in the dark, which he did with skill and without event.
Our drive home was a little more exciting after we decided to leave the
lead cars at the gas station and trust our instincts and GPS to get
back to Canandaigua. We
were able to follow a local car and had a chance
to push the TR on some
of the twisty bits (when
Fanny was sleeping). We
arrived safely back from
another great event organized by Clive and Jacquelynne. ragtop
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www.torontotriumph.com 25
events
Shakespearean Spring Fling
The uncertain glory of a (May) day;
Which now shows all the beauty of the sun,
And by and by a cloud takes all away.”
The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 1, Scene 3
With apologies to Sir William Shakespeare...
the following report involves the Two Gentlemen of Newmarket & Bobcaygeon - Ed.
had spent most of the evening prior
to Friday’s departure to Stratford Ontario,
cleaning and doing some final maintenance checks on my ‘73 TR6, as per my
usual routine before a drive of any length.
This trip was to be a little different for me
as I was going to have some distinguished
company along for the ride. I was happy to
have Robin Searle join me as co-pilot for
the weekend’s adventure, while Ria stayed
at home and tended to a pre-planned garage sale.
We left for Stratford on Friday afternoon
under overcast skies with another TR6 in
tow, as Steven and Anita Craib decided to
keep us company along the way. We took
the scenic route from my home in Newmarket across Highway 9 through Orangeville and over to Arthur, where we would
meet up with another TR6 owner, Bob Muir
from Collingwood, before turning south to
Stratford.
The trip across Highway 9 was an interesting one, as it turned out Robin and Ria
lived on a farm in the area in their younger
days. As we toured through the countryside Robin acted as tour guide and told
some great stories about the area and life
on the farm. Don’t worry Ria, I won’t tell the
26
David Tushingham
Oh, let’s not forget the ‘other’ marque!
“O, how this spring (fling) resembleth
I
by
story about you hauling around the manure spreader!
After a stop at Timmy’s in Arthur to pick
up Bob and his yellow TR6, the weather
was starting to be somewhat of a concern
as the skies began to darken. We decided
to move on, top down, to see if we could
make it into Stratford before the rain began. As they say, hindsight is 20/20.
We had turned south on Highway 12
and were running in and out of small pockets of rain. A little further south we ran into
a detour and were forced to go a little more
west out of our way. Unfortunately, the detour signs led us over to a long gravel road
running south. We decided to take it slow
over the gravel and as we drove farther
south it got darker and darker and started
to rain heavily. The gravel soon turned to
mud and my white car was no longer clean.
It rained so hard that we eventually had to
stop and put the top up, as I couldn’t see
out of my glasses much less my windscreen. Robin and I jumped out and managed to get the top up in pretty good time,
but we were quite wet when we arrived at
the check-in desk of the Festival Inn, a little
while later.
Around the back of the Inn, the courtwww.torontotriumph.com
yard was beginning to fill up nicely with
LBCs. As I drove to my parking spot, I spotted some familiar faces and waved hello,
excited to be there. I had a chance to relax
and catch up with old friends from both
clubs during the afternoon registration
and later had a nice dinner at a local restaurant with 20+ members of the TTC. Back at
the Inn, we had a pleasant evening under
starry skies, relaxing in our lounge chairs in
and around the courtyard. It was an early
night for me however, as I had plans for a
very early morning.
We had a full day planned for Saturday
starting with a tour through Perth and
Oxford Counties beginning at 9 am. First
order of the day for me was to get the car
in a more presentable condition for the afternoon car show and shine. So at 6 am, I
was down at the local spray wash, washing
away the dirt and dust associated with the
previous day’s trek. By 7:30 am I was back
at the hotel and had a quick bite to eat beRagtop
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Parking lot party
fore staging in the parking lot for the mass
departure.
From the Festival Inn parking lot we
headed out through Shakespeare and past
the British Touch store, which we would
visit later in the afternoon. We were on our
way to Punkeydoodle Corners for a photo
opportunity under the often stolen community sign post. So much for the clean
car. Less than 20 minutes into the drive,
we were back on gravel roads and the car
was quickly coated in dust as we travelled
along in the middle of the pack of about 50
cars. After a quick stop at the corners, we
continued on through New Hamburg, and
Wellesley on our way to a stop in Millbank
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at Anna Mae’s Bakery and the Cheese
Factory. At these stops, we picked
up poker cards as we tried to build a
winning poker hand, to be turned in
at the evening’s festivities. Cars were
filled with baked goods and fresh
cheeses before we headed on to Millbank Family Furniture for a look around.
We continued on our tour through
Newton and Milverton, an area noted for
its population of Amish and we spotted a
Where do you park 50 cars for lunch?
few horse and buggies along the way and
stops along the way. We picked up another
many well kept farms. About 7 miles from
poker card at Klomps Nursery and Garden
Stratford and an equal distance from St
Center and left the flowers there for the laMary’s is the town of Avon, a really picturdies to buy. Our last stop of the day was at
esque setting nestling low down in a valley
the British Touch, a cute little store selling all
bordered by a gentle stream. On our way
things British. I managed to find some room
to St Mary’s we passed through Junction
in the TR6 boot for a couple of enameled
Railway Station built in 1858, a bustling
signs that caught my fancy (thank you for
hub of activity until 1941 and now recogthe Guinness one Tush! - Ed).
nized as an historically significant building,
We had some time to relax at the Festival
restored by the town of St. Mary’s.
Inn prior to the awards banquet and some
We stopped for lunch and our annual
took the opportunity to have a swim and
Spring Fling Car show in the heart of St
hang out by the pool. The dinner was being
Mary’s, at Milt Dunnell Park. We had the
held at the Hotel and
chance to wander
we had a nice room
through town and
set up for our festivienjoyed a nice lunch
ties. We had a great
at one of the local
dinner and laughed
restaurants.
One
with
our
friends
day I must re-visit St
throughout the night.
Mary’s, as it is also the
The votes had been
home of the Canatabulated and awards
dian Baseball Hall of
were given out to the
Fame and I have yet
winners of the car
to find the time to go An early one horsepower roadster
show. Alas, our poker
there.
hand was not a winner, but the weekend
We submitted our ballots for the car
certainly was and we all had a great time.
show and picked up another poker card,
Many thanks go out to the MG Car Club of
before hitting the road again. Robin and I
Toronto for hosting us and to the efforts of
were building a pretty good poker hand (or
Spring Fling organizers Peter Mittler and
so we thought)…we continued on a loop
Stuart MacFarlane. ragtop
back towards Stratford and made two more
www.torontotriumph.com 27
on the road
Split diaphragm
leads to
unexpected
buldge
W
by Larry Llewllyn
ell to those of you who read
the first entry of my diary you may have
hoped or thought it was the last. Well I’m
back! This is the most recent adventure
with my TR7 from hell... no, no, I didn’t say
that... from now on she is to be referred
to as ‘Miss Penny Lane’ or ‘Penny’ to all her
friends. Sit back and be prepared to suffer
as I did, the woes of a Triumph owner... stories you can all relate to or even surpass.
The story I’m about to relate really starts
in Sept 2008, when Chambly County High
School in St. Lambert, Quebec, put out an
‘all points bulletin’ for volunteers to help
putting on their 60th Reunion... I, being a
member of the class of ’65 (not the graduating class, we won’t go there), volunteered as class rep.
Remember, the TTC has got me into
Show and Shine addictions, Canadian
Classics, Spring Flings and our pride and
joy - British Car Day. Add to these, driving
‘Around The Lake’ in 2007 (even though
I was in a Honda Fit) and I am hooked on
a passion to drive. So I was all hyped up
to drive my Penny to the big event. I con-
28
tacted the committee and suggested they
hold a vintage car show of alumni who
may still be driving their old rods or reliving their past through newly acquired oldies. We could hold a car show and all alumni could show off their pride and joys. They
bought into it... and designated the job to
me! Surprisingly, we had 28 cars show up
from Ottawa, Kitchener, and Toronto.
At this point, I should mention my old
classmate, Peter Gilbert (an ex-racer) and
his wife Louise, came on-stream. We hadn’t
seen each other in 40 years, he was to accompany me in a 1948 Bentley. But, as
everyone knows women are smarter than
men and they are always right, Louise was
adamant that “If Larry drives his car too, I’m
not going, I’m not going to be put in a position with two cars breaking down!”
So it was that we left TO at 10 am on
a Thursday; Peter drove in a friend’s Mercedes sport coupe and I in Penny. Communication was by way of hands-free walkietalkies, this turned out to be a smart move.
401 to Quebec with a few stops on the way,
Bellville, Kingston, with a last fill in Ontario,
www.torontotriumph.com
before crossing the ‘border’. The trip appeared to be flawless. All the prep time, oil
changes and excursions with the TTC was a
precursor to this ‘BIG ONE’... then my world
fell apart.
We arrived in Montreal at 5pm, the
height of rush hour, heading to the Champlain Bridge, south on Hwy 220. For those
of you who have never been there, please
take an accelerated skid school course to
contend with the thousands of Jacques
Villeneuve clones. I was negotiating an underpass, a very small one built in 1911 or
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so... then Penny died... or decided to take a
rest. I immediately looked in the rear view
mirror and saw an 18 wheel oil tanker approaching, about to negotiate the same
hair-pin turn under the bridge. I had the
presence of mind to throw on the hazards
and make a radio call to Peter... “I’m dead,
I Can’t START!” I see Peter backing up, unknown to him the tanker is trying to negotiate the turn wider... I suddenly became a
devout Catholic and said seven Hail Mary’s.
Peter swerved to miss the tanker... it passed
around the corner up a grade. A Close call.
Now we were both holding up traffic, as
we pushed Penny to the side. For the sake
of this writing, we got Penny started, but
by this time I was hurling unprintable adjectives at my bucket of bolts. Penny was
running very rough and wanted to stall, in
bumper to bumper traffic for the next 45
minutes across the bridge. We arrived at
my motel, but running very, very rough.
The CCHS 60th itinerary called for a meet
and greet and car show 3 pm – 9 pm Friday; a variety show on Saturday at 1 pm - 3
pm; Dinner and Dance in the evening. At
breakfast Saturday morning it was decided
Peter would show me how to change spark
plugs and the inline fuel filter, while Louise went shopping. After this was accomplished we separated and met at the variety show. I hooked up with Peter to pass
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on the news that Penny was running worse
than ever... shaking beginning at 35 mph...
Peter said, “we’ll have another look and see
what we’ve missed”. At 4 pm I met up with
Peter at the home of an old racing buddy
of his. After putting their heads together
it was decided to look at the Stromberg
carbs. Off came one and it was cleaned balanced or whatever one does to the bits of
these delicate parts. They were sparkling
by the time they were finished and put
back. “Go test drive it Larry!” “No, Let’s do
the other one”, Peter said.
About now, an old timer rolled up in a
suit, ready to go to the dinner and dance.
He was also a sports car buff... you can picture the 4 Amigos, me, a gopher, Peter and
his racing buddy and this guy in a suit. Peter was still adamant in wanting to check
the other carb, before I went to test drive.
However, around the block I went, only to
come back sweating bullets. “It’s running
like c*#&!”... Off came the other carb, and
we discovered the rubber diaphragm was
split in a few places. Now what? I’m worried
about getting back to Toronto, it’s now 6 pm
and stores are closed, tomorrow is Sunday
with nothing open. I’m beside myself.
Canadian ingenuity prevails... make
shift... crazy glue... none in the house. Peter goes to a local ‘Depanneur’... no luck...
I went door-to-door around the houses
where the repair was being done... finally,
some Crazy Glue. It’s the same in French
by the way. That didn’t work. Next, brains
all working overtime, “how about a BandAid and stick it on the tears?”... No... we’ll
fabricate a diaphragm with surgical glove
rubber. Ever tried cutting a surgical rubber glove? Not as easy as one thinks! After
painfully trying to attach this it was decidwww.torontotriumph.com ed... “to forget it!” The suit suggested “silicone, just smear it on, use water to dilute it
and it will spread easier.” Off he went to the
dinner and dance... it’s 7:30 pm now... I try
another test drive... NO WAY, absolute c*#&.
Now comes the savior. Peter and his
racing buddy talk about replacement parts
and they come up with a guy who his
wife used to date, “He’s got a parts store
doesn’t he?” Sure enough arrangements
were made to meet him at 10 am Sunday
and he’ll open the store. It’s now 8:30 pm
and we’ve missed the Dinner and Dance.
So, I stayed with Peter and his friends for a
friendly BBQ. A good time had by all, as the
problem was solved... or so I thought.
The parts were obtained and replaced
at a local Show and Shine, under the
watchful eyes of John Q public. Both diaphragms were replaced. We then set off to
test drive Penny on a local freeway, only to
find the shaking was almost violent at 40
mph. I in my wisdom suggested “it was no
longer the engine, it appears to be in the
steering”. Another test drive by Peter... he
returns with the same conclusion.
Peter says “Let’s put it on the basketball
court and check the tracking “. I was relegated to the passenger side; my friend was on
the driver’s side; while Peter drove ever so
slowly. There we are looking at the tires and
the frame... I spot something on the front
passenger side. I told the expert “You check,
if you see something, don’t say anything... I’ll
drive and see if Peter spots the same problem”. Surefire Peter spots it too and visually
they both see the problem. ”Stop, stop, we
found it”! A buldge the size of a fist, on the
tire. It’s now 2:00 pm... we have our good
bye lunch at the reunion.
I raced off to a local Canadian Tire store,
had two front tires replaced and was on my
way by 4 pm.
I arrived in Toronto at 10:30 pm, with
one stop for gas.
Turns out I bought Penny in November
2006... the tires were brand new, no mileage on them. However they were made
week 33 1998... by the DOT mark! The belt
had separated in two places. ragtop
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BACK THEN WE WERE THE EXPERTS
AT INSURING ‘57 CHEVYS
owner’s manual
Getting to know our members
Scott douglas
AND WE STILL ARE.
A
L O T O F I N S U R A N C E C O M PA N I E S S AY T H E Y K N O W C L A S S I C A N D A N T I Q U E C A R S .
B E T T E R T H A N S TAT E FA R M .
AND AS
WITH
AFTER
BUT
WE BELIEVE NO ONE KNOWS THEM
ALL WE WERE INSURING MANY OF THESE CARS LONG BEFORE THEY BECAME CLASSICS.
T H E W O R L D ’ S L A R G E S T C A R I N S U R E R , W E C U R R E N T LY I N S U R E W E L L O V E R
120,000
OF THESE UNIQUE MACHINES.
S TAT E FA R M Y O U ’ R E A LWAY S S U R E O F G E T T I N G C O V E R A G E T H AT ’ S R I G H T F O R Y O U --- A N D Y O U R C A R .
T H E M O S T C O M P E T I V E R AT E S AVA I L A B L E .
PERHAPS
AT
SOME OF
T H AT ’ S W H Y S O M A N Y C L A S S I C A N D A N T I Q U E C A R O W N E R S I N S I S T O N
Name: Scott Douglas
Location: Burlington, ON
Member since: Oct. 2009
Current Triumph: 1974 TR6 Pimento/Black
First Triumph: ’74 Triumph Spitfire, ’70 Spitfire Mk3 and ’69
Spitfire MK3..
Born: November 1966, Edinburgh, Scotland
Occupation: Industrial Electrician, Industrial Instrumentation
Technician
Other Hobbies: Soccer, playing and coaching, golf, and attending
the occasional beer tasting.
Favorite Music: Very eclectic. My iPod currently has everything
from Roger Miller & Johnny Cash to Tom Jones and Ramstein. My
favorite for driving top down is Bob Marley.
Favorite Movie: Snatch, or anything of military history.
What would you buy if you won the lottery: I would buy a
very nice Triumph, a comfortable house in the country and the
best education money could buy for my son.
Three people I would invite to dinner: I would have to invite
someone to cook, for that is a skill I have not obtained. Where
would one find a talented chef on short notice? If Tush were busy
Gordon Ramsey, Gordon Strachan (soccer manager) and Doug
Gilmour.
Favorite meal: Steak on the BBQ, medium rare.
I N S U R I N G T H E I R A U T O M O T I V E T R E A S U R E S W I T H S TAT E FA R M T H A N W I T H A N Y O T H E R C O M PA N Y .
SO
C A L L Y O U R S TAT E FA R M A G E N T T O D AY A N D Y O U ’ L L L E A R N T H AT J U S T L I K E S O M E C A R S , S O M E I N S U R A N C E C O M PA N I E S
O N LY I M P R O V E W I T H A G E .
WAYNE C. MCGILL
AGENT
UNIT 21 - 2345 WYECROFT ROAD
STATE FARM
OAKVILLE ONTARIO L6L 6L8
INSURANCE COMPANIES
EMAIL:
AURORA, ONTARIO
BUS. 905-847-5671
wayne.mcgill.b3iu@statefarm.com
CANADIAN HEAD OFFICES:
L I K E A G O O D N E I G H B O U R S TAT E FA R M I S T H E R E .
Background: I bought a 1974 Triumph Spitfire, Damson/Black, when I was
17. I owned it for 4 or 5 years and sold it
after I got married and bought a house. I
bought a 1970 MK 3 Spitfire in 2003 and
a 1969 MK 3 Spitfire a year or two later.
When I bought the TR6 last fall I owned
three Triumphs for a brief time, until my
wife Dawn put her foot down and I sold the
two Spitfires.
I’m an Electrician and Instrument Technician by trade and served my apprenticeship at Dofasco, a steel mill in Hamilton. I
currently work for the Region of Halton in
plant maintenance for waste water treatment plants.
I have been married to my lovely wife
Dawn for 23 years and we have a 17 year
old son. My wife and son take great delight
in mocking my Triumph addiction every
time a parcel arrives with “critical spares”
for the TR6. If I weren’t having so much
fun I would take their advice to seek help.
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www.torontotriumph.com 31
A BRITISH COMPANY SUPPORTING BRITISH CARS
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Getting to know our members
HELMUTH VORKOETTER
CATALOGUES
Name / Owner: Helmuth Vorkoetter
Location: Sharon, Ontario
Joined TTC: 2000
Triumph Owned: 1976 Spitfire 1500
TTC Position: Member, Monthly Meeting
Organizer Co-chair 2007/8
Born: 1941 in Koerbecke, Germany, within
15 minute drive of the Moehne Dam (if you
ever watched the British war movie “The Dam
Busters”, you’ll have an idea were that is)
Occupation: Retired, after 42+ years at IBM,
two of those in Germany
Hobbies: Travel and Classic Cars
Favourite Music: Classical
If I Won the Lottery: I would spread it
Background: My wife Brigitte, our son Stefan and I immigrated to
Canada in 1967, which was Canada’s 100th Birthday. If it wasn’t for Brigitte’s
around – Family, Charity, Friends, another
wanderlust and urge to visit new places and countries, we would still be in
Classic Car (really classic and rare)
FULL RANGE OF PARTS & ACCESSORIES
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We stock MG Rover and Land Rover parts too.
Rimmer Bros tick all the boxes:
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Trade enquiries welcome
Easy to use website
Germany. I am glad she started the ball rolling. It was a wise decision. We
have so far spent 60 percent of our lives in
Canada and have become true Canadians,
although the accent still remains. The Spitfire I bought in 1999 is my 2nd venture into
British Cars, the first of which was an MG
Midget, bought in 1968 and sold 2 years
later. I call the Spitfire a ‘Barnfind’, as I found
it for sale in an Antique Barn. The body was
restored, the engine had the tell-tale signs
of being in need of a complete overhaul,
which became a requirement sooner than
I had expected. I made numerous changes
and upgrades over the years, including a
conversion from dual Webers to dual SUs,
addition of an oil cooler, new alloy rims
and tires, and replacement of the 4-speed
with an O/D tranny, which only happened
a few weeks ago, even though the tranny
and drive shaft were in my possession for
6 years. I love the car. It has beautiful lines,
is fun to drive, easy to maintain, and unlike
a TR6 the hood opens from the outside,
even in an emergency! ragtop
PARTS SALES & ENQUIRIES
Tel: 01144 1522 568000
Trade Enquiries: 01144 1522 567111
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Rimmer Bros. Triumph House, Sleaford Rd (A15),
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SALES
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www.torontotriumph.com 33
historically speaking
6
The TR6 Hardtop
Following on from
his article on the first
TR6 hardtop cars in
the Fall 2009 issue,
Derek Graham starts a two
part history, beginning with
the factory hardtop.
The Factory Hardtops
T
his is the story of the TR6 hardtop.
I will start off with a brief history of Karmann’s involvement in the styling of the
TR6 (for the full story see 6-PACK Spring 2009
issue -Ed), followed by a potted history for
the Triumph styled hardtop and the few
changes that occurred to it during production. Then I will follow in the summer
issue with brief descriptions of the various
aftermarket hardtops that were
available during TR6 production, including the situation
as I am aware of it today.
Triumph’s search for a
new TR in early 1967
started
naturally
with Michelotti,
however
their
approach at that
time had found
him fully committed with com34
1
missions from both within and without
the Standard Triumph organisation. Fortunately for us this dilemma came to the
attention of Karmann via their UK agent
Bernard Hopfinger, who was based in
Coventry. Karmann were able to offer
Triumph a deal to not only redesign the
Michelotti TR, but also to produce the
required tooling for the new model, in
what was to turn out to be a very short
timescale. Needless to say a contract was
agreed and the connection with Karmann
was made. Within a very short period of
time they had reached agreement for the
re-design and the go ahead was given to
produce a mock up. This was carried out
on a TR4A, GKV 672E, which had been sent
to them for this very purpose and the rest
as you know is history, Karmann achieved
sign-off of the full scale mock up by late
August 1967 and work started immediately
on the production of the
body tools, with a batch of
10 prototype shells being completed by early
1968 and the first built
up prototype being
completed by Triumph on the 28th
March 1968.
Now what has
this to do with
the TR6 hardtop
you may well be
2
www.torontotriumph.com
asking? Well lets face it the rounded “Surrey top” to give it its nickname, did not really suit the new angular lines of the TR6,
(see photo 1 showing the Karmann mock
up). My enquiries to Karmann circa 10 years
ago, when I did the research for my original
TR6 article, did confirm that they had developed a style for the new TR6 hardtop,
however it hadn’t been liked by the Triumph management and wasn’t proceeded
with. Unfortunately no sketches have ever
surfaced of this proposal. Despite this set
back Triumph took it upon themselves to
design the new hardtop in-house and in
fact displayed it in the styling studio in
April 1968 (see photo 2). For whatever reason they fitted this to another TR4A, GKV
309D, rather than to the mock up GKV 672E
or to the running prototype X776, both of
which were in existence at that time. As
can be seen the basic style is there and all
that remained was to tidy up the rear vent
arrangement and other minor details, prior
to the start of production. It does appear
that Triumph may have got their styling
cues from an early Michelotti sketch (see
image 3) and possibly also from the optional hardtop produced by Dynaplastics
for the TR250, as featured in the Triumph
3
4
5
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TR250 sales brochure for that model (see
photo 4). According to the photographic
ledgers at the Heritage Centre in Gaydon,
this appears to have taken Triumph a little
longer to achieve than anticipated and
the first images of the production hardtop were only released by mid-November
1968. Even the first UK TR6 sales brochures
showed an artists impression (see image 5),
and the US brochure didn’t even mention
that a hardtop would be made available.
However by the time of the press release
on the 14th January the
hardtop was shown fitted
to the prototype TR6, X776,
by this time registered MDU
743F (see photo 6).
During production, the
only changes that happened to the hardtop were
a change from black to
beige headlining for the
1970 model update and
a change to the shape of
the rear corner trim pieces,
very early in production. I
must admit that I have only
ever seen one of these early
trim pieces and don’t have
www.torontotriumph.com an illustration, although I did have one in
my possession at one time, now why did
I give it away? The Triumph hardtop certainly added rigidity to the TR6, albeit it
wasn’t as sophisticated as the top fitted to
the earlier TR4 and 5, with its removable
hard top lid that could be replaced by a
simple ‘H’ frame and soft top cover (the
‘Surrey’ top). What the TR6 hardtop did
feature was the ability to have both hard &
soft tops fitted at the same time. This was
achieved by releasing the rear set screws
on the soft top and the centre soft top
screw fixing on the B post, and by then
fitting the hardtop over the soft top and
disguising the fact that the soft top was
still there by using a special hard & soft
top hood cover to hide the soft top away
(see image 7 of the very last TR6 coming off
the production line with both soft & hard
tops fitted). Triumph did of course sell the
TR6 as both a hardtop and as a soft top
model and even supplied them both if required. Kits were also made available from
Triumph via the Dealers as an accessory to
convert either way. ragtop
7
35
historically speaking
UK6
The TR6 Hardtop
UK1
The Aftermarket Hardtops
T
he steel factory hardtop was of
course quite heavy and easily damaged in
storage. Fiberglass had been the new revolutionary material of the fifties and there
were a number of manufacturers who had
produced bodyshells and even complete
cars in that material. It was therefore
only a matter of time before these same
companies, and other entrepreneurs, produced attractive alternatives to the steel
hardtops being offered by the mainstream
manufacturers. These of course, in theory
at least, would be less susceptible to damage and much lighter to handle.
By the time the TR6 came around there
were a number of manufacturers producing versions for the TR range and some of
them went as far as producing a new model, specifically for the TR6. I will start my
listing of these manufacturers with those
that I am aware of in the UK. In alphabetical
order these are:
1) AKS or Auto Kraft Shells, to give them
their proper name. This company whose
address was Alma Works, Takely, Nr. Bish36
ops Stortford, Hertfordshire produced a
hardtop with a similar style to the works
hardtop. Period advertisements show the
same top fitted to a TR5 but it was
listed as available for the TR4, 4A,
5 & 6 for the princely sum of £69
(see image UK1 very kindly provided by Richard Purcheon who
had one fitted to his six for a while).
Richard noted that it had no head lining
and had an internal egg shell paint finish
that looked a bit like marble. AKS were of
course famous for manufacturing the Ogle
Mini and SP250 body shells.
2) Fibresports, 34/36 Bowlers Croft,
Basildon. This company is apparently still
in existence and a period advertisement
that I have states that they produced works
style hardtops for the TR6. Unfortunately, I
haven’t been able to find any images and
my enquiries to them have drawn a blank.
3) Honeybourne Mouldings, Unit 21,
Waterloo Park Industrial Estate, Bidford-onAvon, Warwickshire. Honeybourne market
hardtops for a number of classics, as well as
more modern sportscars. The top that they
market for the TR6 is basically a replica of
the works top, but in fiberglass (see image
UK3 kindly provided by Ron Sweet). Ron
notes that the hard top was well finished,
but the fastenings to the car were not very
neat and tidy and protruded into the passenger space, so he has made up a close
fitting draw bolt arrangement to improve
the appearance and clamp the top down
more securely. Honeybourne’s marketed
an earlier top for the TR6, which was very
similar to the Lenham hardtop (right), however the mould for this version was
destroyed in a fire. An image of their
earlier style TR6 hardtop can be seen
on their website at www.honeybournemouldings.co.uk/triumphTR6.htm.
The price at the time of writing is £325.
They also manufacture the TR4/5 style with
www.torontotriumph.com
UK5
UK3
separate backlight and roof panel for £460.
4) Lenham Motor Company, 47 West
Street, Harrietsham, Kent. The Lenham top
is probably the most well known of the TR6
fibreglass hardtops and in fact throughout
the late sixties, seventies and indeed into
the eighties you couldn’t pick up a classic car magazine without coming across
their advertisement somewhere within
the magazine. The Lenham hardtop is of
course still available from Rimmer Brothers who purchased the moulds when they
stopped making hardtops. (See image UK4
showing the Lenham version and image
11 the Rimmer Brothers version). Rimmers
also produce tops for the Spitfire and at the
time of writing had just re-started production of the TR6 top. Rimmer Brothers can
be found at Triumph House, Sleaford Road,
Bracebridge Heath, Lincoln, LN4 2NA.
5) Microplas, Mitcham, Surrey, was
taken by my cousin Alan at a Northern TR
Centre open day, back in circa 1981. I’m
not 100% sure that the hardtop shown is
a Microplas albeit I’m pretty sure that it
UK4
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is. I have other images provided by Roger
Ferris, which show a Microplas without any
glass and without the skylights and it looks
to be pretty similar. Hopefully someone
may be able to confirm or maybe even own
the one illustrated and are just waiting to
pluck up enough courage to put it on the
TR one of these days? It is certainly distinctive and you never know, it may even have
been the inspiration for the Renault Megane!! I initially thought that it might have
been the twin “Skylight” version of the SAH
top, but the rear window is not tall enough.
Microplas also made a “Surrey” version for
the earlier TR4/5.
6) SAH Accessories Ltd, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire. SAH produced their
655 model for the TR250, 5 and 6. This was
available as a basic model with a nylon
flock sprayed interior or could be obtained
with a deluxe PVC washable padded lining
at additional cost. Twin perspex skylights
could also be ordered in tinted green, blue
or amber. Unfortunately I haven’t managed to find an image of the SAH hardtop
fitted to a TR6 or indeed to any TR, so their
advertisement will have to suffice (see image UK6 showing it fitted to a TR4). Their
1972 brochure listed this same style for the
TR6. SAH still exist as Triumphtune, under
the umbrella of Moss Motors. No hardtops
are made nowadays however.
North America
Over in North America the TR6 buying customer had the choice of quite a number
of aftermarket hardtops. Some of these
were carryovers from earlier models, such
as the version from Dynaplastics, which
had been offered as an option in the TR250
showroom brochure and one or two of
the manufacturers produced a number of
variations, as will be seen in the listing that
follows. With the vast number of TR6 that
were exported to the US & Canada, I’m sure
Ragtop
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that there are probably more manufacturers than I have discovered, however in alphabetical order the ones
that I am aware of so far are:
1) Custom Hardtops, 1768 Caspian
Ave, Long Beach, CA. 90801. Custom
Hardtops produced three versions of
their hardtop, a plain sided, a porthole version and a ¾ window version.
These first two appear to have been a
carryover from the TR4/TR250 range
and certainly the porthole version appears in a number of period advertisements, which show it fitted to a TR4. I
have also come across the plain sided
versions for sale on ebay.
Image NA1 shows their
later “Snugtops” version,
with the rear ¾ window
as fitted to the TR6. I am
not sure when they started marketing their range
as “Snugtops”, however
both the plain sided and
¾ window version were
marketed as such. Custom Hardtops appear to
be boat builders now and
my enquiry to them about
hardtops drew a blank.
2) Dynaplastics, PO Box
3711, 10315 East Rush
Street, South El Monte,
California, 91733. Dynaplastics produced three
versions of their hardtop,
the C/D 501 Triumph Plain,
the C/D 503 Triumph Porthole and the C/D 504 Triumph Quarter-Window
(see images NA2). Their
brochure provides the
following information on
the features of these hardtops. Some of it admittedwww.torontotriumph.com NA1
NA2
ly a bit on the cheesy side:
(a) Top Exterior - “Beautifully embossed with a
rich Landau finish”
(b) Top Interior - “Handcrafted to please the most
critical of connoisseur”
(c) Construction “Double fiberglass shell
bonded together to make
a completely unitized
hardtop”
(d) Rear Window - “Removable tempered clear
safety-glass rear window,
the ultimate in design and
appeal”
(e) Trim - “Polished aluminum trim around the
perimeter of hardtop”
(f ) Attachments - “Two
latches forward, two bolts
hold down rear, hardtop
comes off and on in minutes and weighs less than
30lbs”
I initially thought that
Dynaplastics and Custom
Hardtops were one and
the same, both being
37
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from California and both offering similar
versions however there are subtle differences in styling between the two, so I don’t
believe this to be the case. A web search
on Dynaplastics draws a blank, so they
may not be in business anymore. Quite a
few TR6 have been returned to the UK from
the US over the years with these hardtops
and I have seen a number of the porthole
versions and have also spotted a number
of the plain versions for sale on ebay. As
also mentioned at the start of this article
the Dynaplastics plain sided version featured in the TR250 brochure, as an option
for that model.
3) Parrish Plastics. I have no contact details for Parrish however their moulds were
taken over by Smoothline (see following
section). My search for information on the
Parrish top lead me to a website featuring a
TR6 rebuild within which there was a reference to a Parrish hardtop. My enquiries using the E-mail link from the website drew a
response from 6-PACK member and manufacturer of jigs, tools and parts, Rick Patton,
who hails from Brunswick, Maine and who
had a Parrish top fitted to his Delft Blue
1975 model TR6 for a number of years. Rick
very kindly sent me some images taken
when his daughter Amy was still a college
student and noted that when he bought
the TR the soft top was in tatters and as he
planned to drive the TR year all year round,
including the harsh Maine winters in sub
zero temperatures, he found the Parrish
top to be perfect for this role and noted
that it was always comfortable. It was only
when he decided to restore his TR a number of years later that the Parrish top was
taken off and he still has it to this day (see
image NA3). Rick’s TR now features a supercharger and is fuel injected. Details of this
conversion can be found on his website at
www.pattonmachine.com/AboutRick.htm
4) Smoothline High Performance Composites, Tarentum, PA 15084, USA. As noted
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above, Smoothline took over the Parrish moulds and have continued producing their version of that hardtop
for a number of years. Smoothline also
produce hardtops for the current range
of American muscle cars, including
various versions of the Corvette, Mustang, Mazdas and Pontiacs, as well as
classic cars, such as MGs, Alfas, Datsuns
and Austin Healeys, to name but a few.
Their hard top conversion for the TR6
has the following features:
(a) All up weight of less than 45lbs
(b) Supplied c/w rubber gaskets and
stainless steel hardware
(c) Exterior finished with two coats of
smooth black urethane primer ready for a
top coat color of choice.
(d) The shell is molded from a premium
grade automotive fiberglass.
(e) The interior is upholstered with a
rich, heavy automotive felt headliner
(f ) Options include a factory installed
Elk grain Haartz Vinyl exterior covering
available in white, black, and saddle (see
image NA4).
(g) An upgraded grey tinted Plexiglas
window is also available
(h) A thicker upgraded interior headliner that really helps to dampen noise is
available in various colours
Details can be found on their website
at: www.smoothline.com/classic_sports_
cars.php
In conclusion the TR6 was and still is
well served for hardtops, both factory and
aftermarket. In the US not many TR6 were
supplied with the factory hardtop, so today these are at a premium and do go
for big money, maybe not quite as much
as the “Surrey Top” goes for in the UK, but
quite close, whereas in the UK the factory
top is readily available. One downside is
that they do corrode quite badly, at least
they do in the UK, and the head linings become quite brittle and friable. Complete
new factory hardtop kits were available
until recently, however my enquiries
to all of the main dealers drew a blank.
The aftermarket ones are however rarely
seen in the UK and whilst the Lenham
and Honeybourne are made to order,
it is a number of years since I have seen
one, probably because they are generally used only in the winter. In the US &
NA3
www.torontotriumph.com NA4
Canada the Smoothline version would appear to be the most readily available and
certainly from a distance, it would be difficult to tell apart from a soft-top when it
has the vinyl grain finish.
To finish I will list the other manufacturers that I am aware who may have made a
hardtop for the TR6.
(a) Astro Fibreglass Ltd, 1535 Potrero
Avenue, So El Monte, California. This company listed hardtops for the TR2, 3 & 4 and
the latter may well still have been available
for the TR6
(b) J&S Fibreglass (Sales) PTY Ltd, 287
Ramsay Road, Haberfield NSW 2045. J Gadsen Flexibles Division, 4 Garling Road, Marayong, NSW 2148, Australia. This company
listed Triumph in their list of hardtops, so
the TR6 may have been included.
(c) Plous Developments, PO Box 1527,
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53201, USA. This
company did a fastback in the style of the
Dove for the TR4, 4A and presumably TR250
so they may have manufactured something for the TR6, albeit I have no evidence
to support this. In looks it would probably
look like a cross between a Scimitar GTE or
Lancia HPE. Does such a TR6 exist?
(d) Thompson Fibreglass Products, 4511
Airport Way South, Seattle 8, Washington,
MA 3- 3232, USA. This company listed hardtops for the TR2, TR3 and TR4 and in turn
may have had an offering for the TR250
and TR6. ragtop
My thanks for assistance in the production of
this article are due to my cousin Alan, Roger
Ferris, Richard Purcheon, Rick Patton, Stan
Foster, Ron Sweet, Guy Therin, Wiebe van der
Ree, Karen Weaver of Honeybourne Mouldings, Gary Fussenegger of Smoothline, Andrew Mundy of Rimmer Brothers, the BMIHT
and Edgardo Michelotti. — Author
39
the wedgetarian
Let There Be Light
By John Broomer
A
s I write this, spring has sprung
and I am still without a car for the driving
season. I have decided to be patient, as I
believe prices for the segment I’m interested in, are coming down. I have brought
the TR6 out of storage for my friend, but
family issues (his, not mine) has meant
that it was moved to another location in
the city. It doesn’t look like I will be driving it much, if at all. I was pleased that it
started and ran fine. My worst fear was
that the clutch would be stuck on the flywheel as it was when I moved it to storage
in the fall, but that didn’t happen. All this
has nothing to do with fixing wedges, but
what follows most certainly does.
Tail Light Troubles
Wedges were not blessed with the most
brilliant tail lights. This was pretty much a
result of a poor design, even more poorly
executed. Unlike almost every other Brit
car at the time, the JRT engineers decided
to have the bulbs enter the housing from
the side instead of directly from the rear.
Then they thought they would shroud
them somewhat, as we all know that doing so would contribute to their bright-
ugly housing
40
ness. To offset this, JRT sprayed the inside
of the housing with a reflective coating
and this, when exposed to the closely
coupled bulbs, burned or peeled off, creating an ugly mess inside the housing
that failed to reflect light.
There are several solutions to this problem. One is to strip and refinish the housing, restoring it to its original condition.
A second involves upgrading the bulbs
to the new LED units and a third involves
twinning the tail lights for more wattage.
Restore Your Original Housings
Having obtained a couple of rear tail light
assemblies, I had one bead blasted by our
own Dave Tushingham to remove all of
the tired finish inside the housing. Next, a
coat of self-etching primer and to finish, a
chrome spray from a rattle-can. There are
a variety of products out there, but I simply picked up Dupli-Color Instant Chrome
at Parts Source and you are best off applying several thin coats followed by a final,
heavier coat. I made up a little spray booth
from a cardboard box and then cut a hole
in it to hold the housing. This meant no
spraying fingers and also ensured that the
chrome spray only went on the inside (I
masked off the bulb holes from the back).
When I finished doing this, I wasn’t
very pleased with the results. The finish from the chrome paint was nowhere
near what it is on the cap. It turned out
to be something more of a very nice silver. To test my theory, I set up a rig on
my bench with the same bulb in place
in the running light position (which was
still in good, original shape in the as yet
untouched housing) and used my photographer’s light meter to measure the
output. The result, the refinish was about
half the reading on the light meter. It
was probably an improvement over the
light positions that were all peeling, but
it wasn’t anywhere close to the original
factory finish, which it should have been
had the new finish actually resembled
the cap! I had a suspicion that this was
a result of the use of the gray primer. I
decided to test this theory on the rear of
the second light housing. I cleaned it up
nicely, actually a little shiny, and gave it
a shot of the paint. The results were not
much different so the gray primer is not
the problem. In any event, you can see
the comparison of the cap to the finished
product in the pictures included here.
polished aluminum
housing compared to paint cap
As an aside, I think that I will have
Dave blast both housings and I will try
polishing the inside of the housings with
a Dremel tool. Unfortunately, I don’t have
time to do so for this issue of Wedget-
freshly primed
freshly blasted
www.torontotriumph.com
arian, so that will have to be an update
in the fall issue. I’ve included a picture
of the surface of the back of one of the
housings that I’ve done with some old
chrome polish, not very fine, but the reflection off the camera was done on purpose so you can see the results. I should
be able to get a near mirror finish on it
with proper polishing paste.
Ragtop
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LED Replacement Bulbs
The second route is to go to LED bulbs.
Before you start thinking that this is reasonably straight forward as you are simply
replacing bulbs, bear in mind that the LED
bulbs will not fit into the housing from
the rear as they are a much larger diameter than standard bulbs. Simply remove
the housing from the car and carefully
separate the lens from the housing and
replace the bulbs from the inside. There
are many available but I have been told
by Brian Hubbard who has done this replacement that he had good results with
bulbs from www.superbrightleds.com.
Superbright also have 90˚ bulbs, but they
require a portion of the rear housing to be
cut off to allow sufficient clearance to turn
them in the housing. You can see what
Brian did to achieve this in the accompanying pictures.
Twin Tail Lights
The last solution option comes to us
courtesy of Odd Hedberg, secretary of
the Swedish Triumph Club and is a bit of
a hybrid using incandescent bulbs, but
utilizes the twin filament type rather than
the standard single ones. It involves a bit
of wiring, replacing the bulb holders with
a modified holder and basically gives you
twice the running lights and brake lights.
For this you will need:
4 x twin filament bulb holders (P/N
E99996 from www.texautomotive.com or
equivalent).
4 x lengths of wire (sufficient length
to reach the other light housing), the colour of which I will leave to you, as things
varied between years for TR7 and TR8, but
it is best to obtain the correct colour wires
to avoid any mix ups.
2 each of ¼” single female connector and female with a male piggyback
connector (this enables you to cross-feed
your lights...not necessary, but why not
for the few cents extra?).
4 x 21W/5W double filament bulbs.
•
•
•
•
finished housing
I 2010
www.torontotriumph.com 41
restoration
The first thing you
must do is modify the
retainers of the new bulb holders. You can
see what you have to remove by comparing them to the originals. The extra metal
can be removed with a file (slow and tedious) or with a Dremel with the appropriate wheel attached (quick and efficient).
Now to the trunk of the car. The two top
sections of the light housing are the ones
you are interested in. Outer lights are tail
lights and the inner lights are the brake
lights. As they say in the Haynes’ manual,
do one side at a time so that you have the
other side to reference if necessary.
remove the bulb holder of your running light.
insert a new holder and connect your
new wire (the end with the piggyback
connector) to the number 2 terminal.
connect the original wire to the piggyback fastener.
take the remainder of the new wire
over to the other side of the trunk.
remove the bulb holder from your
•
•
•
•
•
Six &TwoThree’s
LEDs White Modified 1
brake light.
insert a new holder and connect your
new wire (the end with
the piggyback connector) to the number 1 terminal.
connect the original wire to the piggyback fastener.
take the remainder of the new wire
over to the other side of the trunk.
repeat the above for the other side.
connect the loose single female ends
on each side to their respective terminals
that are free, but on their opposite lamp
or, in other words, from one running light
to the opposite side brake light and viceversa, or if doubt, all [insert your choice of
colour] wires should be connected to all
the available terminal 2s and all [insert
your other choice of colour] wires should
be connected to all available terminal 1s
tidy your wires with cable ties or, if
•
•
•
•
•
•
– Part 6
LEDs in housing
you want to be fancy, with loom.
turn on your running lights and
check your brake lights with a snow brush
stuck between the brake pedal and the
seat, you should have running lights in
the inner and outer lights and same when
you apply the brakes
Sit back and enjoy a bottle from your
personal sponsor (a Guinness a day is
good for you, right Fid?) ragtop
•
The Wedgetarian would like to thank Brian
Hubbard for his advice on, and photos of,
his installation of LED lights and Odd Hedberg for allowing me to crib his notes on
twinning the tail lights
Joerg Hess
P.O Box 633
Mount Forest, Ontario
Canada N0G 2L0
British
Classics
Global Parts & Car Logistics
TRADING
Tel:
Cell:
Fax:
Email:
519-323-4028
by
David Tushingham
I
am beginning to think
that I bought a boat. Why
you may ask? Fiberglass...
there are patches everywhere. And where there
isn’t fiberglass, there is Bondo. Where there isn’t Bondo, there is rust. But, what
would you expect with a 50
year old race car right?
Like I said before, I always
wanted to learn to weld! I
am getting lots of practice
at it and am getting my
money’s worth out of my
little Lincoln Easy MIG welder. Despite the many body
issues with the car I am still
having fun, although I am
finding that bodywork takes
a very long time. This, combined with spring projects
Bottoms up!
519-589-7901
519-323-2820
joerg@bmciltd.com
www.bmciltd.com
LOGISTICS
Classic and Antique
Vehicle Appraisal
Phil Law
Retail Sales Tax Appraiser
Licenced Mechanic
Vehicle Restorer
42
www.torontotriumph.com
91 Rylander Blvd. Unit 7-142
Scarborough, Ontario
M1B 5M5
647-393-4856
phil@tlcappraisal.ca
www.tlcappraisal.ca
Ragtop
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Drivers side front inner fender damage
I 2010
Ragtop
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www.torontotriumph.com 43
Motor Works
Br i
t ish
T ra i ned T echn ic
ia
ns
Your total source
for Triumphs
Brake and clutch master cylinder before...
...and after
on my TR6, has slowed my progress considerably. But, I have made some progress and
that is the important thing. I have decided
not to work to a deadline now and the car
will take “as long as
it will take” to get it
right in the end.
There are a
couple of the challenges that I have
encountered now
that the TR6 is
home for the summer. One, I have
considerably less
space to work on Heater restored
the TR3A, as I have
the TR6 on one side of the garage with the
inverted body of the 3 next to it and then
the chassis next to it, pushed against the
far wall. Each time I want to work on the 3,
the 6 needs to be pulled out of the garage
and the body shifted over into the vacated
space. It makes it much more difficult to get
motivated to work
on the three when
you know you have
make space in order to do it. The
second challenge
is the TR6. It seems
that it has taken
a lot of my time
this spring…..new
head, rocker shaft,
pushrods installed.
New fuel pump,
fuel filter and fuel lines installed. New
roll bar, oil changes, spark plugs, coolant,
silicone valve cover gasket etc. etc…It all
takes precious time away from working on
the 3. I have also lost a few weekends here
and there to tinker, but I wouldn’t have
missed the fun of Spring Fling and the
Gauge resoration and above, gauge cluster restored
44
www.torontotriumph.com
-Early or Late Models-Maintenence
-Engine Management
-Parts Supply
-Fuel Injection Service
-Carburetor Overhaul
-Electrical Diagnosis
-Body/Metal Fabrication
-Parts Fabrication
L N E R M O T O R WO R K S Y A H O O C O M
tom and sides of the rear valence. New rear
body mounts have arrived and they will be
welded in shortly and will butt up against
the newly repaired sides of the spare tire
carrier pan.
At the front of the car, there were two
areas that had major rust damage. It is
funny when you read books on TR3 restorations and they tell you about all the
common areas of rust on these cars… of
Rebuilt wiper motor
Around the Lake Tour... the 3 can wait…
remember? No deadline!
Ok, so what have I done with my limited
time then? Well, I managed to re-construct
a few places on the body which were in bad
need of repair. The first area was the rear valence. I was pleasantly surprised to find not
much damage when the front apron was
soda blasted down to bare metal. However, this was not to be the case with
the rear valence. It had obviously been
backed into a wall or bumped in the rear
by over eager drivers jockeying for position during its racing career. I sanded
through thick Bondo to reveal metal
that was dented, rusted, pop riveted,
braised and bruised. If you are familiar
with the rear end of a sidescreen car, you
can imagine how difficult this section
can be to repair. Fortunately, I was able
to scavenge some patch panels from the
parts car and reconstruct the rear passenger side inner fender, which had a large
punt in it like the bottom of a wine bottle.
New “Heritage” metal was ordered for the
badly rusted close out portion on the botRagtop
IS
ummer
I 2010
Rear passenger side
fender/rear valence
damage
Battery box removed
course, I have rust in all the common areas
and I don’t find it particularly funny at all!
The first area was the battery box. This
had been heavily fiberglassed to cover
a gigantic hole in the bottom of the box.
I stripped the paint and primer down to
bare metal in order to see where the box
had been spot welded in. After about an
hour of drilling spot welds, I was able to
remove the old battery box without too
www.autophile.ca
much trouble.
A new box has arrived and
is waiting to be installed. The second area
of concern was on the drivers side lower
inner fender next to where the radiator
ULTIMATE
TRANSPORTATION
PRODUCTS
Langka - Professional
Paint Chip Repair
SY LANGER
Phone: 416-822-0096 or 905-616-0421
Toll Free: 1-866-532-3630
Email: maurice@a-professional-appraisal.ca
Web: http://www.a-professional-appraisal.ca
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DRB Motors
Maurice
Bramhall
Car Care
23 Markwood Lane
Thornhill, Ontario L4J 7A6
Phone: 416-580-7327
Web: www.wheelwax.ca
Email: info@wheelwax.ca
Manufacturer Approved
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DIY Power Bleeder for
Brakes/Clutches
Hub 94 Automotive Consulting
45 years Classic Brit Specialist
Wilf Eden
Home 905-884-2001
Services include:
Cell 647-226-9494
Mechanical consulting, minor mobile repairs, assistance with winter lay up,
spring commissioning and pre-purchase inspection-all makes and models.
Ragtop
IS
ummer
I 2010
www.torontotriumph.com 45
would sit. This turned out to be the largest
amount of metal I have had to cut out of
the car so far. It was also a complex piece as
it had the drivers side to body mount welded on the inside. Both the fender and the
mount were rusted beyond repair. A patch
was cut from the parts car and fortunately,
a new body mount was offered to me by
TR3 guru Don Elliott.
I decided that the next area to tackle
on the restoration was the bottom of the
car. So, one sacrificed futon mattress later,
she now rested comfortably “bottom up”.
Next began the long and arduous process
of removing years of road grime, oil and undercoating. Such a messy job accomplished
by heat gun and scraper, grinder and wire
brushes. At this point I have about 75 per
cent of the undercoating off and I was able
to find a few more areas that need some attention. I also decided that in order to repair
the rusted out inner sills, it would be easier
to cut out a section of each of the drivers
and passenger side floors for access. This I
Rusty floor pan... holes
and rusted out flange
running the entire
length of the side of the
floor pan
Y O U PA I D H O W M U C H ?
If you don’t mind paying too much for your
parts, there is no need to read any further. If
you would like to buy your parts at the best
prices in Canada, read on. Drakes’ British
have done and have once again used the
parts car for some much better patch panels to weld into the floor, once the sills have
been repaired. Once the floor has been repaired, the entire bottom of the car will be
painted with POR15 and top coated with
POR15 chassis black .
I have also managed to do a few smaller projects to give me a break from the
body work and undercoating removal.
The gauges have all be disassembled and
cleaned inside and out. The gauge cluster
has been painted and new knobs have
been installed. The windscreen motor has
been overhauled and restored to like new
condition. The clutch and brake master
cylinders have also been transformed and
are ready to re-install, as is the old smiths
heater, when the time comes.
Oh, one last thing before I go back to the garage… a package was delivered by courier
this week, paint samples for the car. I can’t
wait until I get to that stage! Hopefully, it
won’t be too much longer. ragtop
Motors can supply any part from the Moss
you. But, don’t take our word for this. The
next time you need something, send us an
email for a quote. We will get right back
to you with a price. Shipping will cost you
there is no PST charged. If you can save
substantially (20%-25%) why wouldn’t
Contact: Robert Ciardullo Tel: 905-453-1932 Fax: 905-453-1937
Cell: 905-867-1760 Email: bodyworks@bellnet.ca
www.BritishWiring.com
46
New Signal Red paint, no rust or previous damage
apparent. Factory ‘Surrey’ top with hard a soft inserts. New carpets and interior panels in black with
white piping. Brakes and suspension rebuilt, new
tires and chrome Dayton wire wheels. Partly rebuilt
engine with new rings, bearings, oil pump, valves
and guides. Rare optioned Triumph that a new owner will be proud to own, drive, and show. $21,200
Many TTC members are already believers.
Get in touch for a quote – lendrake@shaw.ca
B
1972 Triumph TR6
W
Suppliers of Wiring Harnesses, Wire, Terminals & Sundries
for British Classic Cars and Motorcycles
Toll Free: 866-461-9050
Fax: 610-845-3518
email: BritishWiring@Ameritech.net
1966 Triumph TR4A
you?
214 Rutherford Road, South
Brampton, Ontario, L6W 3J6
Web: www.bodyworksauto.com
British Wiring Inc.
A nice no rust California TR4. The car was factory
ordered with the surrey top option, has a rebuilt
overdrive and new tires. The car has only covered
96K miles, and runs and drives great. $20,600
catalogs at the most reasonable cost to
a little more, but until the HST comes in,
Auto Collision speCiAlists
1963 Triumph TR4
We are also a Canadian distributor for Dayton Wire Wheels.
Drakes’ British Motors Inc.
P.O. Box 185
617 Walnut St.
Bally, PA 19503
www.torontotriumph.com
A really sharp looking rust free California car. The
car is a nice driver with new tires, wire wheel hubs,
and the SU carb conversion kit fitted. $12,400
(250)763-0883 Ph., (250)861-8051 Fax, email lendrake@shaw.ca
2286 K.L.O. Road, Kelowna, B.C., V1W 3Z7
Ragtop
IS
ummer
I 2010
WWW.DRAKESBRITISHMOTORS.COM

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