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Classic Car thread


TexasEd

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12 hours ago, TexasEd said:

Are they still pretty affordable?  I joked about getting one for my wife once because they were cool and reasonably priced at that time.

They're asking 7k for it.  I'll bite at 5.  It will take another 20 to make it right (with us doing most of the work), which will hit the average market rate of 25k refurbed.

12 hours ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Ooooh, yeaaaaah... .....nooooo.............not in that color....  

How'd I do ?

Terrible.  But you're on the right track, wife gave it the thumbs up as long as I painted it "British racing green."

5 hours ago, ROFL BOX said:

Drop a turbo'd up V6 into that.  Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

It has a straight line 6 already.  I'll try and add some horses during the rebuild.

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Might pull the trigger on a new project, '72 Triumph.  Minimal rust, only a small hole in DS floorpan, easy fix.  Doesn't run, so full restoration, son and I doing most of the work.
Talk me out of it (or into it).
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As a Triumph lover/former owner I say DO IT!


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On 1/5/2022 at 5:37 PM, Mach 1 said:

Might pull the trigger on a new project, '72 Triumph.  Minimal rust, only a small hole in DS floorpan, easy fix.  Doesn't run, so full restoration, son and I doing most of the work.

Talk me out of it (or into it).

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Follow the instructions on the windshield sticker. 

Triumphs in theory are great. In real life, you are almost always chasing a leak or an electrical problem. Even in a well sorted out car. Father/Son restorations are great, but pick a better starting point. It will be more fun to actually get to drive something rather than going into the garage and smelling gas, seeing a puddle under the car or turning the key and hearing click click click. There is a reason that car got parked when it did. 

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8 minutes ago, TexPx said:


Prince of Darkness? Heard all the jokes but never had any real issues with the 4 Triumphs we owned.

Company motto - be home before dark :)

Lucas disliked my MGA in college and tried to light it on fire by shorting the starter switch and melting a bunch of wires nearby. Luckily the MGA was so simple (only 2 fuses) that the fire repair only took 2-3 hours and part of that was getting to the store to but a roll of new wire...

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1 minute ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

The prince of darkness is everywhere.........

Did not know this until recently. The wonderful Amphicar (both car and boat) used Lucas. Lucas and water together - what could go wrong? At least on land you can coast to the side of the road

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Just now, AUinHsv said:

Did not know this until recently. The wonderful Amphicar (both car and boat) used Lucas. Lucas and water together - what could go wrong? At least on land you can coast to the side of the road

Didn't know that either. Yeah Prince Lucas, and water what harm could there be ?

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1 minute ago, AUinHsv said:

Company motto - be home before dark :)

Lucas disliked my MGA in college and tried to light it on fire by shorting the starter switch and melting a bunch of wires nearby. Luckily the MGA was so simple (only 2 fuses) that the fire repair only took 2-3 hours and part of that was getting to the store to but a roll of new wire...

No shit.

One night in the summer of 1966 I had to coast off I-35 with a dead engine & no lights. Pushed the MGA the last half block to my apartment located about where the new Moody basketball arena is being built.

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My favorite story was driving down I-59 to Tuscaloosa while in college. About midnight where the mercedes plant is now. Dark as it could be and suddenly the headlights turn off and the wipers start working. I was looking around for the UFO. Pulled into the rest stop and everything came back on and didn't happen again.

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2 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

No shit.

One night in the summer of 1966 I had to coast off I-35 with a dead engine & no lights. Pushed the MGA the last half block to my apartment located about where the new Moody basketball arena is being built.

They all should have come equipped with a set of pedals so you could just pedal on home when it inevitably died on you.

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1 minute ago, AUinHsv said:

My favorite story was driving down I-59 to Tuscaloosa while in college. About midnight where the mercedes plant is now. Dark as it could be and suddenly the headlights turn off and the wipers start working. I was looking around for the UFO. Pulled into the rest stop and everything came back on and didn't happen again.

That can be some scary shit.  Drove a Ford courier pickup truck in HS. Was coming home at around 2:30 am, no moon, with 5 empty beer kegs in the back from our last keg party of the school year, and the alternator dies on a curve, on a country road.   Everything dies, lights, and engine.

Luckily I drove that road a lot, and knew where I was, and could coast off to the side without running into a tree. Scary ass shit I tell you for an 18 year, old drunk, HS kid.

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Mine caught on fire the year before that - unbeknownst to me on a nighttime trip to Taylor, the exhaust pipe had become wedged up against the wood floorboard under my seat. 
Coming back to Austin on 290 about where Reagan HS is now, smoke started billowng up from underneath the seat. Stopping on the side of the road, I popped the seat bottom out to see a glowing hole about 4” in diameter flaming away. Told my gf to run over to the motel office across the street to get some water. 
But she took so long I had to take drastic measures - luckily the beers imbibed in Taylor were sufficient to put it out like Gulliver. Needless to say, I never quite got the smell of piss out of that car.

Fixed the fire hazard by bolting in one of my mom’s asbestos stove top burner covers between the exhaust pipe & floorboard.

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Except for the Spitfire.
I lusted after a TR6 when they came out, but by that time I was married and couldn’t afford another car.
.
 
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Had 2 Spits and a TR3A. Bought a TR3 that had been sitting under a tarp in a dudes backyard in Pilot Point. Trailered it home, put a new battery in it, gassed it up and drove to school and work for a few years before I moved. Never had a top just a tonneau cover. If it rained I would just duck down behind the windshield and drive fast.
The wife totaled one of the Spits on I35 in Denton. Got sideswiped, did a 360, a 180 and ended up against the guardrail. Bought it back from the insurance and built a Spit6. Spitfire with a GT 6 motor, trans and bonnet.
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5 hours ago, TexPx said:


Yep. Used it for syncing twin SU carbs.


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I was a poor grad student and had to use the cheap method - piece of rubber hose in the ear and listening. SU (Seldom Understood) carb's were a piece of work. The manual was no help - it said "turn the adjusting nut until it sounds right". The problem was 3 dimensional. Had to get it sounding right on 2 devices and get the rpm's correct. Getting 2 of the 3 was easy.

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BaT is apparently killing it...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-07/bring-a-trailer-sold-829-million-in-cars-in-2021-walloping-auction-houses

 

 In 2021 the online car auction site sold $828.7 million worth of cars, a 108% gain over the $398 million it sold in 2020—and a full quarter billion dollars ahead of its closest live-auction-house competitor.

The news soundly beats the $578 million in total sales Mecum Auctions reported Dec. 28. It’s more than double the $407 million in total auction sales RM Sotheby’s reported for 2021. Further down the list, Barrett-Jackson confirmed annual sales of $191 million for 2021 while Gooding & Co. raked in $150 million. 

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Random rant…. Wtf with my 70 yo dad having a hard on for the early 2000s Ford thunderbird relaunch. Such an ugly piece of shit but for some reason he’s always wanted one. Was surprised to see their reviews from back when were actually strong. 

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Random rant…. Wtf with my 70 yo dad having a hard on for the early 2000s Ford thunderbird relaunch. Such an ugly piece of shit but for some reason he’s always wanted one. Was surprised to see their reviews from back when were actually strong. 

Our HR lady at the time bought one. Freaking hideous. Saw one just last week.
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Talk me out of painting my car

Had this car a long time and it has some paint and other damage. The peeling paint is in at least 3 places, both upper quarters and above the trunk.  The valance is bent and probably easier to replace it and the right quarter extension has a chunk missing but I have a metal replacement that is yellow.

The engine could use a top end rebuild and the paint looks decent from 20 feet. I know to do this right will be over $10K.  I have it in cash but this would be the most I've ever spent on something for me alone other than a daily driver.  

The car is probably worth more than my paid off daily driver that I plan on keeping for a long time.  It also needs a new headliner, new windshield and if it was painted I would want to replace or rechrome the bumpers.

I have the interior out and new seat foam and covers, new carpet and I'm ready to paint/dye the hard trim. Next thing it will need is all new weather-stripping.

So my choices are put the interior back together with torn headliner or send it out to get painted which will probably take several months. 

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