T h e M a g a z i n e O f T h e T O r O n T O T r i u M p h C l u b f a l l … · 2013. 3. 7. ·...

29th British Car Day Review

T h e M a g a z i n e O f T h e T O r O n T O T r i u M p h C l u b f a l l 2 0 1 2

Finger Lakes Classic • TR6/250 Focus • Keeping Cool

Ragtop I Fall I 2012 www.TorontoTriumph.com 3

contentsFall 2012

Member PagesFrom the Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5From the President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7Club Hub. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-13Event Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14/15

ActivitiesClub Events:Canadian Invasion Classic. . . . . . . 16-18

FeaturesSpecial Feature:BCD 2012 Review. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20/24Featured Models:The TR6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26-28The TR5/250. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29-30Marque My Words:Dave & Maggie’s Adventures . . . 31-33Restoration:Electric Fans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34-36Reviving a Dream. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38-45Speke EasyBits and Pieces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

FREE Parts & Accessories Catalogs for: TR2, TR3, TR4, TR4A, TR250, TR6, TR7, TR8, GT6, SpitfireFast Service, Simple Ordering and Quick Delivery.

FREE Parts & Accessories Catalogs Also Available For:

1-800-255-0088www.VictoriaBritish.com

®

The Parts You Need To "Keep’em on the Road"

®

©2012 Long Motor Corporation, PO Box 14991, Lenexa, Kansas 66285-4991

Cel

ebrating 50 Years of Spitf re!

On the CoverTTC member Chris

Barnett’s Signal Red 1959 TR3A basks in the sunshine at British Car

Day 2012.Photo by Andrew Grace

20

38

29th British Car Day Review

T h e M a g a z i n e O f T h e T O r O n T O T r i u M p h C l u b f a l l 2 0 1 2

Finger Lakes Classic • TR6/250 Focus • Keeping Cool

29

16 26


It’s not very often that I’m at a loss for words. However, as I write this and reflect on the year we’ve had as a single marque classic car club, I’m almost speechless. It’s so difficult to imagine that our club could rise to such dizzying heights as to be a major (I heard some say, “the best”) component of the 2012 Canadian International Auto Show. That our lit-tle British cars could hold their own in the company of such giants of the modern automotive scene as Ford, GM, Mercedes and all the glitz and glamour (and huge budgets) they brought to the show. Yet we did! A once in lifetime event for sure and one that I am so proud to have been involved with, I’m still finding it difficult to come down off the cloud many of us rode on for those 15 glorious days last February.

There have been other amazing events and shows in 2012, and I’m pleased to say I was able to attend more of them than in 2011, due in no small part to the fact I wasn’t wrapped up in wedding fever and house guests. But wait! Just as I thought I’d catch a break, my youngest son announced he will be getting married on February 2nd, 2013... “Why in the middle of winter?” I asked, well apparently when he asked her father for his daughter’s hand, he said “It’ll be a bloody cold day before you marry her!”

Joking apart, even with a wedding to look forward to, not being a part of the CIAS in 2013 will be a real downer for me... I had that much fun!

Anyway, you’ve all waited quite a long time for this issue, so I won’t keep you from it a moment longer. It’s full of amazing photos from our very own, and highly successful, Brit-ish Car Day and an equally fun Canadian Invasion Classic to the Finger Lakes region of New York. So, pour yourself a beverage, find an easy chair and enjoy this special issue of Ragtop.

— David Fidler

Did we really do all that?

SUBMISSIONSFormat: 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 for-mats, jpeg, tiff or Photoshop files. In Person: To the editor at the monthly meetings. Mail: 2421 Poplar Crescent, Mississauga, Ontario L5J 4H2 E-mail: [email protected]

ADVERTISINGContact 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 [email protected] advertising year is from Jan.1 to Dec. 31. A copy of Ragtop is sent to all paid advertisers.

2012 ADVERTISING RATESRear Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $500 per year Inside Front Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$475Inside Back Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$450 Full Page Inside . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$305 Half Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$185 Quarter Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$115 Business Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $70 Full colour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $115 extraSecond colour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $75 extra Flyer Inserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$190/issue (max 4 pgs)

(All rates are for 4 issues, except flyers) [email protected]

2012 SCHEDULEIssue Deadline Mailed Spring. . . . . . . . . . . . . .April 1. . . . . . . . . . End of April Summer . . . . . . . . . . . .June 10 . . . . . . . . .End of JulyFall/BCD Program . . .August 12 . . Mid September Winter. . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nov. 18. . . . . . Mid December

General [email protected]

Ragtop is published quarterly by the Toronto Tri-umph 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.

We accept no responsibility for errors or omissions. Opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the TTC Execu-tive or Membership.Copyright © 2012 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 au-thor 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 Club.

Canada Post Publications # 40022175

from the editor

History Room - CIAS 2012


MG & TRIUMPH SpecialistsBrowse the website www.obsoleteauto.com for updates on stocked parts and secure access to online ordering. The parts you need, any time or day.

Toll Free Order Line: ............................................. 1-800-265-7437Customer Service / Technical Advice: ............ 1-519-337-323224 Hour Fax Line: ................................................... 1-519-336-5936Website: ............................................................www.obsoleteauto.comBusiness Hours: ........................... Monday to Friday - 8 AM to 5 PM

142 Kendall Street, Point Edward, Ontario CANADA N7V 4G5

Request a FREE copy of theSports Car Chronicle.Call: 1-800-265-7437 or 519-337-3232Email: [email protected]

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!

ALL TO PRESERVE AND DRIVE THE TRIUMPH

GARAGE SALES!That’s right. Check out our annual Spring or Fall Garage Sales and browse endless deals.

Payment Options:Visa, Mastercard and American Express

Shipping: Canada Post and mostcourier services

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

Obsolete Auto_MG&TRIUMPH AD2.pdf 19/02/2009 8:22:06 PM

As fall gives way to win-ter, most of our members have their Triumphs safely tucked away for a few months’ slumber. We are left with memories of the driving season ‘that was’ to carry us through until we can get our cars back on the road come spring. It was a very memorable year for the TTC that start-ed a little earlier than usu-al, as many of our members took their cars out of storage to proudly display them at the Canadian International Auto Show. We had a full schedule of wonderful events this past season and I hope that you had the opportunity to participate in them. As you can imagine, it takes a tremendous amount of preparation and planning to make these events the suc-cess that they are. Thank you to all the volunteers that took the time and effort to organize an event to the benefit of all Toronto Triumph Club members.

Speaking of volunteers, I want to personally thank outgoing TTC Executive members Ian Parkhill and Andrew Grace for their enthusiasm and support over the past 2 years. Con-gratulations to “Man of Many Hats” David Fidler who steps into the Vice President role and to Alistair Wallace who joins the TTC Executive as Secretary. Thanks also to Ron Etty who assumes the role of Volunteer Coordinator and to all the continuing Executives and Coordi-nators who will steer the club into 2013.

Once again, thank you to all the volunteers. Without you, the TTC cannot thrive and survive.

Cheers,— David “Tush” Tushingham

Thanks to our volunteers

Executives President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . David Tushingham 905 .830 .9124

Vice President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . David Fidler 905 .829 .9340

Secretary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alistair Wallace 905 .627 .2941

Treasurer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Chris Lindsay 416 .233 .7360

Director of Communications . . . . David Fidler 905 .829 .9340

Director at Large . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wayne McGill 905 .847 .5532

Director at Large . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scott Douglas 905 .334 .4020

Past President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Johan Aaltink 705 .456 .4276

Ragtop Magazine Editor & Publisher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . David Fidler 905 .829 .9340

Assistant Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . Terence McKillen 647 .202 .8243

Distribution . . . . . . . . Rod Jones - Pillar Direct 416 .755 .9494

Art Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Cleland 905 .873 .7704

Advertising Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ian Parkhill 905 .637 .2034

David Fidler 905 .829 .9340

Club Photographer . . . . . . . . . . Larry Llewellyn 416 .245 .9217

WebsiteWeb Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . David Copping 905 .827 .6970

Website Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . David Copping 905 .827 .6970

Club CoordinatorsMembership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scott Douglas 905 .334 .4020

Meeting Coordinators . . . . . . . . . Patrick Caria 416 .562 .1642

Clive Huizinga 905 .884 .2091

Interclub Coordinator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tony Fox 905 .632 .0479

Ambassador at Large . . . . . . . . . .Wayne McGill 905 .847 .5532

Regalia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dion Widrich 416 .464 .6057

Historians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wayne McGill 905 .847 .5532

Frank Manning 905 .643 .2359

Volunteer Coordinator . . . . . . . . .Chris Lindsay 416 .233 .7360

BCD Sponsors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Frank Manning 905 .643 .2359

Motorsports . . . . . . . . . . . . . Simon Rasmussen 905 .853 .2514

Marque Coordinators TR2, 3, 3A & 3B . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Malcolm Taylor 905 .880 .0079

Alistair Wallace 905 .627 .2941

TR4, 4A, 5 & 250 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John Lille 416 .231 .3092

David Sims 905-331-1496

TR6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fred McEachern 905 .727 .2987

Wayne McGill 905 .847 .5532

Spitfire-GT6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Don Johnson 705 .721 .1231

Ron Pincoe 519 .941 .0976

Stag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tony Fox 905 .632 .0479

TR7 & 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Larry Llewellyn 416 .245 .9217

Ron Etty 905 .547 .2419

Event Coordinators British Car Day Chair . . . . . . . . . . . .David Sims 905-331-1496

28th Canadian Classic . . . . . . . . Terence McKillen, Colin Pillar

& David Sims

Spring Fling 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alex McLeod

[email protected]

Summer Tour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .TBA

Annual BBQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brian Clark 905 .484 .9091

Fall Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .TBA

General Mail/Membership Mail P .O . Box 39, Don Mills Ontario M3C 2R6

Ragtop Mail & E-mail: 2421 Poplar Crescent, Mississauga, ON, L5J 4H2

[email protected]

from the president


Monthly Meetings

AugustA social meeting was held at one of our popular venues, Jake’s Boathouse. Over 40 members turned out, many taking the opportunity to drive their Triumphs... and Herb Arnds brought his three wheeler!

SeptemberAs everyone is so busy during BCD week, our September meeting is always com-bined with British Car Day, see the full re-view starting on page 20

club hub

The Roadster Factory is large enough to be a major partsmanufacturer and distributor but small enough to know ourmodels very well, also small enough to offer very personalservice to all of our customers. TRF is British MotorHeritage Approved, we are famous for high quality andreasonable prices, and we offer expert engine, gearbox, andrear axle rebuilds from our own shop, known as C.A.R.Components. Whether you show your car in concoursevents, enter it in competitive driving events, or drive it towork every day, you can do so with confidence, knowing thatThe Roadster Factory will always be here for you—on-lineor just a phone call away.

Subscribe to TRF’s E-Mail NewsletterEvery week, twelve-thousand Triumph and MG

enthusiasts in countries around the world receive an E-Mail Newsletter from Charles Runyan. Thenewsletter always includes wonderful offers on parts,shipping deals, and other TRF news. The newsletterincludes links to current Web Site Specials and WeekendFeatures which change every week. To subscribe to thenewsletter, please follow the simple instructions foundon the TRF home page. Note that unsubscribing is alsoeasy if you change your mind later.

Join TRF Car ClubHundreds of customers of The Roadster Factory

belong to TRF Car Club. The club exists to promoteTRF Customer loyalty, and it includes $300.00 in giftcertificates each year that you can use as cash topurchase parts. Dues are $100.00 per year, but you alsoget a parts credit in the amount of $100.00 every yearafter the first. You will receive a membership card andsticker. Beautiful club logo. Great T-shirts available.Please join on-line, or just phone the sales line, and askto join TRF Car Club…

The Roadster FactoryP.O. Box 332, Armagh, Pennsylvania, 15920, U.S.A.Telephone: (800) 234-1104 • Fax: (814) 446-6729Internet: www.the-roadster-factory.com

TRF Is the World’s Greatest British Sports Car Company

by teRence McKIllen

2338 Wyecroft Rd., Unit K5-7, Oakville, Ontario L6L 6L4Tel: 905-825-2045 Fax: 905-825-0208

Your source for all your repairs

9 Forster Park DriveOakville, Ontario Canada L6K [email protected] www.winslowdelaney.com

Winslow Delaney | Creative Solutions 416.871.2358

• Parts Store• Complete Engine Machine Shop• Gasoline Injector Service• Engine Balancing & Blue Printing• Cylinder Head Porting & Flow Testing

• Diesel Engines• Gasoline Engines• Marine Engines• Race Engines• Vehicle Services

Fall Colours Runs

September 29 - a small group of TTC members set out on a half-day early fall colours drive along the Oakville Moraine north through the quiet back roads of the Sixteen Mile Creek headwaters and crossing over the Niagara Escarpment at Limehouse on to Ballinafad and then south through the Silver Creek Conserva-tion area, to Glen Williams, where we stopped for refreshments. Like the British car industry, the Copper Kettle British pub in Glen Williams was closed, but we were able to relax and talk about cars over coffee, across the street, at the Glen Oven Cafe. Approximately 105 km were covered in total.

October 13 - another group of TTC members partook in an impromptu morn-ing’s drive departing south Mississauga-Oakville on Ford Drive to wend a circu-itous route along the flank of the Oakville moraine across the headwaters of 16 Mile Creek to the Niagara Escarpment at Mount Nemo and pausing for a brief photoshoot at Zimmerman, by Bronte Creek. At the precise moment we stopped, a nearby ma-ple tree decided to drop all of its leaves en masse. Quite a sight!

October 29 - Chris and Colin Pillar or-ganised this year’s ‘official’ end of season fall colours/brass ball outing which drew

participation from 20 cars, including 12 TR6s, 3 Spitfires, a TR3 and a TR8, a couple of non-Triumphs also participated. The convoy headed north on Winston Churchill from Meadowvale in 6 degree temperatures and overcast skies to Terra Cotta and then east on King Street to the village of Cheltenham and then through Boston Mills and past the Cheltenham ‘Badlands’ to a well-deserved coffee and pit stop at Belfountain.

From there the route took us along the Forks of the Credit Road to McLaren Road with a brief stop at the Provincial Park over-look before heading north to Alton and a lunch stop at The Mill cafeteria.

From Belfountain onwards the weather changed bringing a mixture of rain and sleet which set in for the rest of the day, but it did provide our cars with a proper dose of British weather!

10 www.TorontoTriumph.com Ragtop I Fall I 2012 Ragtop I Fall I 2012 www.TorontoTriumph.com 11

club hub

• EasytouseDIYKitswithMoneyBackGuarantee.ProfessionalResults!• UltimateMould,Mildew&StainRemovalwithaFormidableInhibitor.• Powerful,longlastingUVprotection&anUnequalledWaterProofer.• Easilyclearscratched,yellowingandUn-SafePlasticWindows.• Reviveoriginaldeep,dark,richfactorycolorofclothorcanvastops.• BrightenandRe-conditiondullVinyltops,dashesandupholstery.• AllproductsWater-basedandSafeforyour“baby”!• Clothtops,Vinyltops,dashboards,motorcyclevisorsandscreens,RVawnings, deckfurniture,sailcovers,radarcovers,lifeboatcovers,snowmobileseats, umbrellas,upholstery,ATVcoversandanythingelsecloth,vinylorplastic!

AUTO/MARINESOFT TOP DETAILING KITSDon’t throw out your perfectly good but faded tops or covers just yet!Would you like a Brand New looking Cloth Top for under $100 ?Boat Canvas or Vinyl or Plastic Windows looking Tired and Drab?Europe’s #1 recommended Soft Top Care products for over 12 years !

WORLD FAMOUS RENOVO KITS TO THE RESCUE!

North American Distributor – Convertible Top Renew – Kelowna, BC, CanadaWebsite: www.convertibletoprenew.com – Toll Free 1-888-697-0089

Same day shipping!

NovemberWe held our AGM at Grand Prix Kartways, Downsview on November 17th and over 30 members turned out to assist with the election of new officers and to provide in-put for 2013.

In the absence of our President, Da-vid Tushingham, David Fidler chaired the meeting and began with a review of ac-tivities and events in 2012. He thanked all involved with organizing the various trips, shows and events throughout the year, which was met with enthusiastic applause.

Scott Douglas gave his membership re-port, noting that membership is healthy at 311 (349 including advertisers/sponsors) and we had 86 new members join in 2012, 49 of those coming from our presence at the CIAS in February. He also reminded ev-eryone to check their member profiles on the website, in particular their e-mail ad-dresses, as we have been receiving a lot of undeliverable e-mail notices. E-mail is the only means we use when sending impor-

tant announcements, such as membership renewal notices etc., it is important the club has a current e-mail address.

Chris Lindsay then presented his trea-surer’s report and announced that the club’s finances are solid, due in the most part to increased advertising and sponsor-ships for Ragtop and BCD.

BCD Chairman Dave Sims then gave us an overview of our 29th annual show, report-ing that it was very successful and several problems from previous shows had been ad-dressed. New signage and dust control opera-tions being two of them. Car owners and ven-

dors were very appreciative of the changes.Dion Widrich reported that our new re-

galia/merchandise store was up and run-ning with 33 sales in 2012, totaling $600 turnover. Interestingly, two thirds of the orders were from non-members. Dion will continue to add products to the store dur-ing 2013 and encouraged members to visit it and buy clothing etc. to promote the TTC at events in 2013.

Director of Communications and Ragtop editor, David Fidler, gave a report on our com-munications efforts during 2012. He thanked Terence McKillen for offering to review our website and assist with fixing broken links on the links page and improving sections such

Announced at the AGM, our Ragtop maga-zine won an award given by the Vintage Triumph Register (VTR), the North Ameri-can club representing all Triumph models. This Award is given to local club newslet-ters based on quality, content and timeli-ness and covers the four 2011 issues of Ragtop. Editor David Fidler said at the AGM “This award is shared with everyone at the TTC... it’s a result of the great content sub-mitted by our members and the financial commitment of the club’s executive.”

Election of OfficersNew appointments:Vice-President - David Fidler (He also remains as DoC and Ragtop Editor)Secretary - Alistair Wallace (Replacing Andrew Grace)Volunteer Coordinator - Ron Etty (Replacing Chris Lindsay)Two positions remain vacant - BCD Vendor Coordinator/Sales, Sponsorship Sales Assistant (new position to help Frank Manning). Please contact any club officer if you wish to volunteer.

as our technical articles page, by adding a lot of stories taken from past issues of Rag-top. These improvements will be ongoing through 2013. David also announced that Ragtop had won a 2011 VTR Award at the 2012 VTR Nationals (see separate news item). Financially, Ragtop costs remained roughly the same for 2012, but advertising revenue increased by $1,600 to $6,200.

A draw was made for a free car apprais-al, courtesy of Vintage Car Connection, the winner was Andrew Grace.

A Q&A session ended the AGM and the meeting was adjourned at 9:15pm

STOP PRESS!As this issue went to press it’s been an-nounced that Terence McKillen, Colin Pillar and Dave Sims will co-chair the organiza-tion of our 2013 Canadian Classic, to be held at Hockley Valley Resort, July 12 -14. watch website and your e-mail for further details!

Ragtop Wins VTR Award

Craig Hill 1934 – 2012by FRanK MannIng

Canadian Motorsport Legend Craig Hill passed away at his home in West Lorne, Ontario on November 1st, with his faith-ful dog, Shadow, by his side. Although seldom lost for words I can’t do this jus-tice so soon after his memorial service. The Spring Edition of the Ragtop will, hopefully, contain the piece I can’t seem to write now.

Craig Hill on the right at BCD 2011 with Frank Man-ning and Bill Brack on the left


TOYOTA TO TRIUMPH 5–Speed Transmission

ConversionsTR-2 through TR-6

Herman van den AkkerP.O. Box 6812, Pine Mountain Club, CA 93222-6812

Phone: (661) 242-1253 • E-mail: [email protected]

TOYOTA TO TRIUMPH 5–Speed Transmission

ConversionsTR-2 through TR-6

Herman van den AkkerHerman van den AkkerP.O. Box 6812, Pine Mountain Club, CA 93222-6812P.O. Box 6812, Pine Mountain Club, CA 93222-6812

Phone: (661) 242-1253 • E-mail: [email protected]: (661) 242-1253 • E-mail: [email protected]

Herman van den AkkerHerman van den Akker

Keep it Wet

Flat Tappet & Ethanol fuel problems Solved!

www.daydistributing.ca

Day Distributing176 Victoria StreetNewmarket, ONL3Y 4E1

OFFICECELL

TOLL FREE 1-888-808-3185905-898-3185416-697-0891



OFFICECELL

TOLL FREE 1-888-808-3185905-898-3185416-697-0891



OFFICECELL

TOLL FREE 1-888-808-3185905-898-3185416-697-0891

High Performance

Additive for Engine, Hydraulic,

Synthetic, and Gear Oil.

•Reducesenginefriction•Keepspartswet&minimizes coldstartwear.• Increasescompression•Reducesenginewear,heat, noise&vibrationandfrictionin gearboxesanddifferentials•Removessludgeandvarnish fromengineparts•Withstandsfrictionalcontactup to200,000psi

club hub

BAD THINGS HAPPENTO GOOD CARS

Classic Car Insurance

877-922-3391 | www.hagerty.Ca

Please go to www.TorontoTriumph.com and renew today! Valid as of January 23rd 2013

Membership Renewal Reminder (Thank you if you have renewed since press time)

Welcome New Members! Name LocationDorien Berteletti . . . . . . . Rosemont . . . . . . . . TR 3, 1955

Don Cranston . . . . . . . . . . . Toronto

Allan Finlay . . . . . . . . . . . . Georgetown . . . . . . TR6, 1974

Robert Gardner . . . . . . . . . Peterborough

Stuart Henderson . . . . . . . Toronto

John Inch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Glace Bay . . . . . . . .TR-6, 1973

Kem Jones . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tottenham . . vanguard, 1950

Cameron Joyce . . . . . . . . . Cambridge

Len Kowalchuk . . . . . . . . . Pickering

Brent & Peggy Lawler . . . Dundas . . . . . . . . . TR4A, 1965

Dave Penn . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oakville

Richard Pickering . . . . . . . Toronto

Peter Pigeon . . . . . . . . . . . Cairanne

David Sprigg . . . . . . . . . . . Cheltenham

Sandy Zimmerman . . . . . . Grimsby . . . . . . . . . TR6, 1975New Members from Aug. 29, 2012 to Jan. 24, 2013

Name Member # DateJohan Aaltink 1878 03/01/13Doug Bell 01/30/13Chris Boychuk 5067 02/21/13Rob Burchell 5053 02/28/13Andrew Burpee 5059 02/25/13Jentry Chin 5031 02/18/13Robert Cirone 5029 02/20/13Roger Clarke 5062 02/21/13Manny Cordeiro 5063 02/21/13Bob Craske 2869 02/28/13Andrè de Goeij 5056 02/28/13William Dronyk 5070 02/25/13Peter John Dunlop 5060 02/21/13Paul Dunnett 5034 02/20/13Kerry Dupuis 5065 02/21/13Dawn & Roger Elliott 2495 03/01/13Dave&jan Ertel 5044 03/04/13David Freeman 5077 03/09/13Richard (Vince) Garrett 5064 02/21/13Angelo Graham 5042 02/25/13Kim Harris 5068 02/25/13Jim & Willa Hopkinson 2297 03/01/13Derek Johnson 5051 02/28/13Wayne Johnson 1923 02/27/13Christopher Jones 5047 03/04/13Alice and John Kingston 1558 01/29/13Mike & Cindy Laengner 2140 02/21/13Arthur Lee 5004 02/11/13Larry Llewellyn 2731 02/26/13Neil and Jocelyn Lovell 2176 02/22/13Peter & Bernadette May 2528 03/07/13

Name Member # DateGreg McCoy 5066 02/21/13Brian McNamee 2067 03/01/13Glen Mersel 5069 02/25/13Clara Miehm 5055 02/28/13Jay Moszynksi 5083 03/08/13Hugh Munro 2866 01/25/13Henryk Oosterbaan 5030 02/20/13John Palmer 2077 03/07/13Ian Parkhill 2879 02/23/13Marilyn Pegg 1589 03/01/13Lino Pessot 5046 03/04/13Bill Peter 5082 03/08/13Carmine Preziuso 5086 03/10/13Robert and Susan Ragsdale 2749 03/14/13Rajesh Ramlakhan 5045 03/04/13Vince Reale 5039 02/21/13Bill & Jen Ryan 2571 03/22/13Len Sellwood 5049 02/28/13Tom Sheppard 2437 02/21/13Barry Smith 5084 03/08/13Sheila and Drew Sperry 1160 03/09/13Chris Tank 5038 02/23/13John Tingle 3267 03/13/13Roger Tipple 5089 03/19/13Ben Tse 5061 02/21/13Greg & Susan Walker 1782 03/14/13Erik Weeks 3124 03/21/13Peter Whitehead 3169 02/21/13Dean Willers 5050 02/28/13Martin Wood 5028 02/07/13Ron Wood 5041 03/02/13

British Auto Sport BBQ

Fine weather for once at Fred & Laura McEachern’s annual customer appre-ciation BBQ. An amazing array of British iron filled Fred’s neatly mown back field, including a rare Aston Martin Lagonda and a Rolls Royce. Several TTC members were in attendance, with sixes, TR3s, 8s, a Spitfire and a Stag representing the Triumph marque. The rain came later, by which time everyone had enjoyed great food and good company.


Annual Spring Fling, Thursday, May 30 (2pm onwards) - Sunday, June 2This year it is the TTC’s honour to host and the location will be lovely, Peterborough, Ontario. Plan your arrival for the evening of Thursday May 30th as we have two full days of activities planned for Friday and Saturday. Sunday June 2nd will be the de-parture day home. Visit the Calendar page of our website to register and pay. JUNE 2013 Drive Event/Car Show - VARAC Canadian Historic Grand Prix, Canadian Tire Motorsport ParkSunday, 16, 7:00 am The highlight of the VARAC season is the Canadian Historic Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on June 13 -16, 2013. www.canadianhistoricgrandprix.com Da-vid Tushingham will be organizing a TTC drive to this fun event. Check our website and your e-mail box for details.

JULY 2013 Drive Event/Car Show - Brits in the Park, LindsaySunday, July 21, 9:00am The Victoria British Car Club presents their annual British classic event in downtown Lindsay. Registration/entry fee $10.00. www.victoriabritishcarclub.ca

AUGUST 2013Drive Event/Car Show - Brits on the Lake, Port PerrySaturday/Sunday, August 10/11, 9am (Dates to be confirmed)Growing every year, this popular event will once again grace the main street in Port Perry. Check www.britsonthelake.com for confirmation of dates and schedule etc.

Club Meeting - Location and style of meeting TBDTuesday, August 20 (Provisional)

SEPTEMBER 2013 Club Event - British Car Day, 30th Anniversary Party, Bronte Park, BurlingtonSunday, September 15, Gates open for show cars 8:00 amBritish Car Day is hosted annually by the Toronto Triumph Club, on the third Sunday of September. Since its inaugural event in 1984, it has grown in leaps and bounds and now draws over 1000 British cars and 8,000 spectators. The event is the largest, one-day, all-British car event in North America.For more information visit www.BritishCar-Day.com (Updates posted March onwards) OCTOBER 2013 Event - VTR Nationals & Triumphfest, San Rafael, CA, USAWednesday, October 2 The Triumph Travelers Sports Car Club is hosting a combined Triumphest and Vintage Triumph Register National Convention, Octo-ber 2-6, 2013. www.triumphtravelers.org

British Car ¼ page ad 2012Editor's choice: horizontal or vertical layout.

7.5”x2.4375” 19.06cm x 6.27cm

3.75”x 4.9375” 3 ¾ x 4 15/16 9.53cm x 12.55cm

Transport BooksCars, bikes, boats & planes...

trucks, tractors, tanks & trains

Canada's largest selection of motoring books & popular

motorsports videos.

British Car books a specialty:

historical, pictorial & technical

Mon-Sat 10am-5pmfree parking – free mailing list

www.transportbooks.com

16 Elrose AvenueToronto, ON M9M2H6 Canada

(416)744-7675 (800)665-2665

[email protected]

www.transportbooks.com

Transport BooksCars, bikes, boats and planes…

trucks, tractors, tanks and trains.

16 Elrose Avenue

Toronto, OntarioM9M 2H6 Canada

(416)744-7675(800)665-2665

Canada's largest selection of motoring books & motorsport videosBritish Car books a specialty: historical, pictorial & technical.

Mon-Sat 10am-5pm - free parking – free mailing list

Phone: 416-822-0096 or 905-616-0421Toll Free: 1-866-532-3630

Email: [email protected]: http://www.a-professional-appraisal.ca

23 Markwood LaneThornhill, Ontario L4J 7A6Phone: 416-580-7327Web: www.wheelwax.caEmail: [email protected]

SY LANGER

ULTIMATETRANSPORTATIONPRODUCTS

DIY Power Bleeder forBrakes/Clutches

Manufacturer ApprovedConvertible Care

Langka - ProfessionalPaint Chip Repair

Car Care

RAGTOP

business card ads

DRB Motors

Maurice Bramhall

www.autophile.ca

45

Hub 94 Automotive Consulting45 years Classic Brit Specialist

Wilf Eden Home 905-884-2001 Cell 647-226-9494Services include:

Mechanical consulting, minor mobile repairs, assistance with winter lay up, spring commissioning and pre-purchase inspection-all makes and models.

Phil LawRetail Sales Tax Appraiser

Licenced MechanicVehicle Restorer

Vehicle Appraisal

91 Rylander Blvd. Unit 7-142Scarborough, OntarioM1B [email protected]

Classic and Antique

For Full Event List & More Details Go To www.TorontoTriumph.com

February 2013Club Meeting- Ladies Evening, Frankie Tomatto’s, MarkhamTuesday, February 19, 7pmContinue the Valentine’s Day romance and bring your significant other to dinner at Frankie Tomatto’s Italian buffet. Ladies dine free! Cost $23.48 per couple, tax & grat in-cluded. www.frankietomattos.com Check our website and your e-mail box for more details.

March 2013Club meeting - Tech Talk, Grand Prix Kartways, DownsviewTuesday, March 19, 7pmJoin Dave Lambert from UK company Au-toglym in open discussion about the do’s and don’ts of cleaning and protecting your

car. Includes demos, some ‘myth busting’ and hands on experience.

Driving tour - March Madness, location/route TBD.Date/Time - TBAClear off the winter cobwebs, we’re going for a drive! Weather permitting an early drive is scheduled for those of suffering from ‘Triumph withdrawal’ and the winter blahs. Check our website and your e-mail box for details.

April 2013Club meeting - Tech Talk, Britcars, WoodstockSaturday, April 27, 10amRenowned Triumph expert Philip Allen of Britcars will host a technical session at his shop, demystifying the inner workings of carburettors and how to tune & balance them. Followed by lunch (subsidized) at a local restaurant. Check our website and your e-mail box for details.

Ancaster British Car Flea Market, Ancaster FairgroundsSunday, April 21, 9:30am onwardsSouthern Ontario’s largest British car parts flea market featuring both used and new parts for all types of British cars. You will also find books, clothing, regalia, car club information and much more.Open from 9:30 to 3:00, Admission is $7.00 (Youths under 18 are free) www.ancaster-british.ca

MAY 2013 Club meeting - Tech Talk, J.D. Auto, RexdaleTuesday, May 21, 7pm (TBC)Joe Dukova will hold a tech session at his shop, topic to be confirmed. Light refresh-ments provided. Check our website and your e-mail box for details.

Events Calendarevents

Joerg Hess

P.O Box 633Mount Forest, OntarioCanada N0G 2L0

Tel: 519-323-4028Cell: 519-589-7901Fax: 519-323-2820Email: [email protected] Classics

Global Parts & Car Logistics

TRADING LOGISTICS

www.bmciltd.com


In 2007, Robin and Ria Searle organized an ‘Around Lake Ontario’ summer driving trip to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Toronto Triumph Club. This was followed with a repeat trip around Lake Ontario in 2010 and a Georgian Bay circumnavigation in 2011, both organized by Clive Huizinga.

In keeping with the spirit of these previ-ous events, Alex and Sharon McLeod and Clive and Jacquelynne Huizinga agreed to organize a trip to the Finger Lakes in up-state New York and, because there wasn’t a volunteer organiser available for the 2012 Canadian Classic event, it was decided to combine the two events into the ‘Canadian Invasion Classic’, aptly named as this was the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, it being deemed appropriate that Canadians should ‘invade’ the U.S. this time around!

The four-day trip was planned over the June 22-25 weekend (returning on the Monday) with 33 cars and 64 members participating. The weekend’s events were centred on the Microtel Hotel located in Bath, NY, just to the southwest of the Fin-ger Lakes area and driving out each day to explore the beautiful countryside and places of interest.

On the Friday morning, most of the GTA participants gathered at the Admi-ral’s Inn off Walkers Line in Burlington for a 10:00 AM start. The first day comprised the drive to Bath, avoiding 400 series and Interstate highways as much as possible. A slight glitch in the driving instructions led to some expletives being uttered in the I-90 area around Buffalo, but eventually most managed to rendezvous at the des-ignated lunch spot, a Quaker Steak near the NY Thruway. The afternoon route fol-lowed Highways 20 and 63 leading to I-390 along the western edge of the Finger Lakes region, a total driving distance of about 220 miles (352 Km). At the hotel in Bath,

we were joined by several cars from east of Toronto and the Ottawa area who had trav-elled together along the eastern side of Lake Ontario, via Watertown and Syracuse. An introductory participant’s dinner was

held at the Bath Golf and Country Club.During the course of the weekend a fur-

ther 250 miles of motoring was clocked up around the lakes. Saturday started off with a visit to the fantastic Curtiss Museum near

Hantsport; and then on to a refreshment stop at the Amish owned Oak Hill Craft Market (near Penn Yan); and on to Geneva for the Classic Car Show held at the Vento-sa winery, returning briefly to Bath before

setting out to Branchport to board the ‘Es-peranza Rose’ for a dinner/sunset cruise on Lake Keuka. Unfortunately a mix up in the sailing time resulted in quite a long wait at the dockside, but it was a great time to

chat a get to know a few more people.Sunday’s activities included a visit to

the glass museum in Corning and then on to the Watkins Glen International Race Track where three laps of the circuit were completed behind a pace car. For most, this was probably the highlight of the trip! Afterwards, an awards dinner was held at the infield restaurant. A little rain was en-countered on the drive back to Bath.

club events

Canadian invasion ClassiC 2012by teRence McKIllen

Dinner at Bath Golf Club

Arriving at The Admiral Inn

Don Johnson’s sideline was spotted at the Curtis Museum

Curtis’ 150mph motorcycle - scarey!

Curtis’ first aeroplane welcome’s visitors to the museum

1 horsepower Amish transport

Esperanza Rose dinner cruise boat

Onboard festivities

18 www.TorontoTriumph.com Ragtop I Fall I 2012

Weareyourlocalsourceforqualitypartsandonlystockthebest.Whenyouconsiderthebenefitsoffriendlylocalservice,noquibbleexchanges,nextdaydeliveryorsamedaypick-up,plusgreatadviceandcustomerservice,BritishAutoSportishardtobeat.

Try us for your next project!

1565 Hwy 5 West, RR#1Troy, Ontario, L0R 2B0

Toll Free 1-888-485-2277Local: 905-627-999524hr Fax: 416-410-6479E-mail: [email protected]

Pssst! Want Some Great Advice?

You could search big catalogues for the best priceYou could buy parts from various suppliers You could pay huge shipping and crazy broker feesYou could be returning the partsYou could......but why would you?

British Auto sportToll Free 1-888-485-2277

On the Monday morning, some people made an early start home encountering some early morning mist and light rain go-ing north on I 390, which soon cleared up and we managed to avoid any line ups at the border crossing, while those who left a little later in the morning experienced an hour or two’s delay on the Lewiston Bridge crossing. Our total mileage for the trip was 620 miles (992 Km). All in all this was an excellent weekend and thanks to Clive, Jacquelynne, Alex and Sharon for putting so much time and effort in to scouting out the accommodation, the routes and the special events.

Participants ChoiceTR4/TR4A 1. John and Joanna Lille TR6 Early1. Peter and Bernadette May2. Steve and Anita Craib3. Colin and Chris Pillar TR6 Late1. Chris and Sheila Weekes2. Andrew Grace3. Patrick and Alexis Caria TR7/TR8/Stag1. Robert and Dot Corbin2. Jamie and Dianne Broad Spitfire1. Vic and Bev Whitmore2. Dawn and Roger Elliot3. Gary and Kris Krisjansson Friends of TriumphCam and Sylvia Theroux (Mini)

ConcoursTR2-TR3A1. Frank and Pauline DeCarlo2. Alex and Sharon McLeod3. Mike and Rosemary Hunter TR41. George and Fran Christie TR61. Wayne and Debbie McGill2. Scott and Dawn Douglas3. David and Gloria Fidler Spitfire1. Don and Judy Johnson Stag1. Robin and Ria Searle Best in ShowFrank and Pauline DeCarlo-TR3A

27th Canadian Classic Car Show Results

Barrels of fun at the winery

Grid Iron!

Classic Car Show at Ventosa winery

Awards banquet at Watkins Glen

Thumbs up from judges John Lille and Robin Searle for Frank DiCarlo’s TR3A at the Concours car show


This one was a biggie!Several popular marques/models were

celebrating their 50th Anniversaries at our 29th British Car Day. Once again held un-der blue skies, with temperatures in high teens/low 20s, in excess of 8,000 specta-tors and over 1,000 British cars gathered at Bronte Creek Provincial Park for the largest one-day British car show in North America.

The MGB was celebrating 50 years since first production and a magnificent ‘amphi-theatre’ style display was presented and marshalled by members of the MG Car Club of Toronto. Brainchild of MGCCT’s Jon Rosenthall, the semi-circular layout was de-signed and marked on the field by our own past-president Johann Aaltink. Of course, this displaced the regular locations of a few marques, such as the Healeys and Minis, but the disruption was minor and every-one cooperated to make it happen. Johann used a diluted version of the same format for our own Triumph Spitfires, which were also celebrating 50 years in 2012. Approxi-mately 185 MGBs were on display and we managed 60 Spitfires, including examples of each of the model variants from Spitfire 4 (Mk1) to V.

Although in lesser numbers due to their relative rarity, the Lotus Club of Canada displayed 10 Lotus Elans and 3 Plus IIs at Bronte, in honour of the model’s 50th year. Also hitting 50 was the Ford Cortina.

David Freeman drove all the way to BCD

from High Point, North Car-olina with his huge trailer and FOUR Standard Tens (TR10). His amazing collection drew large crowds and lots of interest in these rarely seen models.

BCD had a new Chairman for 2012, Dave Sims, who did a fantastic job of coor-dinating the many facets that go into mak-ing BCD a success. “It was a steep learning curve...” said Dave afterwards, “... but I had a great time and I think we coped very well with the additional challenges of all the anniversaries this year.” Another challenge taken on was the dust! This was pretty much cured with the use of water spray-ing equipment, towed behind the rented golf cart used to ferry people and stuff around the site. The water kept most of the dust down and the addition of speed limit signs also helped, although some owners just didn’t get the message and couldn’t resist pushing on the loud pedal! Large map boards were also located around the site, to help with finding car types and the constant “Where are the washrooms?” requests, were kept in check with ‘Wash-rooms This Way’ signs all over the park.

Enough about the behind the scenes challenges, let’s get to the cars! I’ll let the following photos tell the story of a fabu-lous day...

by DavID FIDleR

special feature

British Car day 2012

Review

A very rare 1960 Devon-TR (Triumph) Special

1958Austin Healey

Sprite


PHOTO By RICHARD SuMMERFELDT

Six Packed!

An unrestored 1928 Armstrong SiddeleyTouring

1949 Rover P375

Bill Brack entertained visitors with

his Lotus and racing stories

1955 Daimler Conquest

The British Army was in attendance to keep the peace near the vendor area

1968 Ford Lotus Cortina MkII

Busy MGB display

Fid’s TR6 ‘Rosie’ received a Spa Day at the Autoglym booth

Many motorcycles were also on display

MGBs presented ‘in the round’ for their 50th AnniversarySpitfires celebrate 50 years


TR2-8

Stag

Dolomite

Spitfire

GT6

2000/2500

Herald

Vitesse

Visit our website for prices and availability:

www.rimmerbros.co.uktel: 01144 522 568000fax: 01144 522 567600

email: [email protected] House, Sleaford Road, Bracebridge Heath, Lincoln, LN4 2NA. England

Free Catalogues

L AND ROVER

Parts service for Land Rover, MG Rover and Jaguar also available

from 1998 to 2011

TR2 -TR3/3A

TR4/4A-TR5

TR250

A L L T H E P A R T S Y O U N E E D

PARTS & ACCESSORIES CATALOGUE

T R I U M P H

9 4 8 , 12 0 0 , 12 / 5 0 & 13 / 6 0

E D I T I O N 2 . 1

SOURCE CODE HCM7

All the parts and accessories you will ever need

1-855-RIMBROS

1-855-7462767

8.30am - 5.30pm UK Office Hours Mon - Fri

Toll-Free Ordering

RIMMER AD SPITFIRE USA_Layout 1 04/10/2012 15:29 Page 1

Volunteers were kept busy at the

registration desk

A 1959 Rover 90 Saloon

Mobile ‘caffine fix’ courtesy of Three Thumbs up Wheel Café

Vendor Village was busy all day

TTC tent did a brisk trade in memberships - Larry Llewellyn taking namesTriumph GT6

1. Shawn Vromman*2. Garth Saddler*3. Tony Grosso* Triumph Spitfire 1961 to 19731. Leslie Bond*2. Don Grimwood*3. Phil Nalywaiko Triumph Spitfire 1974 to 19811. Don Johnson*2. Peter Foreman*3. Don Diebold Triumph Stag1. Tamara Barba2. David Grant*3. Steve Turner

Triumph TR2, TR3, TR3A, TR3B 1. Alistair Wallace*2. Lee Jukes3. Don Elliott*

Triumph TR4, TR4A, TR5, TR2501. Dave & Maggie Sims*2. Frank Manning*3. Doug Barclay Triumph TR6, Chrome Bumper 69-731. Harry Radersma2. Rick Crawford3. John O’Meara Triumph TR6, Rubber Bumper 74-761. Keith & Christine Stewart*2. Bryan Tacoma*3. Richard Sharpe* Triumph TR71. Ed Knight*2. Stanley Pickles3. Kayla Sevier

Triumph TR81. Brad Reynolds*2. Zelko Matic*3. Doug Crane* Triumph, Other, Roadster, Herald, 2000, Vitesse1. Wayne McGill* - 1967 Herald Convertible2. David Roeder* - 1948 1800 Roadster3. Steve McCutcheon - 1960 Devon TR

Charlie Conquergood AwardDawn and Roger Elliott* - in recognition of their dedication, hard work and continuing support

Best Of ShowJohn Chalmers - Jaguar Mark V

* Toronto Triumph Club current members

Triumph Winners


By the end of its production run, the TR6 was considered to be the most successful Triumph ever built, and to some, was the last of the real Triumphs. It was, however, superseded in production numbers by its smaller sibling, the Spit-fire and the subsequent TR7/8 combina-tion. It is probably the most written about Triumph model and consequently is the most difficult of the Triumph roadsters about which to write anything original. Auto columnist, Jonathan Welsh, of The Wall Street Journal recently (May, 2012) described the TR6 as a roadster from the bad days of British Leyland but having “a six-cylinder engine that sounds good [and] puts out plenty of power.”

The TR6 was introduced in early 1969 more or less at the same time as the vio-

lence in Northern Ireland escalated follow-ing the Derry Riots and the maiden flight of Concorde was recorded. It was a good year for pop star marriages with Lulu mar-rying Maurice Gibb (of the Bee Gees), John Lennon got hitched to Yoko Ono and Paul McCartney married Linda Eastman. Man-chester City won the FA Cup that year over my alma mater city’s club (Leicester City), just down (or was it up?) the road from Tri-umph’s Coventry plant. During the year the Beatles released ‘Abbey Road’ and the first episode of Monty Python aired on BBC TV. The year also saw the introduction of co-lour television broadcasting in the UK.

The short production run of the pre-ceding model, the TR5/250, not only gave Triumph a development platform for its new in-line six cylinder 2.5 litre engine

and the Lucas PI fuel injection system but bought valuable time for the completion of the new TR6 project which had been in the planning stages by Triumph as early as 1962 as a follow up to the launch of the TR4. Financial and other issues within Stan-dard-Triumph and then the eventual merg-er with Leyland, delayed the project until 1968 when the final design was eventually assigned to the Karmann studio in Germa-ny who was also tasked with producing the new tooling, an undertaking that was completed in a mere fourteen months. Tri-umph broke with the Michelotti studio on the TR6 design as they were too busy with other Triumph and Leyland orders to take on the additional challenge.

The first TR6s were built in November

1968 and released for sale in early 1969 with the North American units using the twin-carburettor aspirated engine rather than fuel injection. The very successful eight year production run ended in July 1976 with almost 95,000 being built in Cov-entry or in CKD form for assembly in other countries. Like its immediate predecessor, the TR5/250, the TR6 was also produced in two versions; the detuned U.S. model and the sportier UK/rest of the world offer-ing. Over 77,900 models were exported to North America (about 85% of production) while only 8,370 were sold in the UK.

The TR6 essentially received new front and rear sections while the centre section remained as the old TR4/5/250. The front and back had a more chopped look with the matte-black rear valance and with the headlights moved out to the fender edges, resulting in a more aggressive appearance and finally shedding the rounded design of the earlier TRs. Triumph retained the new 2.5 litre in-line six-cylinder engine which had been developed from the smaller dis-placement six-cylinder engine used in the Triumph 2000, the Vitesse and GT6 for use in the TR5/250, but its roots can actually be traced much further back, to the 803cc four-cylinder Standard Eight engine.

Leaving aside the federal models, a 1976 UK TR6 would have been much the same as a 1969 model apart from some cosmetic changes and a reshuffle of the gearbox/overdrive ratios to match the car with the

Stag. The North American cars, however, received more-or-less annual changes to keep the car abreast of the latest emission and safety requirements.

The Karmann designed body was dif-ferent, but not as different as first appear-ance might suggest. The German studio redesigned the TR6 to utilise many of the existing TR4A/TR5/250 body pressings, a job done very successfully unlike the somewhat contemporary attempt by Mi-chelotti to make the Stag use T2000 parts. The external boot and bonnet shapes were changed significantly resulting in more luggage space, however, the exist-ing scuttle, doors and inner panels were retained. A front anti-roll bar now formed part of the specification and wider (5½ J) wheels were also fitted giving the car a low, lean look.

The UK CP series (with PI), produced from 1969 to 1972, had a nominal 150 bhp output at 5500 rpm. The correspond-ing North American models, the CC se-ries (twin carb) had a nominal output of 106 bhp at 4900 rpm. The 1973 to 1976 UK models (with PI) had power output reduced to 125 bhp at 5000 rpm to meet emerging European emissions regulations while the corresponding federal cars had 104 bhp at 4500 rpm. To Triumph’s credit, they attempted to keep the federal mod-el’s power output consistent throughout which they almost achieved despite some extra weight, more complex bumpers and door inserts and yards of rubber tubing be-ing added along the way.

Contemporary road test numbers for the UK TR6 indicated a zero to 60 mph (97 km/h) time of 8.2 seconds and a top speed of 119 mph (190 km/h), while the federal cars achieved 0-60 mph in 10.7 seconds and a top speed of 111 mph (177 km/h).

The TR6 retained a basic chassis and frame design with bolted on body panels which was basically identical to the con-struction of the TR5 and earlier TR roadster models and by the end of the production run was fundamentally outdated. Conse-quently, by 1976 the chassis, designed in the early 1960s, was beginning to show its age and the TR6 was sometime described as ‘the last of the dinosaurs.’ A contempo-rary road test noted “the protesting creaks and groans from a chassis which still does not feel completely rigid on really rough roads.” Modern sports car fans wanted more smoothness, a softer ride and tighter road holding that could only be delivered with a unitary (monocoque) body con-struction which MG, among others, had successfully pioneered in the 1960s with the MGB model. Most pundits would agree that the MGB easily edges out the TR6 in tight, fast cornering – oops, better not de-velop that thought any further!

Some of the progressive changes made to the TR6 included the change in 1970 of the windscreen frame from body colour to black, regardless of body colour and a change in cooling hoses from ‘bumble bee’ to green colour. In 1972, the compression ratio was dropped from 8.5:1 to 7.75:1. In 1973, the J-type overdrive was introduced

featured model

TR6 THeTRiUMPH

“BlokieST Bloke’S CAr eVer BuilT”

The front and rear panels, including the position

of the headlights, were changed radically from the

earlier TR5/250 model

Like the TR5/250, the TR6 came with a full complement of instrumentation

The Karmann designed rear valance gave the TR6

a muscular, leaner look .

by teRence McKIllen


featured model

THE TRIUMPH TR5/250

NeW WiNe iN olD BoTTleS?

The TR5/250 was essentially a stop-gap improvement of the TR4, pending the de-velopment of what subsequently became the TR6. Triumph built the TR5/250 over a 13 month production run between August 1967 and September 1968 as a replace-ment for the aging TR4A. Acting as the perfect development platform for a fuel injected six cylinder engine, the cars were visually identical to the earlier Michelotti-styled TR4A which, in turn, was based on the TR3A chassis, but with independent rear suspension. Often referred to as ‘new wine in old bottles’, the main differences in the TR5/250 were out of sight, with the most significant improvement being the engine and the fuel delivery system, particularly on the TR5 models. The cars were provided with a new 2.5 litre in-line six cylinder engine derived from the unit powering the Triumph 2000 saloon which replaced the well-proven two-litre four-cylinder unit. The six cylinder motor fortu-nately fitted in to the engine bay without any modifications being necessary and without incurring any weight penalties. Elsewhere there were subtle styling chang-es and upgrades to the interior. Many of the so-called comforts of modern motor-ing were introduced to the TR range at this time – including electric windscreen wash-ers, two- speed self-parking wipers and re-versing lights.

The in-line six cylinder engine in the TR5 came with a Lucas designed, mechani-cal fuel-injection system which delivered about 150 bhp (112 kW) (145 hp DIN). At the time, fuel injection (or PI petrol injec-tion) was not particularly common in road cars. Triumph claimed in their sales bro-chure that it was the “First British produc-tion sports car with petrol injection”. The TR5 could accelerate from 0 to 50 mph (80 km/h) in 6.5 seconds and 0 to 60 mph in 8.8 seconds with a reported top speed of 125

mph (201 km/h). The final-drive ratio was numerically lowered to suit the torquier six cylinder engine.

The North American model, designated the TR 250, was nearly identical to the TR5. However, due to price pressures and emis-sion regulations in the U.S., it was fitted with twin Zenith-Stromberg carburettors rather than the fuel injection system and had other anti-pollution gear attached and a lower compression ratio than the TR5, resulting in a very meagre power output

1968 TR250 externally looked identical to the TR4A,

except for the body stripe

TR6 Performance TR6 PI (CP*) TR6 PI (CR*) TR6 Carb (CC*) TR6 Carb (CF*)Data (Autocar) (Triumph) (Road) (Triumph)

0 - 30 mph 3 .0 s 3 .5 s 4 .0 s 3 .5 s

0 - 50 mph 6 .3 s 7 .0 s 7 .6 s 8 .5 s

0 - 60 mph 8 .2 s 9 .5 s 10 .7 s 11 .5 s

0 - 90 mph 20 .2 s 22 .5 s no data 26 .0 s

0 - 100 mph 29 .0 s no data 39 .0 s no data

Standing ¼ mile 16 .3 s 17 .0 s 18 .5 s 18 .1 s

Overall Fuel Consumption 19 .8 mpg 22 mpg 24 .6 mpg 29 mpg

Mean Max . Speed 119 mph 116 mph 111 mph 111 mph

*CP series CR Series CC Series CF Series 1969-72 PI 1973-76 PI 1969-72 Carb 1973-76 Carb

Table based on data from: http://www .tr-register .co .uk/tr6 .php

on 3rd and 4th gears only and the Union Jack decal replaced the TR6 logo on the rear fender of the federal models. The air intake flap on the cowl was replaced with a plastic grill and a voltmeter replaced the ammeter. In 1974, new interior trim included centre door pulls while in 1975 rubber bumper overiders were introduced to the federal models and the front bum-per raised. The front indicator lamps were

moved under the bumper and an air injec-tion system introduced.

The TR6 featured a four-speed all syn-chromesh manual transmission. An op-tional overdrive unit was available, ini-

tially using a Laycock-de-Normanville A-type and subsequently replaced by

the J-type. The TR6 also featured semi-trailing arm independent rear suspension, rack and pinion

steering, 15-inch wheels, pile carpet in both

cockpit and trunk/boot, bucket

seats (with h e a d -

rests in the federal cars), and a full complement of instru-

mentation. Braking was accomplished by servo-assisted disc brakes at the front and drum brakes at the rear. A factory steel hardtop was optional.

In a recently aired episode (July 3, 2012) of the popular BBC TV series “Top Gear”, presenter James May tested a nicely restored 1976 TR6, one of his boyhood

dream cars (view at www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FageCtKA0g). He lovingly re-ferred to the TR6 as the “blokiest bloke’s car ever built.” Unlike the MGB, the Spitfire, Mercedes 280SL or Porsche Boxter, May claims he has never seen a TR6 driven by a woman. Autocar, in an April 1969 road test, conducted only months after the new TR6 hit the showrooms commented, “It is very much a masculine machine, calling for beefy muscles, bold decisions, and even ruthlessness on occasion.” So, was it the last of the dinosaurs, the ultimate incar-nation of the TR roadster series or just the blokiest bloke’s car? In my mind, the TR6

was a fine example of the quintessen-tial post-WWII British roadster that was, unlike the E-Type, the Aston Martin, TVR or such likes, available

to a mass market audience – a niche that it filled well for many years and continues to do so 43 years on. ragtop

REFERENCESTriumph Cars, Robson, Graham & Langworth, Richard, 1979-2004, ISBN 1 899870 72 5How to Restore Triumph TR5/250 and TR6, Wil-liams, Roger, 2001, Veloce Publishing, ISBN 978 1 901295 92 4http://www.bmh-ltd.com/tr6.htmhttp://www.ehow.com/about_5097490_histo-ry-triumph-tr.html#ixzz26Gg4FCM4http://tr6.classicsportscars.eu/http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z7362/Triumph-TR6.aspx

by teRence McKIllen


We both grew up in the northeast of England, my family in small towns in Lin-colnshire then Yorkshire and Maggie on a farm in East Yorkshire. We both enjoyed a very rural lifestyle as kids and owning a car was pretty much a necessity, particularly for a “lad” if he wanted to attract a “bird”, as there was little in the way of public transport. A bicycle was the usual alternative and that was not particularly conducive to romantic interludes! My car ownership history had started with a Morris Minor (beloved transport of the District Nurse all over the UK) as soon as I was old enough to get a licence. This was replaced with a Morris 1000 convert-ible, which I immediately “upgraded” with a huge engine and giant wheels/tires. I drove this with the roof down almost per-manently – only a really heavy downpour (surprisingly rare considering this was England) or a particularly cold night would dictate a need for a roof. It was unfortunate I had chosen to leave the roof up on a par-ticularly windy day when a large 18-wheeler passing in the opposite direction, on a nar-row road, blew my roof right off and into a nearby field!

After I drove “Morry Thou” into the ground I acquired a Wolseley 1500 from a friend which, while reliable, was remark-ably staid for a young man with a love of speed. I remember it clearly – 4 July 1975 - the day that my Triumph adventures start-ed. Maggie and I were still living in England in Goole, a small town not far from where we grew up. We had been married for about a year and had started looking for

something a bit more... well, faster... than the Wolseley. I had seen the ad in the ‘Mo-toring News’ – a dark blue 1968 TR5 PI for sale in Bedford. The price was right, it was a convertible (which was very important) and it sounded perfect. So we drove down after work one evening, a trip of about 80 miles – quite a journey in those days in Britain. I loved the car on sight and after a test drive and some half-hearted dickering we became the proud owners. Completing the paperwork would take several days so the seller very kindly offered to deliver the car to us once everything was finalized. We waited anxiously for UMP 474 F (CP1048E) to arrive and I am pleased to be able to report that it ran very well, making it all the way to the end of our driveway before breaking down! Not one whit deterred we pushed and shoved it up the large ramp (due to an unfinished city road – a long story for another time!) on to the drive and proceeded to admire it from every angle

until it was too dark to see.During the following few days I figured

out the main problem – it turned out to be the metering unit which was beyond my mechanical capabilities, so a neighbour towed it to the local Parish’s BMC dealer-ship for a new unit. Once it was running again we both got huge enjoyment from driving this speed machine. Hurtling along the motorway at around 90 mph there was a definite sense that the front end was just about to lift off the road. However there were still a few problems to sort out. In the early days, after any run of more than a few

dave & MaGGie’s TRans-aTlanTiC advenTURes

marque my words

by MaggIe & Dave SIMS - tR5 & tR250 MaRque cooRDInatoR

Dave’s fabulously restored 1968 TR250

Dave and Maggie’s 1968 TR5

of 111 bhp (81 kW). The TR250 took 10.6 seconds to get to 60 mph (97 km/h) and had a top speed of 110mph (176km/h). As it turned out, the TR250 offered no perfor-mance gains over its externally identical but four-cylinder predecessor. However the power was delivered more smoothly and the occupants benefited from a more civilised interior and the extra torque from the six cylinder improved drivability at low speeds in the intermediate gears. The TR250 had a 3.7:1 final drive ratio compared to 3.45:1 on the TR5, but was otherwise similar to the TR5. One notable styling feature was the transverse ‘racing’ stripes across the front of the bonnet.

The short produc-tion run for the TR5/250 gave Triumph time to complete the new TR6 project, being designed this time by Karmann in Germany, due to the Mi-chelotti studio being too busy to take on the chal-lenge. The TR6 essentially received a new front and rear section with the cen-tre section still being the old TR4/5. The TR6 was released in 1968 with the North American market

units using the twin-carburettor engine rather than fuel injection.

Standard equipment in the TR5/250 models included servo-assisted front disc brakes, independent rear suspension, rack and pinion steering and a four speed gear-box. The available optional extras included overdrive, wire wheels and a hard top with detachable roof panel – known as the ‘Sur-rey Top’. The Surrey Top came with a rigid rear section including the rear window and

removable fabric section over the driver and passenger’s heads that preceded by five years the Porsche 911/912 ‘Targa’, which has since become a generic name for this style of top.

The TR5 was produced in quite small numbers when compared with the later TR6 model with just 2,947 units produced. Of these, 1,161 were destined for the U.K. mar-ket and the remainder in LHD format going to France, Belgium and Germany. In a similar period, 8,484 TR250s were built in LHD for-mat for the U.S market. ragtop

References

Triumph Cars, Robson, Graham & Langworth, Rich-

ard, 1979-2004, ISBN 1 899870 72 5

http://users.belgacom.net/triumph/Triumph%20

TR5%20TR250.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph_TR5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph_TR250

http://tr5.classicsportscars.eu/

http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z6751/Tri-

umph-TR250.aspx

http://trtom.wordpress.com/2011/12/26/tr5-road-

test/

1969 TR5, missing was fresh styling to match the new engine and its more “manly” character .Source:http://upload .wikimedia .org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/1969 .triumph .tr5 .inside .jpg

TR250 with Surrey Top removed .


miles, as soon as I slowed down, the engine would cut out. This would typically happen at the first traffic light we encountered and was quite embarrassing. The problem was the electronic fuel pump, housed in the trunk. It would overheat and the tempo-rary fix was to cool it down by applying a cool, damp cloth. A few minutes of this treatment and it would start again. New pumps were expensive and it was some time before we were able to afford to re-place it. Meanwhile, a damp chamois kept in a plastic bag in the trunk provided the necessary solution and Maggie became quite proficient at leaping out as soon as we heard the engine falter, to open the trunk and apply the cloth. Looking back, I realize now that the car had obviously had a very hard life and was probably not a par-ticularly smart purchase. But I loved it any-way, it satisfied my craving for top-down motoring in a fast sports car and hey – ev-erything could be fixed with the applica-tion of lots of my time and, hopefully, very little money! We did spend a fair amount of time replacing UJs. We ended up replacing all of them over the time I owned the car and, by the end, had developed a very suc-cessful procedure but the early experienc-es were a nightmare. Those things had to be slotted into those darn ball bearings in just exactly the right way. If you happened to hit it right the first time they slid in beau-tifully but if you missed – gawd, what an awful job it could be. A bit like threading a needle with one’s eyes shut.

Another challenge we faced was the frame. Going round a roundabout one day there was an awful “crack” and the front end at one side sort of sagged a bit. The front suspension mounting had parted company with the frame and needed to be welded back together. Fortunately, my brother-in-law was handy with a welder and my father-in-law had all the neces-sary welding equipment so I was able to get that fixed without too much of a prob-lem. And when the second side fell apart the same way Steve fixed that too! Then there was the time I decided the clutch needed to be replaced. A GT6-owning friend came around to help with the heavy

lifting as the gearbox had to be removed through the inside of the car in order to reach the clutch. Getting the gearbox out was not too bad and I replaced the clutch quite quickly. While we were steering the gearbox back into place, my friend found a useful spot to rest his foot to gain some leverage – it worked well for the gearbox but, unfortunately, the useful spot hap-pened to be the overdrive solenoid which broke right off! Ooops! Not to be deterred I quickly reattached it with Superglue – and the overdrive continued to work just fine! I wonder if it is still stuck on that gearbox?

Then there was the rather exciting day when the steering wheel got stuck as we were zipping along a VERY bendy, narrow local road. The wheel jammed on the steer-ing column which made negotiating the bends quite a challenge. Fortunately there was little traffic and I was able to come to a halt, reseat the wheel and, this time, tighten all the bolts properly. Over the next few months I also fixed or replaced the in-dicators, hood (roof ), tachometer, battery, windscreen wiper motor, washer motor, a couple of tyres (with a y) and a whole bunch of other minor things that I retrieved from a scrap early-model TR6 which I bought for the princely sum of £30, initially just for the half-shafts. That proved to be a great in-vestment as I later sold many of the parts separately for a good profit – the engine alone recouped the cost of the entire car!

Eventually, the TR5 became a great lit-tle roadster. Remember this was the only vehicle we owned so was our daily driver and general workhorse. It was surprisingly practical. We brought home our weekly groceries in it, transported a whole variety of things from here to there – it was quite roomy with the roof down - and even man-aged to squeeze my younger brother-in-law (a big farmer’s lad) into the “back seat” in order to take him to see JAWS when it

came to the local cinema. Sadly I had to sell it about 18 months after acquiring it as Maggie and I decided to emigrate to Canada.

Once across the Atlantic I spent a long time without a Tri-umph in my life. For many years

I drove a succession of Datsun/Nissan Z cars (starting with a used 240Z then vari-ous new models up to the 300ZX Turbo). Along the way I picked up a 1972 Porsche 911 which provided me with a lot of fun until it got to the point of needing exten-sive TLC. New Porsche models followed the Nissans and I was quite happy until BCD in September 2010. At that time we were just a month from retirement and looking forward to much more free time to devote to hobbies. Seeing all those great LBCs awakened some long-suppressed ambi-tions and so the following February, after some helpful advice from Tush and others at TTC, I acquired a Signal Red 1968 TR250 from Drake’s British Motors in Kelowna. Len Drake had found it in West Texas so the frame had not been exposed to a damp, corroding climate. The car is original in every detail and with the rare Surrey top. It was delivered in April and I impatiently awaited some decent weather so I could try ‘er out. After a couple of short jaunts just to check everything out Maggie and I set off for a pleasant half-day’s journey along local byways. We got about 5 miles before the engine started to sputter and then cut out. Hmmm, I thought. Probably nothing – the car had, after all, been sit-ting idle for years so a few hiccups were to be expected. After a few minutes, the engine started easily so we carried on…until the same thing recurred a few miles further on. This on-again-off-again con-tinued for several more miles and I could see absolutely nothing wrong. Eventually we turned around and staggered towards home getting within about 5 miles of the house before it finally died permanently. Thank goodness for CAA!

After several frustrating days of check-ing things over and replacing the fuel pump and the coil to no effect I removed the entire fuel line from the gas tank to

the fuel pump and had it blown out with a compressed air pump. Initially there was virtually no air flow through the pipe then suddenly out popped a huge lump of wad-ded up material. No wonder the fuel flow was restricted! This solved the immediate problem so we were able to enjoy driv-ing our new toy through the summer of 2011. The TTC’s Around Georgian Bay trip was a delight – once we figured out how to properly attach the rather complicated soft roof for the Surrey top - and we also made day trips around our local area. We took part in the 3rd annual Brits on the Lake (or was that Brits IN the Lake??) in Port Perry, in the rain as usual, and fin-ished our summer at BCD. This first sea-son of driving, while a pleasure, had also brought to light a number of issues which were a little more than I felt equipped to deal with so late in the year I took her in to John Keene at Cheshire Motors in Mis-sissauga where she was fitted with a new clutch (to replace the rather challenging, either on-or-off version she came with) and to try to resolve the flaky overdrive. The overdrive proved the most frustrat-ing issue and John pretty much rebuilt the entire thing before it started working con-sistently. I had thought the UJs might also need replacing (not a task I wanted to face again after all those aggravations with the TR5) as they sounded very clunky, but John

assured me they were in good shape and the smoother shifts possible with the new clutch seem to have silenced the clunks. The exceedingly mild winter we enjoyed here through 2011/2012 meant I was able to get her back on the road in March and we have enjoyed a number of local drives so far this year.

As Ancaster Flea Market day ap-proached I was on the lookout for hood bolts. I was missing two (one at each side) and although not critical were still neces-sary to meet original specs. I couldn’t find them there but was able to source them a few days later. One bolt slipped in easily and I started on the second side. No joy. No matter how hard I and a variety of helpful assistants tried the bolt holes would not properly line up. The next approach was to remove the first one and see if I could attach them in the opposite order. To my delight, the problematic bolt now went in smoothly and I quickly tightened it up. As I moved over to try the other side I glanced at the outside of the hood and my heart sank… the bolt must have been too long for it had dented the hood from the un-derside, pushing the skin outwards and cracking all the paint. Oh darn (or words to that effect!) I thought. Needless to say I was much more wary with the second bolt but that one was a good fit. So I had to get the damage fixed which meant the entire

hood had to be repainted – the damage included the distinctive hood stripe as well as the main paint.

Shortly after this we participated in Spring Fling at Fern Resort in Orillia which was a most entertaining weekend. The Ca-nadian Invasion Classic to the Finger Lakes area of New York State was next up and we were greatly looking forward to that. It was agreed that we would all meet in Burling-ton to drive in convoy to the border. Just before setting off, I went to fill up with gas and on the way home the engine started stuttering and misfiring quite badly. Prob-ably dirty gas or some stirred up sedi-ment… but with absolutely no time left to check anything out, and a co-driver who refused to be, and I quote, “about a thou-sand miles from home with a broken car”… we ended up taking the Porsche instead. Still a fun weekend but not quite the same (well… except for the laps around Watkins Glen!!) as if we had been in the TR. Upon our return a new fuel filter solved the en-gine problem and now we are ready for whatever new adventures are in the offing.

Having been fortunate enough to own both versions of this car – the TR5 fuel injection in England and the TR250 with standard carburettors here – it is possible to make a first-hand comparison. The TR5, with fuel injection, was unquestionably faster. It developed more BHP (150 versus 104 in the 250) and had a higher top speed but as it did not meet the then-current US emissions standards it could not be sold in North America, hence the TR250 which was identical in looks. From a driving per-spective there is not much difference other than the actual horsepower. I think it is in-teresting to note that, while the body pan-els on my 7-year old TR5, which had lived in the damp atmosphere of Britain, were already starting to show signs of rust and corrosion, the panels on my 44-year old TR250 have no rust whatsoever thanks to the very dry, salt-free climate of its long-time home in Texas.

So, here we are, in good running order, with many weeks of beautiful summer weather beckoning us to the open road – let the adventures continue. ragtop

Dave leaning on his early TR6 scrapper – haircut was

optional in those days The TR250 on its first major outing - the Around Georgian Bay trip 2011


Triumphs. So how do we go about install-ing this system and what exactly is avail-able. The average owner with moderate mechanical skills can install most of the systems available in an afternoon or eve-ning, with very little difficulty. It is best to start with a properly tuned engine and a good basic cooling system. Proper radia-tor shrouds, a correct heat range thermo-stat and a silt and damage free radiator are all necessary if this exercise is going to be successful. Fans are available in both pusher and puller configurations.

A pusher fan sits in front of the radiator

and blows or pushes air through the radia-tor. A puller fan sits behind the radiator and draws air through the radiator that way. The direction of the fan rotation is critical. A fan that blows, will not work if placed behind the radiator and one which pulls will not work if installed in front of the radiator. Some fans are reversible and can be used in either po-sition. A great deal of engineering has gone into fan blade design, making some fans more or less efficient as either pusher or puller types. The manufacturer can help you decide what is best for your application.

The original fan blades need to be re-

moved and the new electric fan installed. Some are attached with traditional nut and bolt hardware and some attached with ny-lon straps that mount right to the radiator cooling core fins. Again the manufacturer can help you decide what is best. Now we want some system to turn the fan on and off. You could wire it directly to the ignition switch of the car. Turn the ignition on and the fan starts. Shut the engine off and the fan stops. Works, but not very efficient! You could put a mechanical switch on the dash to turn the fan on and off. Got to keep your eye on the temperature guage all the time.

Ever stop to think and forget to start again? I was thinking some time ago about the cooling systems in most of our Triumphs, that is to say the models up to and including the TR-6. All of these cars came with fan belt powered cooling fans and most were bolted directly to the water pump pulley. This is a simple and mostly effective way of cooling the water as it passes through the radiator the majority of the time. Cars going back to the turn of the last century used this system, so why would we want to change?

Well, …there are a number of com-promises that make this system less than optimal most of the time. The fan turns at a speed dictated by the diameter size of the pulley and the speed of the engine. As the pulley size is usually fixed, that is to say there is no optionally larger or smaller pulley available, we are stuck with what the engineers decided was best. Compro-mise number one put to bed. The speed of the fan is controlled therefore solely by the speed of the engine. This means that at idle, the fan is turning relatively slowly and on the highway at 100kph, the fan is turning much faster. This is exactly the re-verse of what the ideal situation would be. In slow and stop and go traffic, heat builds up in the engine compartment as relatively little air passes through the radiator both because the vehicle is not moving through the air and the fan is turning slowly. That is a major reason why our cars begin to over-heat in town on a hot summer day.

Any other issues such as too hot a ther-mostat, silt in the radiator, poorly tuned engine, modified engine, missing radiator shrouds, etc. all just add to the problem. At highway speed we have lots of air flow-ing the radiator as the car moves down the road. In addition, the fan is now turning at a high speed, giving further cooling which

may not be needed at all. This isn’t a huge issue for our cars which usually don’t get driven in the winter, but would lead to slow warm up, reduced heater efficiency, and greater fuel consumption. In our case, the fan is being turned and using engine horsepower, read using more fuel and giv-ing less power to the rear wheels, when we really don’t need it. Compromise number two and a big one! In the 1960’s and 1970’s engineers tried a couple of things to im-prove this situation.

First came the so called flex fan blade. These were usually very thin steel with a fairly pronounced curve to the blade, sometimes called a course pitch. This gave increased air flow at low speed. As the engine speed increased, centrifugal force made the fan blades reduce their curve, or go into a fine pitch. This reduced the amount of air being forced through the radiator and therefore reduced the horse-power required to turn the fan and in-creased fuel consumption. All good things as far as it could go, but still not optimal.

Another solution was the clutch fan. Later Spitfires and the Stag used this tech-nology. Attached to the pulley and the fan blades this devise acted as a clutch

and engaged and dis-engaged the fan to the fan pulley. At low speed, the clutch would automatically engage and turn the fan blades, giving us the cooling that was needed. At high speed the clutch auto-matically dis-engaged and allowed the fan blades to wind mill, giving less cooling and therefore using less horsepower and less fuel. Better than a fixed system and better than a flexible fan blade, but still not exact-ly what we want. In the 1970’s we began to see the introduction of electric fans that are controlled by a thermostatic switch. Fi-nally we had something that more closely matches the engines need for cooling. It is not dependent upon engine speed, which is its first major advantage. The fan can run at top speed while the car is idling in heavy traffic, exactly when we need it most. At highway speed it can shut itself down, just letting the fan blades free wheel and us-ing no horsepower which increases both power and fuel economy. When the car engine is cold, the fan does not run at all. This hastens initial warm up of the engine, giving better fuel economy due to shorter time needed for the choke to be used.

We now have the most optimal sys-tem currently available even for our old

restoration

by Wayne McgIll & FReD MceacheRn

Joint Tr6 Marque Coordinatorselectric cooling fans

Pre-set fan switch and thermostat control Fan is attached to front of radiator with plastic clamps Pusher fan mounted on Triumph Herald Control switch and thermostat

Double electric pusher fansCowl/shroud over the fan


MERCEDES AUSTIN ALVIS BMW JENSEN TRIUMPH AUSTIN-HEALEY JAGUAR ASTON MARTIN

DAIMLER MG RALEIGH VAUXHALL BENTLEY ROLLS-ROYCE SUNBEAM LOTUS CORD TVR

LANDROVER WOLSELEY RELIANT BRISTOL PORSCHE ANGUS-SANDERSON ALLARD MORGAN

TROJAN INVICTA MORRIS ARGYLL AUDI ARMSTRONG-SIDDELEY LANCHESTER STRAKER-SQUIRELNER

905-953-0052 www.lnerautomotive.ca

European Classic Car SpecialistsMaintenance and ServiceComplete Mechanical RepairsComplete Electrical RepairsParts New and UsedParts FabricationRestoration of Body and Interior Br

ing

Us Y

our Dream

High PerformanceSynthetic Lubricants

Dealer Cell: (905) [email protected]/oils

London Trading PostFine English Countrywearwww.londontradingpost.caSpencefield House189 County Rd 49Bobcaygeon, ON K0M 1A0Tel/Fax: (705) 738-1956Open most weekendsSat. 10am-3pm Sun. 11am-3pm or by appointment

Forget to turn it on and the cloud of steam coming from the front of the car will certainly remind you. Forget to turn it off and it becomes inefficient.

Much better to add a thermostatic switch which will automatically start and stop the fan as needed. Perhaps the simplest is the snap switch. These are wired in series with the fan and turn on at a preset temperature such as 185 degrees F. and then turn off at 165 degrees F. These are available from compa-nies such as Hayden for less than $40 and come as a kit with a fuse and a relay. The kit number 3652 includes a snap switch which fits between the radiator fins and needs no tools to install. Very simple. The wiring even allows for the addition of an auxiliary manu-al override switch if desired. You can choose

to have the system work only when the ignition is on, or whenever the coolant tem-perature demands. If wired to work with the ignition off, remember to make sure that adequate fan blade guards are in place and that you add a warning label that the fan may start at any time.

The second type of switch is adjustable. This installation is a little more complex as both the rheostat and a temperature probe need to be at-tached to the car. Ideally the probe should be in the water, which means getting it in the upper radiator hose where it connects to the inlet to the radiator. There is a pos-sibility of a leak where the capillary tube exits the hose if the hose clamp is not tight enough and damage to the capillary tube if the clamp is too tight. It will work if placed in close proximity to the radiator, but will be less accurate. Most units have

an adjustment range of 32 degrees F to 248 degrees F. which is way too broad a range for our needs and once set, there really isn’t a need to reset it in the future. The third alternative is to do it like the big boys do it. This involves adding a welded in bung in the radiator and a proper tem-perature switch. This is the ultimate meth-od for our cars, but will necessitate some outside help installing the required radia-tor bung as most of us do not have the skill or equipment available. ragtop

Hayden preset temperature

switch

Adjustable thermostat control switch and probe


restoration

My interest in all things au-tomotive is genetic, I think. My dad was a Scot who began his career as an engineer working on Merlin engines at Rolls Royce’s aircraft division in the 1940s before becom-ing CEO of Rover North America. When, in 2008, my wife said “Maybe you should get that car …” I was thrilled of course, but knew I’d have to play this very carefully, if it was really going to happen. “Are you sure Honey?” I said, promising to do proper due diligence, have the car inspected, create a budget for restoration and importantly, stick to it. Most readers will understand this is a promise that every enthusiast makes, but somehow rarely manages to keep. Now I had permission to indulge my Tri-umph lust! How best to proceed?

I knew a business owner near my office who was a Triumph owner and TTC Club member. I asked him who could properly evaluate the car – thereby satisfying my wife’s condition. He suggested Joe Du-kova at JD Auto in Rexdale. I made plans to take the TR4 out to Joe for an inspec-tion. Meanwhile – I shifted into high gear – I had permission to buy a Triumph! I scoured the club website, Kijiji, Craigslist, the Autotrader – whatever I could find to locate a suitable car. Eventually I found something interesting;

“1968 Triumph 250, This 250 has all the hard work done. The drive train is all rebuilt, painted, sand blasted, and assembled. All the hoses and lines were done with origi-nal 250 striped hoses, etc. The body is all

REVIVING A DREAMby hugh MunRo

done (except needing a right front fender) fenders need their final welds, but all the metal is in perfect shape. All the suspen-sion is new, all the brakes are new. New ex-haust, new floor pans. Frame is mint!”

I called the number in the ad and left a message – no response. There was an email address so I sent a message and received a response saying the poster was in the UK and wouldn’t be back for a couple of weeks. What a drag. A TR250 – the car I really wanted – so close, but just out of reach!

So I continued with the inspection of the TR4. It went reasonably well, but clearly there were some issues which Joe pointed out to me. It was going to require some in-vestment. The current owner was not a “car guy” and he really didn’t drive it much. He bought it on a whim, largely because it was built in the same year he was born. He re-ally wasn’t aware of its condition or what it would take to make it fully roadworthy.

The inspection was done on a Saturday. Not wanting to offend the owner, I waited until Monday to ask Joe for an opinion on the car. He said “It’s good, but not the best.” I’d seen the underside when the car was on a hoist and Joe pointed out a lot of the typical rust issues from which TRs suffer, so I was already calculating how much it was going to cost to make it right. Then Joe asked if I was really fixed on this car. “No,” I said, “I’d really like a TR250.” “I have a 250 for sale – lots of work done”

Next day I drove out to Joe’s. He pulled

a sheet off a hulk in the back of the garage and there was the car I’d seen in the Kijiji ad! Those who know Joe will know that the internet is not exactly his playground. The ad I saw was put up by a friend as a favour. Neither of them was really prepared to deal with someone actually responding to it!

The car looked great. The body looked fine, the mechanicals looked like they’d been upgraded, it had new tires – it looked like a labour of love that had been interrupted. I asked for the story. After its original career as a running sports car, it sat idle for a number of years. I think it may have actually sat in a field for a period of time – a fate that I still don’t understand for cars of character.

Eventually it was acquired by Albino Mesquita on October 22, 2001. Accord-ing to Fred McEachern of British Auto Sport, Albino was a very talented welder, originally from Portugal. Apparently he

made high quality welded steel fences. He acquired the car and wanted to make it absolutely perfect. He met Fred at Brit-ish Car Day shortly after acquiring the car and began to rely on Fred for guidance as he strove to do a top flight restoration. He discovered that the frame was weak in a few places, so he set about repairing it. Eventually he discovered that the origi-nal frame was too far gone and acquired another frame, welding parts from it onto the original as necessary. Later, Fred told me that if I were to look at some of the drain holes in the frame I would see that it is double thick in some places where Al-bino “sleeved” the new pieces into the old ones. Apparently he brought the frame to Fred when completed and asked if it was good enough. Fred told him it was “Better than good. Better than original.”

I’m not sure why Albino gave up on the project. Fred said he called one day saying he had to unload the car quickly. Fred arranged the sale to Joe in 2005. After a few years Joe realized he would never have the time to do a proper resto-ration so decided to sell it - maybe he even tried to sell it to some of you when he was giving trans-mission rebuilding clinics for the TTC at his shop? I bought the car from Joe in the fall of 2008. True to

his word, Joe had all the parts. Those that weren’t piled into the tub of the car were in boxes scattered around the shop.

During the process of transferring own-ership I learned that the car was originally Jasmine Yellow and was first registered in

Ontario on February 21, 1973 – making me wonder where it was from 1968 to 1973. The next owner acquired it on August 10 1984 and Albino acquired it on October 22, 2001. As far as I can tell, the car was off the road from at least 2001 to May 2011.

Having lost my original TRs 30 years ago after several years of work input, I de-cided that this time I was going to leave the job to professionals. Fred McEachern recommended John Miles at Vintage & Performance Restorations in Waterdown. John’s shop is in a renovated barn behind his house. It was a professional restoration shop with lifts, paint shop, showroom and a mix of American muscle cars and British sportscars all in various stages of restora-tion. Like in a hospital, a clipboard with notes on the vehicle’s status and projects yet to be completed was located near each vehicle. John had two employees, one of whom was in the process of restoring his own GT6. I felt that I was in good hands.

The car spent fifteen months at Vin-tage & Performance, during which time we learned many things that might have scared me away from the project had I known beforehand. Firstly, the car was not at all ready for the paint shop. We knew a front wing was needed – which we ob-tained from Drake’s in Kelowna, BC but there was more to come. It turned out that the body panels were held in place by sheet metal screws. An easy fix we thought, since we were taking everything apart anyway. The car had been primed, but there were still a few spots that needed attention. Af-ter several weeks, John called me to come over for a look. Using an infrared light he

Hugh Munro’s 1968 Triumph Tr250

The start of the project – the TR250 at JD Auto

demonstrated that most of the body pan-els had tiny perforations. When examined very closely, the primer paint appeared to be masking much bigger holes. Eventually we discovered that our old friend Albino the iron monger had used a thick, viscous primer normally used on wrought iron fences. He liked it because it sealed many of the holes and stopped the rust from advancing. That was bad enough, but we realized the paint was also completely un-suitable for automotive use, being brittle and under repetitive strain it would have cracked. It was time to strip the car.

Over the next few months the process included:

• Re-mounting car on frame and assembling the body parts (hood, doors, etc.) to achieve desired

gaps.• Replacing or repairing any panels that

had rust issues.• Stripping car to bare metal.• Disassembling car and coating the

entire shell, including all parts in a 2-part epoxy based primer

• Reassembling car and realigning all panels. Installing all latches in doors, trunk and hood.

• Doing rough plastic (bondo) work to get the shapes and lines fairly straight and identifying high and low spots.• Re-epoxying any bare metal spots and spraying the first coat of high fill primer on the entire car, then using long boards, straightened all the panels.

These steps were repeated a second time to get the body 95% straight.

• Spraying the final high build primer


Driven by Qual i ty and Pass ion. . .

BACK THEN WE WERE THE EXPERTS AT INSURING ‘57 CHEVYS

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. BU T W E B E L I E V E N O O N E K N O W S T H E M B E T T E R T H A N S TAT E FA R M. AF T E R A L L W E W E R E I N S U R I N G M A N Y O F T H E S E C A R S L O N G B E F O R E T H E Y B E C A M E C L A S S I C S. AN D A S 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 O F T H E S E U N I Q U E M A C H I N E S.

WI T H 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. AT S O M E O F 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. PE R H A P S 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 I N S U R I N G T H E I R A U TO 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 TO 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.

L I K E A G O O D N E I G H B O U R S T A T E F A R M I S T H E R E .

STATE FARM

INSURANCE COMPANIES

CANADIAN HEAD OFFICES:AURORA, ONTARIO

ZENON KOLTALOAGENT702 BURNHAMTHORPE ROAD EAST, SUITE 7(CORNER OF CAWTHRA ROAD)MISSISSAUGA, ON L4Y 2X3905-276-2440 FAX: [email protected]

which also worked as a sealer between the fillers and the final top coat.

• Sanding the primer with different gritsdown to 600.• Disassembling the car again• Seam sealing all joints• Applying 3 coats of base colour and 3

coats of clear coat (Sherwin Williams ultra 7000 base coat and the clear is

called their Super Glamour Clear)• Water sanding and polishing car and

parts• Reassembling carThe next decision was colour. I didn’t

want the original Triumph colour. Apolo-gies to anyone who’s offended by this, but I always thought Triumph colours were boring. A little metallic paint would have gone a long way. The TR250 I lost in the fire was Valencia Blue, so I wondered if there was a current paint that might represent a natural evolution of that co-lour. One day I found it when I spotted a

Mazda in a beautiful metallic aquamarine shade that seemed to change colour as the light caught it. Perfect I thought! But then the upholstery arrived. I had the in-teriors done by Heritage Upholstery in Vancouver. I chose magnolia leather and vinyl with navy blue piping as an accent. We chose a camel wool carpet and dyed the transmission yoke and the sun visors to match and to give the cockpit a lighter and slightly more luxurious feel. However, the dark blue of the piping wasn’t going to get along well with aquamarine, but fortunately Mazda had another great blue shade available – Stormy Blue Mica. It’s a deep, metallic blue that looks a bit purple in sunlight, but with three hand-rubbed coats covered in clearcoat, it’s glorious!

When I acquired my car all of the me-chanical work had been done, but I decid-ed to make one further modification. The car did not have an overdrive, but I felt this was an important part of the 250 package.

Newly painted body panels at Vintage & Performance

The beautiful interior trim of the restored TR250


J.D. AUTO SERVICES

Josip (Joe) Dukova

IMPORT, DOMESTIC & SPORTSCARS301 Rexdale Blvd. Unit C, Etobicoke, Ont. M9W 1R8TEL: (416) 746-1048 • FAX: (416) 746-9935

BRITISh CAR REpAIR ShOp• TRIUmph • mG• LOTUS • JAGUAR• SAFETY & E-TESTING

N

Rexdale Blvd.

Mar

tin

Gro

ve

Ragtop distribution provided by:

• Letter Shop Services• Order & Product Fulfillment

• Bulk Mail Service• List Management

(416) 755-9191

Joe Dukova had a J-type overdrive avail-able and I had him install it.

I’ve restored old cottages, boats and houses in my time and my constant theme in making them right for our times has been to try to imagine what the original designers/builders would do if they were building it today. That’s what I did with the car, especially with the exterior colour. To my mind, improving the aesthetics is what transforms a TR250 from a nearly great car, to a truly great one.

I’ve never liked all-black cockpits, so I decided to undo the blackout treatment on the dashboard that was mandated by U.S. safety regulations of the late sixties. I found “The Gauge Guys” in Minneapo-lis and sent them all my original Smiths gauges to have the faces changed from black to magnolia and the bezels redone in a chrome finish. I always felt that pad-ding the original Triumph banjo steering wheel and covering it with nasty black

vinyl was an abomina-tion, so I began search-ing for a replacement. There were many great looking wheels available from Moto Lita and the like, but none were in the downslant style that was characteristic of TRs. Even-tually I found Mike Lem-pert in South Carolina who was able to custom build a three spoke, slotted downslant steering wheel from African Rosewood to my specification. I love the fact that the horn push is the original size rather than having a large plastic surround on the wheel hub like most of those aftermarket wheels. Clear-ly I needed a great dashboard too. Satin finished walnut would not do. Randy Keller in California specializes in dashes for TRs and he made a wonderful African Rosewood unit to match the wheel.

Another aesthetic detail I revised was the interior door handles, window cranks and door pulls. The TR250 originally had door pulls integrated into the vinyl pad-ded door caps, but over time and with use, they often pulled away from the body. In 2009, a trip to the annual Ancast-er flea market resulted in a very nice set of Triumph door pulls. Later that year I was clearing out the boathouse at our family cottage, which was full of old car parts. Between my dad and my uncle, many

The 7 inch driving lamps and Scotland badge in honour of Hugh’s dad and uncle


Rover parts had made their way up there to be used on boats. I found another set of door pulls – presumably for a Rover, more delicately styled, but the dimensions were the same. Clearly the door pulls, like Lu-cas electrical parts, were common to most British cars of the time. Eventually when I went through the last of the boxes from JD Auto, I found the original door pulls for the car, but went with the Rover part – partly for the better design, but also to pay homage to my late uncle and father.

Another boathouse discovery was a Lucas SLR700S driving light. I brought it home and immediately began searching for a match. Now – I grant you that a seven inch fog/driv-ing light is a bit large for this car – most use 5 inch spots, but again, there was great senti-mental value in also connecting this part to my late father and uncle. I found one on eBay

– in its original box and successfully bid for it.

The challenge was mounting them. Dur-ing the two-plus years that my car was under res-toration I spent a lot of time on the web and probably got to know every TR250 featured anywhere in the world wide web. One such car belonged to Martin McGovern in Dublin – “The only TR250 in Ireland”. In correspondence with Mar-tin I noticed he had a particularly attrac-tive badge bar which supported his two spotlights very well. Martin directed me to Holden Vintage & Classic in the UK who offer a “cranked” badge bar. It has a slight bend in the centre to accommo-date the bend in a TR bumper – the only one I know of. We mounted the bar, but

were concerned about stabilizing the driv-ing lights since they only have one mount-ing point. John Miles

was able to create a very effective secondary mount attached to the frame through the grille which has very effec-tively strengthened the mount and pre-vented the light beam from vibrating.

While I was on the Holden website I noticed their inventory of really cool vin-tage car stuff including some very nice badges. I ordered a Scotland badge in honour of my father’s Glaswegian ances-try and a Union Jack to commemorate the car’s British heritage.

The car went back on the road in May 2011 and I did my best to drive it every day since – even during Christmas week since

the weather remained favourable. Of the experiences I’ve had so far the best and most emotional was the day I drove out to my Dad’s old farm and parked it on the very spot where my first TR250 and TR4A perished 30 years ago.

Around the city, it’s not uncommon to see Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Rollers and whatever else you can imagine. But some-how, most new cars, even the exotic ones, look the same. I take great pride in the

fact that when I’m driving, most people who see my car have never seen anything like it before. People comment in parking lots, call out from bus stops or just point as I go by. Last summer I heard a chorus of young girls on a bus sing out “We love your car!” I looked up to see all of them plus their male companions giving me a big thumbs up. What fun!

I love driving my TR250 and I love the fact that it gives pleasure to so many peo-

ple who see it. Finally I’d like to thank my fellow TTC members who have welcomed me and the car into the fold and have shared their experience and offered use-ful advice to help me identify and manage issues as they arose. It’s also tremendous fun to set out on a drive with other Tri-umph owners. I look forward to sharing many more experiences with all of you in the years to come. ragtop

(Since writing this article for ragtop, Hugh’s wife was transferred to Guernsey, Channel islands, with her bank job. Both she and Hugh, along with the 250, now reside there and Hugh has joined a local car club. He remains a TTC member and plans to return to Canada (hopefully with his 250) in a few years time - ed.)

Lucas driving lamp in original box

The new TR250 at the site of the original fire

Hugh Munro has been a member of the Toronto Triumph Club since 2009. He is currently the owner of a beautifully restored 1968 TR250, although he previ-ously owned both a TR4A and a TR250 in the mid-1970s.

Hugh has a very interesting personal connection with the British car industry through his late father, H. Gordon Munro. Hugh reports that shortly after the War his father met Maurice and Spencer Wilks, the brothers who ran the Rover Motor Car Company and was invited to join Rover and became CEO of the Rover Motor Com-pany of North America, developing Rover and Land Rover dealerships across Canada and the United States. The Wilks’ also had

a Triumph connection through their neph-ew, Charles Spencer “Spen” King, who was Chief Engineer of new vehicle products at Rover and is known as the father of the modern Range Rover. When Rover was absorbed into British Leyland he also led teams responsible for developing the TR6, Stag, TR7 and the 16-valve engine used on the Dolomite Sprint.

As a young boy, Hugh became fully immersed in the culture of the British Motor Industry in North America. By the mid-1970s, he had an opportunity to acquire two Triumphs, one a TR4 in BRG with wire wheels and the other a Valencia Blue TR250. He recalls that the cars were immediately stripped down in prepara-

tion for restoration and he only had a single opportunity of test-ing the TR250 in the driveway of his home. Time and money, and being away at school, conspired to delay matters until one fateful day in 1977, when both cars were destroyed in a fire. For years he thought that was the end of his British sports car dream.

Fast forward some 23 years, Hugh was driving along Davenport Road one Saturday when a beau-tiful, cherry red, TR4 in the win-dow of Gentry Lane Automobiles caught his eye, but at that time he was more interested in wooden

boats. However, by 2008, out for a run with his wife, he came across the same cherry red TR4 in someone’s driveway.

Several weeks later, having sold their cot-tage and ruminating on the associated life-style change, his wife suggested he consider acquiring a TR4. As you will see from Hugh’s contribution in this is-sue, he ended up ac-quiring a 1968 TR250 rather than the TR4. ragtop

Hugh’s father, Gordon Munro (2nd left), at a Rover dealership in 1959

The burnt-out shells of the TR4A and TR250 in 1977

OUT OF THE ASHES


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

Motors can supply any part from

the Moss catalogs at the most

reasonable cost to 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.

Many TTC members are already

believers. Get in touch for a quote

– [email protected]

We are also a Canadian distributor for Dayton Wire Wheels.

1970 Triumph TR6 This is a very nice TR6 that lived its entire life in California. No rust or body damage before we had the paint redone in origi-nal Jasmine yel-low. New bum-pers, sill chrome, windshield and trim seals were fitted throughout and the suspension and complete braking system was rebuilt. The engine had been previously rebuilt and runs great, so we just did a tune up, added new belts, hoses and fuel pump. We also added a fully rebuilt overdrive and the wire wheels were refinished complete with new hubs, chrome knockoffs and new Coker redline tires. The complete interior was replaced with all new correct reproduction components and is the original light tan, we also fitted a new Robbins top with the correct reflective strip. This car is one small step away from being called a full top to bottom restored vehicle, it looks stunning and runs and drives as nice as it looks. $22,500 $20,200

Drakes’ British Motors Inc. (250)763-0883 Ph., (250)861-8051 Fax, email [email protected]

2286 K.L.O. Road, Kelowna, B.C., V1W 3Z7WWW.DRAKESBRITISHMOTORS.COM

Y O U PA I D H O W M U C H ?

1974 Triumph TR6 Californian TR6. No accidents, no rust, paint is nice with only minor defects, on a beautiful, straight body. New front & rear bumpers, stainless trim rings and tires. Tan interior has new seats, panel kit, dashtop, sunvisors, tan Robbins top, retractor seatbelts and wind-shield and seals. Engine is strong with electronic ignition and the over-drive transmission was rebuilt two years ago. 4 tip Ansa exhaust system. Front end rebuild including bushings, ball joints, tie rod ends, and steering rack boots & at the rear new differential mounts and trailing arm bushings. Hydraulics all redone with new clutch and brake master, slave cylinder and hoses. $16,600 $14,500

Replacing your points and condenser with an electronic ignition unit, such as the Pertronix Ignitor, is a great idea which removes the necessity of adjusting the points and helps maintain the ignition tim-ing up to spec for far longer, and if used in conjunction with a high performance coil, provides for a stronger and more con-sistent spark at the plugs. Remember to widen the plug gaps to take advantage of the stronger spark. However, when the electronic unit dies, it dies! I experienced this aggravation earlier in the year when the motor cut out abruptly on approach to a stop sign. There was no warning – one minute all was OK, the next it was dead in the water. Fortunately, it occurred less than a kilometer from home and I was able to get a tow from fellow Six owner Colin Pillar. The moral of the story, other than carrying a tow rope, is to keep a spare set of points and condenser mounted on a base plate in your glove box ready to drop in should it ever be necessary (the cheaper option), or carry a spare electronic unit.

My planned outing to the ‘Brits at the Lake’ car show in Port Perry was squashed the day before when I set off in my Six to the local gas station to fill up the tank. I only got 300 metres before the engine died. A quick inspection under the hood suggested there was no spark at the plugs. I fervently hoped it wasn’t yet another Pertronix electronic ignition failure. Once home, I changed the Ignitor unit, the coil and the distributor cap to no avail. I sub-sequently determined that I was getting a spark from the coil lead but still not from the plugs. I even reverted back to contact breaker points without success. A couple of

days and several hours later we tried out each of the components in Colin’s Six and tracked the problem down to a faulty distributor ro-

tor. Interestingly, I had replaced it at the beginning of the summer at the same time I had replaced the electronic ignition unit. For good measure, I also replaced the HT plug wires and now have the car running beautifully again.

Fellow Stag owner, Robin Searle, recently brought to my attention the fact that if one installs electronic ignition in a Stag, and this would also apply to TR7 and TR8s, the tachometer will be incompatible with the new ignition unit unless it is modified to interact with an electronic system. There are at least two companies providing such a service for Smiths and British Jaeger electric tachometers by adding new cir-cuitry that eliminates the loop assembly: Nisonger Instruments of Marmaroneck, N.Y. (www.nisonger.com) and Revington TR (www.revingtontr.com) of Middlezoy, Somerset, UK.

Need a spare or replacement ignition, door or boot/glovebox or petrol cap key for your Triumph or other British car? Pete Groh of British Car Keys in Ellicott City, Maryland is the North American guru for British car keys. Contact him at Telephone: (410) 750-2352 (evening) or by email at [email protected] or check out his website at www.britishcarkeys.com. Pete recently crafted me a replacement boot lid key for my 73 Six based on the original se-rial number. He can supply both American key blanks at a cost of $12.00 plus postage or for those requiring true authenticity, Wilmot Breeden keys stamped “UNION” at $25.00 each.

Do you have a radiator that requires repair work? It isn’t always necessary to throw away a leaking or malfunctioning radiator and replace it with an expensive new one. Repairs, including re-coring, can

be carried out by a competent technician. I recently had some minor repairs done on my Stag’s radiator by Mark Dando of Oakville Auto Radiator Service, 234 Speers Road. Telephone (905) 845-4962.

Did your car run a little bit hotter than usual during the past summer season? At the recommendation of fellow Stag aficio-nado, Robin Searle, I decided to add some after-market super coolant product to my regular 50:50 coolant mix. Depending upon the manufacturer, it is recommend-ed adding about 1 fluid ounce per quart of coolant. Robin opted for DEI Radiator Re-lief at $18 a bottle while I choose Red Line Water Wetter at about half that price.

While on the subject of cooling, I added a 16 inch diameter Hayden electric pusher fan to my Stag earlier in the summer as many owners have already done. This ne-cessitated the removal of the air condition-ing fans and compressor and the installa-tion of an adjustable thermostatic control switch routed through an appropriate relay switch. After seeing my Stag set up, Colin Pillar has opted to install a pair of smaller fans on his Six together with an oil cooler in order to bring, what he considered to be, a higher than desired operating temperature under control. The theory behind the two smaller fans is that Colin will set each one at a different temperature threshold for an incremental increase in cooling ability.

This year I joined up for the first time with members of the Triumph Stag Club USA for a series of outings and social gatherings organised over the Friday and Saturday prior to Brit-ish Car Day. There were 24 Stags present at BCD this year. (see next issue for full de-tails - ed.)

Speke Easy by teRence McKIllen

Next to the warehouse is a garage full of British cars. And our co-workers often commute in

theirs. We put these cars to work every day.

When new parts are developed, we test them. If a part is returned, we’ll bolt it on, analyze it, and work

with the manufacturer to make it right.

If we are not happy with a part being on our cars, we wouldn’t think of selling it to you. And, just to make certain you are satisfied, we stand behind our parts

with the longest warranty in the business.

Call us. We’d love to send you a free catalog.

www.mossmotors.com800-667-7872

Date post:	06-Oct-2020
Category:	Documents
Upload:	others
View:	0 times
Download:	0 times

T h e M a g a z i n e O f T h e T O r O n T O T r i u M p h C l u b f a l l … · 2013. 3. 7. ·...

Documents