Friday, May 1, 2009

That Ain't No Bronco

Those who know me, know that I've been in the market for an Early Bronco (1966 - 1977) to restore and have fun with for a while now.  I almost had my mind made up when a question of logistics was curiously raised while looking at my garage space.  My 1940's-era 1 1/2 car garage was not going to accommodate 36-inch tires and a 5-inch body lift on an already-rather-tall truck.  Oh crap.

With the desire to get my hands dirty, I started looking at Camaros, GTOs, Chevy IIs, and other muscle cars.  Knowing full well that my budget would not go very far, the results were ominous.  With prices for a rusted-out heap sans drivetrain averaging $10k, I was going to need another plan: foreigns.  

Porsche?  Yeah, right.  
Datsun?  Not cool.  
VW?  Not interested.  
Sunbeam?  More expensive than I thought.  
MG?  Perhaps.  
Triumph?  Possibly.

Looking on eBay, my mind was made up.  The old Triumph TRs were still relatively inexpensive and, doing more research, replacement parts were available and reasonable.  I looked at a few TR6s, but the TR4s really caught my eye.  What's more, there was one for sale about an hour away that claimed to be rust-free.  All signs were good.

Since I purchased my 1967 TR4A IRS, I have a new-found respect for these old British cars.  Being borne from wartime surplus parts and, eventually, finding a niche in sportscar racing, the TR's evolution is an interesting course.  But more on that in a later post.

Courtesy of http://www.vtr.org/models.shtml, the TR Line: 

TR2 (1952-55)

TR3/3A/3B (1955-62)

TR4 (1961-65)

TR4A (1965-67)

TR5/250 (1967-68)

TR6 (1969-76)

TR7 (1975-81)

TR8 (1978-81)

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