New Owner in Ontario, Canada

[Jeff_Masala]

Hi folks,

I'm about to become an owner of a 1974 TR6, getting possession in two days.

I'm not an automotive professional, nor even a serious hobbyist until now, bu t did hang around cars and work in a couple of garages many years ago as a teenager. One day the boss asked me to drive a customer's TR6 home for him, and while I drove it for just 5-10 minutes I also remembered the feeling. That car was just the bomb, as we might have said back then.

So I a few weeks ago a co-worker pointed me to a local TR6 for sale, and after several test drives and a trip to my professional mechanic, it will soon be in my garage. It will need some relatively minor repairs before I can obtain an Ontario safety certificate for it and get it plated and back on the road, but I have a good sense of what's required. Things like getting the wipers and horn working, amongst others.

I'm not going to do a full restoration at this time, but have a strategy of what I might call "conservation". That is, to conserve the car in good running order for the long haul. Repairs will indeed be needed, but it is in basically road-worthy condition now.

But I will need resources to learn about how to repair and maintain these wonderful cars. I've already found The Roadster Factory, this forum and a couple of great YouTube channels. Elin Yakov has been inspirational there [edit: and Cheftush, too!], convincing me that I can learn the needed skills for basic repairs.

So, the question I ask of you is what are the best resources for the newbie owner looking to make basic running repairs ?

I will share some more details and pictures over time.

Thanks,
Jeff Masala

[MARKRL]

Jeff,
Congrats! Your car looks great! I joined here before I got my car and have received much help. Everybody here is friendly and very knowledgeable. These folks have no problem spending your money!! I always come here if in doubt or just to verify if I'm thinking correctly about ANYTHING! I recently joined a local club that has a wealth of information and even helping hands if needed. I love my car and I really have never seen a better community of people that love their cars too. By the way..I have also gained some great knowledge from the Buckeye Triumphs web site in their tech articles.
Have a great journey!
Mark

[Tush]

Glad you enjoyed the ride Jeff!

Cheers
Tush

[LastDigitOfPi]

I trust you treated Mrs. Masala correctly on the 'Kissing Bridge'.
A great area to drive.

[skootch13]

Congrats on the drive and great pics. yes, they are fun

[Jeff_Masala]

Many thanks to all of the contributors to this forum, and to the gracious and helpful welcome.

With the help of information on this site I completed the safety critical repairs, obtained a safety certificate and put brand new license plates for the car on Thursday. I did not post any questions about what I was fixing, as I found the answers here already. The site search function works better than on most web sites.

After putting the plates on after dinner, Mrs. Masala and I promptly went for a little drive in the country and stopped to take a few photos. Neither of us are skilled photographers, and we only had our mid-range camera phones with us, but we had fun playing photographer.

First we stopped at the West Montrose covered bridge, the only such bridge remaining in Ontario.









































Soon it grew dusk, time to turn on some lights. Some of the dashboard lights work. More than I expected, actually.



It was a beautiful warm summer evening, just starting to cool off.



Mrs. Masala caught the most amazing picture - Harrison Ford, Jupiter and the Moon all in the same picture! (That guy looks just like Harrison Ford, doesn't he? Doesn't he? )

Jupiter is the little white spec between the driver and the Moon. Venus was visible further to the west, out of the frame.


And finally back home to the driveway before putting the car to bed in the garage.



A warm summer evening, lovely countryside, good company and an open car that both looks great and is a joy to drive.

This is what I think the driving the TR6 is all about.

Thanks,
Jeff

[Jeff_Masala]

Thanks Doug. I will make a point to trying to participate in the Waterloo club.

[dougstr6]

Welcome to TR6 ownership Jeff, I've been at it for 33 years and counting. There is a british car group in your back yard (KW) that get together monthly to discuss their common addictions to these little cars, lol

Cheers!

[Jeff_Masala]

Thanks Walt for the thoughts on the shocks. I'll explore that further in time.

[skootch13]

Real nice looking car. That white and shadow look great together. And the engine bay is real tidy.

[SapphireBlue72]

That looks really nice; a well-cared for TR6.
That rear shock may crack your frame, given enough miles, but some people like to play with fire.
Original Armstrong lever shocks are designed to work with the movement of the trailing arms.

[wbwood]

Congratulations, Jeff! Looks like you are off to a wonderful start (except for the reluctant garage door). And as you already have discovered, ed_h's journal is a fine resource for you. One of many.

Warren

[Tush]

Very nice. Yep, shadow blue. I like that combo. My first TR6 was Sapphire Blue with a shadow blue interior. Enjoy!

Cheers
Tush

[Jeff_Masala]

Is that the official name of the colour? I'm not colour savvy, more like a 1980s CGA computer monitor - I know 16 colours including black and white.

[Jeff_Masala]

Well it's official, money changed hands and papers were signed today. I now own a TR6 and could not be more excited.

I only got a few crummy phone shots of it in the garage, as most of the evening was spent wrestling with the garage door which decided to break the lift spring 20 minutes before the car arrived. Could not have been worse timing!

There are Weber carbs, an updated dual exhaust, some (hopefully good) rear suspension updates and more.

You folks are awesome, I've read through some horn wiring threads and started debugging that tonight. With the schematics in hand and lots of advice already written, I'm confident of success. But I will post in the Electrical forum when I'm stumped.

Shout out to Ed_h for the TR6 pages on bullfire.net. Holy wow. Just wow. I was late for work today because I couldn't stop reading those pages!

Thanks again to everybody. Looking forward to someday soon being able to contribute back.


Jeff