It is exactly a year since I got on a train in Oxfordshire and travelled to Hereford to collect my 50th birthday present to myself, a 1972 Mark 3 GT6 which
had been rebuilt from the ground up back in 1986 but between 1987 and 2002 had done hardly any miles but had been mainly dry stored and well looked
after.
In the year that I have owned the car I have had some unusual 'head scratching' problems as well as the 'usual' Triumph problems which have all been sorted
out after kind help from this messageboard.
My year went as follows:-
January:- Brake overhaul was required as the hydraulics do not take too kindly to sitting around for the best part of 15 years.
February:- Went to Stoneleigh and bought a lovely Phoenix sports stainless steel exhaust system
March:- Took my seats to the 'Bromsgrove MG Centre' (they were at the Feb Stonleigh show) and they did a wonderful job of recovering them in leather.
April:- Had to renew the front shockers
May:- Fitted electronic ignition also had to replace leaking clutch slave cylinder.
June-September:- Replaced worn rocker shaft and any worn rocker arms and set tappets. Then took advantage of the glorious hot summer and used the car as
often as I could.
October:- Drove to TSSC HQ and treated myself to a lovely new set of Minilites.
November:- I work down in Oxfordshire but live in Hartlepool and so decided to drive the GT6 the 260 miles 'Up Norf' and garage it for the winter. The
drive was perfect and if anyone saw a white GT6 on the M1 with the driver grinning insanely it was me!!
December:- Took the car for its MOT and it sailed through although the examiner warned me about a possible bodywork problem so I took the car to an old
established Classic Car bodywork and paint sprayers in Hartlepool and left the car with them for a couple of weeks and asked them to go over the car with a
fine toothcomb and when I went to collect it the GT6 looked brand new. Luckily they told me that the bodywork was fine and that the problem was caused by
the previous owner using too much primer. They have done a wonderful job and If anyone is interested the web site is:-
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/arkleys/contackinfo.h...
(I have no affiliation with them and am just a satisfied customer. I asked how much a full respray would be and they told me £500)
I now cannot wait until the spring when I will drive it back down to Oxfordshire again and I have enjoyed every second of owning the car. Even the problems
have been enjoyable as it has been so nice to re-learn skills that I never thought I would use again after 20+ years of driving boring company cars.
Anyway, thanks again for any help given and I am looking foward to Stoneleigh next month when I am sure that I can find some more 'goodies' to buy!
Happy New Year
Mike