My First 10,000 Mile Year

What a year we all had! With the mild winter, dry summer and fall, along with warm fall temperatures, I drove over 10,000 Triumph Miles this season! Only crossed into Indiana on two occasions. In past years, my mileage has been less than 1000 miles. Why?? Read on.

Most of the miles are on my every day driver, the 1980 30th Anniversary TR7. This is the car I bought July, 97 for my son, Phil Squared. (His name is Phil also). Yes, it was rusted (what does "rusted through" mean?), and did not run right. These are the only cars I buy, rusted and don't run. I asked a local auto repair mechanic to correct the poor engine performance. He said I needed a to replace the choke and the choke for this car is not available. Playing around on the Internet I found a guy in Northeast Indiana who agreed to help me tune it. I got all the tune up parts, borrowed the Pyle's trailer and towed it to Northwest Indiana. In minutes the car was running great. He found air in the water line going to the water choke of the Carburetor. Nothing was wrong with my choke! This guy truly loved these types of chokes. He bled the air out, added all the tune up parts and it has ran great ever since.

Then I had to deal with the rust. What does "rusted through" mean? My son and I enrolled in an auto body class at Davia Vocational School (now COD) in Addison where we learned how to use the air tools, cut, grind, weld, mix and apply fiberglass, sand, add body filler, pound out dents, wet sand, use aircraft stripper, mix primer, paint, and clear coat, and we painted the whole car on June 10, 1999. We still need to wet sand it and buff out the "orange peel" texture and add the model decals. That is all future work.

For 18 months the car looked like <@#+> (symbols known as s&*t). The original deteriorated black rag top with the gray duct tape mending the rips and covering the holes, not to mention the two colored exterior. It did look bad. Except for my son, the rest of my family would not ride in the car. Our auto body instructor told us about half way through this rebuilding process that it will start to look "worse" before it looks "better" and unfortunately, he was right. As we drove the car to auto body class every Thursday evening, nobody would take notice of the car except maybe to laugh and make fun of us since we usually had the top down (the older the top, the more it shrinks and sometimes we had problems putting it up.)

Now that the car is painted all the same color along with a new rag top, we get favorable looks as they speed past! And since the model number decals are not on yet, no one knows if it is a 7 or an 8.

Seems like I am a professional auto body student at Davia, now enrolled in my 6th auto body quarter working on the 67 Spitfire Mark III. It looks similar to the way the TR7 looked, but without the gray duct tape on the top.

Why the 10,000 miles? Could it be confidence? With my participation in ISOA functions these past two years, my automotive skills are improving. Tasks completed this year include: master clutch cylinder rebuild, master brake cylinder rebuild, bled the clutch and brake lines, thermostat housing heli coil repair, replaced a differential, replaced a water pump, repaired electrical problems in headlight circuit, drained and flushed cooling system, and more. Without ISOA, this work would have been hired out.

I want to thank all the Members, especially the Board Members, who have assisted me in keeping my Triumphs running. At ISOA Meetings, at our Clinics, and the British Union Meet, seems like I am asking questions to our Members on how to do something. So far so good. Thank you for all your help.

I do have a question. I don't see that many Triumphs out on the road (not including Club Functions or Car Shows). Where have all the Triumphs gone? I really have enjoyed driving my Triumphs this year and look forward to driving the "yet to be completed" '67 Spitfire next year!

Phil "Factor" Fox
January 9, 2000

Well Phil, the Pawlak family TR7 (actually Jenny's) has been my commuter car on and off during 1999. The car has clocked just under 8000 miles and will continue to be my commuter car for the winter until it will see a complete engine and body restoration coming up soon. We will see a 2000 driving review of the much maligned, yet undeserving TR7. Editor