Carolyn and Wayne Byrne enjoying the comforts of their TR2

Trevor and Steph Lindsay with their 1969 Mk1 2.5PI Estate after taking out the prestigious Shannons Award at the 2009 All British Day

Brian Argent enjoying his recently completed TR6 project. Nice job Brian!!

I was contacted recently by Larry Kavanagh of Fairview Park (mob 0488 401 956) who advised that he had recently acquired a very interesting vehicle with which he is seeking some help with both information and parts. After talking with Larry and reading the information that he does have about the car, I found both the history and the restoration project very interesting and well worth sharing with TSOA.

First, a brief history of what we know – one Lance Ridgway purchased an accident damaged TR3A in 1961 and proceeded to convert the car into a full bodied GT car complete with gull wing doors, using a square steel tube framework and full aluminium body shaped b y John Webb in his after hours time at the Elfin factory.

The car featured in the June 1963 edition of Sports Car World and we have a copy of this article complete with photos of the car showing its stylish fastback design and Lance Ridgway holding up one of the gull wing doors. Apparently, these were yet to find a permanent means of support given that gas struts were not commonly available at the time.

Lance sold the car to Dr Geoff Ward in 1963 and was raced and used for hillclimbing with mixed results – it was simply known as a Triumph GT. A Dr Ross Benger was next to own the car, before it was re-acquired by Lance Ridgway. During the period of this second term as owner, Lance had the fast back fixed roof removed and converted the car to a roadster, complete with small racing windscreen and roll bar.

Since that time the car has had several owners including the Kuchell family in the Barossa and a Steven Rowley of Williamstown. Larry Kavanagh now has what remains and judging by the photos, it is in need of some TLC. Lance is determined to get the car back to pristine condition and perhaps back on the track for historic demonstrations, regularity events and hill climbs.

Larry is keen to talk with anyone who may have information about the car, memories of events that it has been seen, photographs etc. Also, as there are many TR3A parts missing, he is keen to source parts to complete the job. If your shed is anything like mine, where odd bits and pieces of Triumph models that I have played with over the years are collected, and you have messed with the early TR’s, then you may have that missing bit.

Larry’s contact number is mob 0488 401 956 and he will be keen to talk with you.

Roger Lange, Competition Secretary

Have a look at http://jalopnik.com/399525/amazing-barn-find-aussie-man-hoards-297-classic-cars and you will find the amazing collection of our own Clive and Liz Hill.

Roger

I met and became friends with Rob Duncan way back in the 70’s when Rob and family lived here in Adelaide for a number of years. They returned to Oregon USA where Rob enjoyed success with his home and business security installation and monitoring business. Rob’s interests in automobiles goes way back to his youth – I have heard mention of a big Healey in his college days, and a short wheelbase V8 engined Jeep that was nicknamed “The Frog” because of the way it simply leaped away when the clutch was dropped. More recently, Rob has enjoyed Mercedes 560SL and a couple of Porsche’s, the current one being a hotted up version of a late 90’s twin turbo 911 Carrera.

Rob has retired from his business interests, and has always had an automobile restoration project in the back of his mind for when the time was right. Imagine my surprise when the project taken on was a Triumph Stag. Of all the cars he could have chosen, he chose a Stag – imagine that! Well, the project is now complete, and here is his story.

Roger

1971 Triumph Stag, VIN: LE2733LBW- A brief history.

Anne and I were visiting friends in Albuquerque, New Mexico a few years back. We drove over to their friend’s house for tea one day. Jack, the new friend, has a few acres, with a barn, and he is retired. Jack’s wife is a mobile home broker, so Jack takes advantage of this auction privilege to peruse collector automobile auctions, as well.

Jack’s collecting has been going on for several decades. It is, naturally, his dream to refurbish each of his treasures. In the barn they sit; except for the Stag. Jack enjoyed being the second owner and driving the Stag when he first bought it. He put a few thousand miles on it and then parked it, where it sat, for over twenty years.

New Mexico enjoys a very dry climate. As a consequence, what you park is what you get, years later, except for an incredible layer of added dust. I told Jack that if he ever decided to sell the Triumph, to let me know first. I would make him a good offer.

Late spring of `06 we drove to Albuquerque to once again visit our friends. While there, I insisted we have a visit to see Jack. I discovered that Jack had sold the 50’s Porsche, which he had claimed he was never going to do. Darn it! But, he still had the Stag. An offer was made, and a deal was struck. On the long drive north to Oregon I mused over how I was going to get the car home.

My neighbor, Jim, hadn’t been out of his digs for some time and agreed to ride shotgun with me in Big Red, my `94 GMC pickup, when I returned to New Mexico in July. Once there, I would rent a U-Haul trailer for the haul back. The trip down went well. Every few hundred miles we would find a hotel, buy a few tinny’s, and enjoy an evening out of the brutal S.W. heat.

Somewhere near Death Valley, California the truck’s AC went out. This meant that the rest of the drive would be with the windows down. We entered the Mojave Desert land’s 110F, tumble weeded highways. This part of the trip was not good. The trip to New Mexico took two and half days. We rested a few days before loading the Stag for the return trip.

With the windows down, off we went. We stopped when needed for fuel or food, but we just kept on. 24-hours later we drove into Medford. We had covered the 1618km trip without a break. During the night, however, we did roll the windows up a bit.

In `06 Anne and I lived in a condo. There was no place to park the Triumph. My son, Matt, had a cemented pad next to his garage and offered that as a place to park my new treasure. A new 10’x20’ vehicle storage tent served as my garage for the tear-down stages of the project during the winter of `06.

By spring of `07 I had stripped the car naked and had replaced all of the factory rubber, brakes, and fitted the car with GAZ adjustable shocks. The engine had been taken to a machine shop to do the necessary over-bore to clean up the cylinders. While there, I supplied the new Rimmer Bros’ parts to rebuild the bottom and top ends.

The car was ready to leave tent-land and go to the body shop for its much needed facial. I have known Doug, the body man, for many years through our joint interest in flying and through the work he has done for me on touching up my Porsches. Doug advises that the new paints won’t sit well on top the older ones and that the Stag will have to be taken down to the metal. Over the summer he would fit it in.

The year `07 found us moving from the 3-storey condo to a place in Flat-Land. The new home had a carport, but no garage. By late fall of the year, Doug had finished his work and the shiny new car was parked under the temporary shelter of the carport. It was too cold to work outdoors this season. So the Stag sat. It was during this winter period that I would lay awake at night trying to picture how all of the bits and pieces would fit back together.  Day by day the air began to warm. It was time to test my recall, and to drag out the photos when memory failed.

Construction of a new 3-car garage started in the spring of `08. During that time, I worked in the carport and reinstalled the engine, transmission, and the refinished dash assembly. Rimmer Bros to the rescue again – the seats were refitted with new vinyl covers and under-felt and carpeting was installed.

No new garage, for an auto hobbyist, is complete without an asymmetrical lift installed in the sunniest bay. The Stag had snug new digs for the remaining undercarriage work. Does the phrase, God-sent, have a new meaning?  By late August the car came to life. Albeit, not without some discoveries.

The factory AC compressor didn’t want to remount on the port side of the engine. Had I done something wrong? An email to Rimmer Bros cleared the air. Apparently it didn’t get into the sale’s script that the tubular sports manifold wouldn’t accommodate the factory air. So, out it came. This also meant I could remove the AC radiator and fan assembly. That cleaned up the front end a bit.

No one reads the Triumph web sites without coming away with nightmare stories about the Lucas electrical system. So, early on in my Rimmer Bros shopping, I invested in a Lumenition ignition kit. Gone were the rotor and the twin point contacts. Life with Lucas would be better.

The new plugs were gapped and the static timing was set. I had mounted a new set of SU carbs, in lieu of attempting a first time go at rebuilding the old ones. I hadn’t yet tweaked the trip pots. After a few hesitant, reflective moments, I turned the key. Crank, crank- nothing was happening. Matt suspected the distributor was 180 degrees off. He quickly provided a remedy fix for the problem. The engine then turned about four times and fired to life. Wow! Something had to be wrong with this picture. Two years later; this was too good to be true.

Meanwhile, on the starboard side of the engine, the new exhaust blocked removal of the oil pump and the oil transfer housing. During the normal life of a new engine, this wouldn’t be a problem. However, some aspect of the oil transfer housing’s o-ring hadn’t seated well and the engine had a small drip. The loss was not great, but what did come out dripped on the new stainless exhaust pipe and put up quite a stink, and a small cloud.

Now, a rebuild purist would have simply said, “The engine must be immediately removed”, but Rob said, “Let’s see how everything else goes, first.” A small flash of tin fitted between the oil filter and the exhaust pipe served to deflect the occasional drop of oil to the pavement, which is more properly where it should end up after its outing.

Roger Lange had told me there was nothing sweeter sounding than the rumbling, deep tonal quality of the Stag exhaust. On the couple of occasions when I have had someone else revving the engine, I have stood behind and admired his apt description. At all other times, I have found myself motoring with the window rolled down while hoping I would drive past a sound reflecting cement wall.
Yes, there’s a hard top, too. I just don’t care for the looks of it, compared to the ragtop. This winter I will install its new headliner and find an out-of-the-way resting place for it in the upper atmosphere of one of the garage bays. Now, what am I going to do next?

Unfortunately the forecast of hot weather impacted on the number of TSOA members who attended the punt run on 18 November.  Thankfully the weather was not as hot as forecasted and those who did attend had a very enjoyable time.  We had a total of 6 cars starting from Adelaide and another joining us at Mannum.

After leaving Civic Park opposite Tea Tree Plaza Shopping Centre we headed through the Adelaide Hills to Inglewood, Gumeracha, Birdwood and to Mt Pleasant for our first stop.  What was intended to be only a quick toilet stop at Mt Pleasant ended up being coffee and cake and lots of laughs at the Steam and Whistle Rail Bakery where we rearranged the furniture to accommodate the group.

From there we headed off to Walker Flat for our first punt crossing to meet up again at the lookout on top of the cliffs on the other side of the river for quite a spectacular view.  We drove on to Purnong for our second punt crossing before continuing on to Mannum and meeting up for a picnic lunch on the lawns at the park by the river.  One car left us here and headed home.

It was difficult to leave, as it was so pleasant in the shade of the gums.  However, we ventured on after lunch where we crossed the river on the punt at Mannum and headed to Murray Bridge again crossing the river but this time via the bridge.

From here, two cars headed back to Adelaide while the remaining four cars turned off to Jervois for another punt crossing to Tailem Bend.

From Tailem Bend we headed to Wellington for the final punt crossing and a stop at the Old Court House for a well-deserved ice cream under the shade of the gums overlooking the river.  This was our opportunity to say goodbye before everyone headed off along different routes back home to Adelaide.

It was a great day and we thank those who did support the run.

Geoff & Barb Cugley

Goodwood Festival of Speed by Colin White

Planning or thinking of a trip to the UK in early summer?  Interested in cars and motor sport ?  (Of course you are or you wouldn’t be reading this)!   Well, you really shouldn’t miss the Goodwood Festival of Speed at least once in your life.

Peter Bland and I had both planned to be in the UK in June this year(2007), and so decided to meet up and go to the 3 day event.  It is held on the Goodwood Estate in West Sussex, which is the family seat and home of the Earl of March who must be one of the wealthiest petrol heads in the world!

Despite the weather not being the best (it bucketed down all day on the Sunday) we had a fantastic 3 days and were both absolutely blown away by the scale of the event, the amazing variety of historic and latest cars, bikes, and well known drivers, riders and other motoring celebrities past and present from all around the world.

The Festival caters exclusively for the most significant cars in the history of international motor sport, such as famous Grand Prix cars; successful Le Mans, Indy and CanAm cars; important rally and touring cars; plus some of the world’s most famous competition motorcycles.

The main event is a 1.16 mile hillclimb track in the grounds of Goodwood House. This track is very narrow with some treacherous bends and a high rock wall towards the top.  Imagine Lewis Hamilton in his latest FI car up this track, in the wet, with wheels spinning!

There are a number of grandstands along the track which give superb close views of the action, and public viewing areas which were extremely crowded.  Our entry and grandstand seats for the 3 days cost about 150 pounds, and had to be purchased in advance – no tickets for sale at the gates.

Around the start of the hillclimb are four Paddocks where all 350 of the cars and bikes are based and worked on during the event. There is completely unrestricted access for the public throughout the Paddocks so you can get up close and personal with all the cars, bikes and their drivers and mechanics.  Wandering around these Paddocks we saw so many beautiful and famous cars and bikes – too many to list, but I took some 300 odd photos.  However, be warned it is crowded, particularly on the Sunday.

We watched the main action on the hillclimb from our grandstand seats.  So many, many exciting runs by fantastic cars and bikes along with the stunning smell and noise of the cars and bikes – too many to list them all but  …… particular highlights were :-

Chris Pfeiffer, World Stunt Champion performing amazing stunts on his BMW F800S bike.

Rowan Atkinson driving the John Cobb World Land Speed Record Napier Railton Special
Troy Bayliss World Superbike Champion riding his 999FO7 race bike.
Emerson Fittipaldi in the Gold Leaf Lotus 49B.
Lewis Hamilton wheelspinning his McLaren Mercedes F1 car up the hill in the wet.
Nick Mason (Pink Floyd drummer), in the 1930’s works Auto Union Type D.
Sammy Miller, the world’s greatest trials rider riding a Gilera Quattro.
Stirling Moss driving the Mercedes Benz 300SLR (in which he won the 1955 Mille Miglia) and the 4WD Ferguson-Climax F1 car.
John Surtees riding the Honda RA301.
The Group C Le Mans winning Silk Cut Jaguar XJR6, 9 and 12 endurance racers.
White vans (support vehicles) racing up and down the hill at the end of each event carrying drivers, celebrities and who knows what else…..!
and Mark Webber on a bicycle in the Organic Cycle Race!

Other events or attractions that were going on at the same time that we managed to see  were:-

The Rally Special Stage, which is a 2.5-kilometre loose-surface rally stage, cut into the wooded area close to the hillclimb finish line.  Around 30 historic and current rally cars gave a thrilling demonstration of sideways driving throughout the stage.  We saw Paddy Hopkirk in a Monte Carlo Rally Cooper S (rolled it!), Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson in works WRC Imprezas, Colin McRae in his own design McRae R4 rally car, Stig Blomqvist in the famous Pikes Peak Audi Quattro, and many others.
The  Cartier Style et Luxe, a concours event featuring some of the most beautiful and exotic cars ever built – this year featuring 5 stunning Bugatti Royales out of only 6 ever built (the last one sold for 5.5 million pounds in 1987!), and many other fabulous original restored cars.  Others I fell in love with were a beautiful 1935 Triumph Dolomite 8C and a 1936 Jaguar SS100.
The cricket ground which had been converted into a recreation of the Bonneville Salt Flats with a stationary collection of 12 famous land speed record breakers including the rocket powered Blue Flame, the Spirit of ’76, and MG’s EX181.
The FOS-TECH pavilion which featured future design and technology in a number of concept performance cars of the future, and a robot!
A huge area of trade stands featuring most of the performance and supercar manufacturers right down to individual accessory and souvenir sellers.

Things that we didn’t get to because we didn’t want to miss the action on the hillclimb were a display of Ferraris in the courtyard of Goodwood House marking their 60th anniversary, the Bonham’s auction which was actually held on the Thursday before the event started, the Porsche SUV and LandRover driving experience where you could drive yourself off road, and the Sunday Times Supercar paddock featuring about 20 of the latest supercars in the world. Most disappointing of all, we didn’t get an invitation to the big celebrity party held by Lord March in Goodwood House on the Saturday night – apparently quite a rave-up!  We just had to console ourselves with the thought that the lack of our company was their loss!

Peter and I pre-booked our tickets on the net through the Goodwood website www.goodwood.co.uk which is well worth having a look at anyway.  We also arranged B & B accommodation in Petersfield, which was about 15 miles from Goodwood, about 20 minutes drive via back roads.  Parking at Goodwood was free, in fields on the estate, and very well organised with temporary road boards laid so that exit even on the very muddy Sunday afternoon was no real problem.

The biggest problem with the weather on the Sunday was that the public areas became a quagmire of slippery mud. Unfortunately for me when I was leaving the grandstand at the end of the day I slipped and fell flat on my face in 6 inches of mud and was covered from head to toe! I managed to clean most of it off my face, specs and jacket, but had to drive 3 hours home to Stratford in my sister’s car with my shoes and trousers covered in mud! She was not impressed with the state of her car!

To wrap up, I reckon the next event to go to is the Goodwood Revival meeting of historic racers which is held on the Goodwood Motor Racing circuit which is separate to the hillclimb (there is a horse racing circuit as well!). However I’ll need to do some sweet talking indoors for that!

Colin White