Hey JaDub - '69 Triumph GT6 'Refurb'

[gitano]

Hey JaDub - You are by far the resident guru on old automobile restoration, racing, fooling around, etc. What's your estimate for the cost of taking this http://www.ebay.com/itm/Triumph-Other-N-A-/231670160143 and turning it into a "restored", running, car?

I'm not giving ANY thought to doing that, I'm just curious what someone with professional experience and KNOWS about this sort of thing thinks what it would take to get this back to "as issued".

Paul

[j0e_bl0ggs (deceased)]

Man, wouldn't give him the 900 even if he gave the 'other parts'...

I have other part such as the bumpers, chrome, glass, lights, ect available : Not included with the car.

[JaDub]

WAAAAY more than you could ever get for it. For a first class bare metal ground up restoration ( provided ALL the parts were there and usable) probably $40 to $50K. I always liked these cars but considering its` British heritage I wouldn`t touch one with a ten foot pole. I`m 5`10" and I had a VERY hard time getting in and out of one. Couple that with the "prince of darkness" Lucas and Laycock, it`s pretty much a nightmare to keep running.

Do I like `em.......... yeah.
Would I own one.......... not in a million years.

[gitano]

$40 to $50k is the figure I was looking for. Like I said, I had no delusions about undertaking such a task, I've just always been curious about the time and money involved in such an endeavor.

I looked at several of them from '68 to '71 and saw some prices that weren't scary for a car of that age and that specific model. I had an opportunity to buy a '69 for $1400 in '71. !@#$%^&* bank wouldn't give me a loan even though I was an E-4 in the Navy. I was very upset about that. HOWEVER, I have long since come to learn that 'divine intervention' has always been in my favor over the years, and when I 'miss' something I want, it's always been for the best.

A couple of years earlier when I was working on an oil-rig in Prudhoe Bay and making more money than an 18-year-old aught to make, I walked into a Chevy dealership with $25k IN CASH in my pocket with the intent to buy a 'Vette. The salemen laughed at me and wouldn't take me on a test drive, which kinda ticked me off. I took the $25K wad out of my pocket and stuck it under their noses and told them they could whistle for my business. (Or words something like that... ) They tried VERY hard to get me to stay for a test drive. I probably would have killed myself with that car OR ended up in jail. One or the other or both.

These days, the only two "old" cars I care to own are a '51 DeSoto - the first car I remember my family owning, or a '69 "Judge". (I HATE that name, but it was an incredible car.) I'd still like to have a 'Vette, but the only people that I know that own them are old guys trying be something they aren't, and "working girls". I don't want to be confused with being a member of either of those two groups, so I've put owning a 'Vette out of consideration. (I have a very good Navy buddy that has a couple. He's certainly not a "working girl", and since he's had them since he could get them when we were in the Navy, he's also not trying to be what he isn't.) I would be willing to be seen driving an old DeSoto or Judge or maybe even an Edsel. (I liked them when they first came out!) But the DeSotos are hard to find, the Judges are pretty spendy for an "as issued" one, and current owners of Edsels are VERY proud of them!

Thanks again,
Paul

[JaDub]

If you really want a GT6 I`d suggest buying a restored one and let them ( the seller ) take it in the shorts.  Offer them $10 to $15K if it`s a nice one.  I doubt that the car ( RESTORED ONE ) will be worth much more in our lifetime.

[gitano]

Thanks for the advice, JaDub. I found a couple under 10k that were in apparently good working order and looked good. But I'm just not in the market for such a car. '51 DeSoto or '69 Judge are pretty much the only cars that will turn my head, and the 'deal' would have to be genuinely "smokin'". I'm just curious about cars that held my interest as a kid. Your comment about 'fit' did not go unnoticed.

Paul

PS - http://www.triumphexp.com/registry/KC79857L

With the following sentence being noted. Overall car is in driver condition with some things for a new owner to improve upon. BUT... that's a nice-looking car. Were I 'in the mood', I'd be giving this guy a call.

Paul

[Hunterbug]

This reminds me of the old joke: Why don't the British build computers? They can't figure out how to make them leak oil on the showroom floor. ��

[gitano]

This reminds me of the old joke: Why don't the British build computers? They can't figure out how to make them leak oil on the showroom floor. ��

Paul

[JaDub]

Oh, yeah..........   and why do the Brits   drink warm beer ?????  `Cus their refrigerators are made  by Lucas.  8-)

[gitano]

Funny jokes!

However, considering the state of American motors, let's not get too high up on our horses. I'm driving a rattle-trap Ford that is referred to by my friends as the "Possum Van". Those familiar with the "Red Green" show will know the reference.

I'm reminded of one of my favorite sayings about Europeans:
In Heaven: the cooks are French, the policemen are English, the mechanics are German, the lovers are Italian and the bankers are Swiss.

In Hell: the cooks are English, the policemen are German, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss and the bankers are Italian....

The reason it's so funny is because there is a thread of truth to it, but I'm not sure where Americans (mongrels made up of Englishmen, Italians, Germans, Swiss, and French), would fit in the comparison.

Paul

[JaDub]

That is so true!

[gitano]

Oh yeah, there is one more old car I would like to have: A Formula 455 Firebird. I think the '70 was the 'beastiest' one, but I could be mistaken on that. A lot of numbskulls drove TransAms, but I think I could still wear it without being embarrassed.

Paul

[recoil junky]

Or a 70 GTO Judge 455.

http://www.boldride.com/ride/1970/pontiac-gto-judge#gallery/2

RJ

[JaDub]

Oh, Yeah on both of those cars...........   `cept gas ain`t 29 cents  gallon anymore.  8-)
 
  When I was in high school we used to `get around` in a `66  442 convertaible.  Used to pass everything but a gas pump!

[gitano]

The Judge is the first choice!

My best-friend-in-HS's Dad was the head of Mercedes Benz west of the Mississippi. John got pretty much what he wanted in cars. The car he owned when I met him was a '65 Ford Galaxy 500. It was as 'souped up' as you could get it from the factory, (including a 4:11 rear end, dual, progressive, 4-bbl carbs and four-on-the-floor - factory stock), but, I kid you not, it's original owner was a "little old lady". She traded it in for a Mercedes in '68, and when John found out what it "was", he got it. And did exactly nothing to it except put a set of glass packs on it. No wide tires. No slicks. Not jacked up. Looked like a little old lady's car. Just didn't sound like one when he revved it. :)

We (I just rode, :) ), ate everything alive in '68 and '69 EXCEPT the Judge. And I'm talking all the street-legal 'hot rods' in southern California in the peak of the muscle car era. ALL of them. (We knew all the 'back roads' from Newport beach to Santa Monica as there were a couple of close calls with local gendarmes. :) ) That car looked like 'nothin', and there weren't even any close calls EXCEPT for one '69 Judge. At that was as close to a tie as you can see on a street race. Hence my affinity for the Judge. My brother-in-law had a '70 Formula 455 Firebird. That was a serious muscle car! And hence my affinity for those. But...

As was pointed out, gas isn't 29-cents-a-gallon any more. BUT... if I had one of those cars, I really wouldn't care. :D

I feel a little uncomfortable talking about 'details' on matters 45 years old in front of two 'gear-heads' that have forgotten more about cars and car engines that I ever knew. I'm pretty sure I've got the 'details' straight; I'm sure it was a 4:11 rear end, and I'm sure it had dual, 4-bb carbs with progressive linkage, and four-on-the-floor, but I'm not SURE that was all "factory", but John told me it was. And I know what it looked like: Plain vanilla Galaxy 500. What I am sure of was its performance on the street. And that wasn't "plain vanilla".

All of that would be fun to look back on if it wasn't for the fact that John was killed by a drunk driver just about 4 years later.

Paul

[sakorick]

Back in the day when I was a rich single 1st Lieutenant, I ran a 1968 440 GTX at GVR at the Grapevine, TX dragstrip in the old formula 4, A stock automatic. My best time was a 14.05 which was only a few tenths off the national record. The GTO's and Mustangs were cannon fodder!

[JaDub]

...and then there was the day back in college when we had an English Ford Anglia ( `63 I think ..... slant back rear window ), that we completely gutted out, and then we installed a MK1 Cortina GT engine & gearbox into. With the very `short` Anglia diff and the close Cortina GT gearbox, add to that a very worked over 120E engine and that buggar just ran off and hid from the V-8s. I think it weighed around 1,000 lbs or so..........maybe less. We even filled the stock gas tank with beach sand so we could get more weight over the read axle. It must have weighed better than 100 lbs or so once it was full of sand. Our best time was 13.42 in the quarter mile. It was always funny to see the V-8 guys ( who were, by then, very upset ) coming down to our pit demanding " we need to count your spark plugs " ! 8-(

They were NOT happy. 8-)