| Issue #5 - Last of 1999 |
In this issue |
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| Page 1 |
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The lastest rantings from the editor. [more]
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| Mike Ross' Spit 6 |
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Mike is in the process of building a highly modified Spit 6, with a lot of interesting upgrades. Does a turbocharged TR6 engine grab your attention? It grabbed mine! [more]
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| Christian Philipp's GT6 Restoration |
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Christian purchased his GT6 (named "Floyd") 5 years ago as a restoration project. He finished the restoration, and is now progressing to the next step - improvements... [more]
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| Andy Gascoigne's GT6 |
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Andy read Andrew Stark's story in Issue 3 and was inspired to tell me about his trials & tribulations of Triumph ownership. [more]
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| Your Stuff |
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Reader contributions - letters, photos, etc.[more]
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- [back to new format] -
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| Triumph GT6 Ezine |
Feature Car - Andy Gascoigne's Spitfire & GT6 |
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Author: Andy Gascoigne Editor: Todd Wilson
The Mini-epic that Andrew Stark had written about his car and err "experiences" made me shiver with the
sound of his words. Deja vu? I too have a tale to tell of my car (maybe it's the name Andrew & Triumphs?)
Note: the first picture is my original Spitfire, the dark blue Spitfire is the current one before its resto, the red one half completed is as it is right now & the GT6 has my fiancee Karen at the wheel! The last pic is also of Karen, I figured she deserved it! [Editor's note: Gorgeous & likes Triumphs...what a lady!]
Anyway here goes.
About ten years ago, whilst in Yorkshire, I bought a Mk3 Spitfire and had it rebuilt into a great car.
I had most of the body panels replaced and it really did look quite smart. I lived with my girlfriend
Claire, who never did manage to see why I really needed a Spitfire, when I had a company car.
(Yes, before you ask, she was insane). This was the beginning of the end and, after I finally left our
house about a year later I had to sell the car to find a deposit for a new house. Needless to say, I
wasn't impressed. Still we move on eh?
About a year later, I lived in Taunton with my girlfriend Alison (who simply does not understand cars,
let alone the desire for a 20-year old machine with dubious reliability records, she was very insane).
It took about four years worth of nagging before I finally got her to let me buy a semi-completed
restoration Mk3 Spitfire. This probably wasn't such a good idea as it ended up needing just about
everything replaced. The guy who had it before me had taken the body off, blasted & repainted the
chassis, replaced the suspension, reconditioned the gearbox and worked on the engine. Most of the
panels had been replaced and the car appeared almost ready to paint. Noooooooo. Turned out that the
engine had some difficulties in the piston department (never a good sign) and the bonnet was kind-of
warped and needed a bit of work. What the heck, I thought I'll do the lot.
I found a garage in Tiverton who was willing to take on the work (as I had got nowhere) and they
picked up the car. I left a lot of spares and trim (including a brand-new set of wires) in the garage,
as they didn't need it yet. A further year or so passes by and I had fitted a new unleaded engine, a
brand-new bonnet assembly and countless other items. Progress was being made, slowly. Very slowly.
By now Alison really did not want to know about any further expense on the car and needless to say,
things just failed from there. We spilt up. When I returned to my garage I found to my disgust that the
spiteful young lady had completely emptied the place of everything. Wheels, trim, panels, interior -
about a thousand quid's worth!
Almost two years later and I am living in the Cayman Islands with my girlfriend Karen. Now Karen is a
different story. Despite the fact that a) she is by far and away the best thing that ever happened to
me, so I am bound to be biassed and b) she drove an XR3 (I know, I know), she understands Triumphs.
Moreover, she understands my need to surround myself with as many old machines as possible.
One Saturday morning, before I'd landed this job in the Caribbean, I phoned her up from work and asked
"would you like to nip down to Torquay, only there's this errm... car I'd like to look at, a GT6". I
cringed and waited for the verbal blasting "yeah sure, shall we go at 2 because I have to go to
Sainsbury's first" came the sweet reply. A quick trip to the sea-side later and I had found my second
Triumph, a Mk3 GT6.
My Spitfire is currently languishing in a garage in Tiverton, Devon, 2/3rds completed. My GT6 is
languishing in my dad's garage in Hull, Yorkshire (about three hundred miles apart). I am about to
have the Spitfire moved to a garage in Buckinhamshire to get it finished properly. Well I have to now,
because I've signed it over and given it to Karen, who's now my fiancee.
Now we have to wait until we get home (about 2 years) before we can get our hands on 'em !
Andy Gascoigne
Cayman Islands
Nearly forgot - I have a website too at http:\\members.tripod.com\triumphs -
not quite gt6.com, but there ya go!
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Do you have a GT6, Spitfire or Hybrid? Send me some photos and a little blurb on the car and I'll put it up here.
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