tr7triumph.com

I’ve been yearning for a weekend away touring in the 7 so when a mate asked if I would go to Auckland to pick something up for him on his fuel card I immediately accepted without bothering to read the small print. It was soon pointed out to me that what I was picking up was a MGBGT wreck & according to clause 2c of the handshake the mode of transport was a 1994 Ford Transit van with car trailer accessory. So much for king of the road. But every cloud has a silver lining so I rang up Jolyon & told him I was coming up to check on his 7 & he promptly offered to put me up at his place for the weekend. It was to be a Best TR7/8 Forum on the Internet (NZ Chapter) Conference.

I left Wellington about noon on Sunday & immediately understood this was going to be no fun cruise up country. For a kick off the drivers seat was devoid of cushioning & it the stereo was busted so the 9 hour drive was looking very grim. Luckily I had my MP3 player & with headphones so I was at least entertained – until the battery went flat. Pretty soon I found out that the Transit is no rocket & it found hills rather difficult. The problem with NZ is that you find hills rather often so I soon got used to 3rd & even 2nd gear crawls up what I had considered to be fairly mild inclines. God, what a clapped out shed this thing was. The rev counter had a green band from 1500 to 3000 indicating the power band but I strongly suspected this so-called band of power was broken & needed replacement. One usefel aspect of the van was that it had a handy map of New Zealand painted on its flanks so if I ever got lost I could just have a look at the side & get my bearings again.

It’s a funny thing to be the one holding up traffic for a change. Before you Americans scratch your heads wondering why cars didn’t just change lanes & pass me, you need to understand that outside of the cities our state highways are mostly single lane roads with just a painted line to protect you from the opposing traffic. We have strategically placed passing lanes which are like motoring gold in this country & after 10km sitting behind a slow moving vehicle you let rip on these passing lanes like there is no tomorrow. God help you if you are caught doing less that the legal limit + 10 in these lanes because 50 Mr. Wheelers behind you will only count to 2 before attempting to run you off the road. It is what makes tourists in their hired camper vans find the average NZ driver so reckless.

Anyway you certainly notice all the impatient pricks in their over-powered 2-seater sports cars (usually red [}:)], sometimes triton green [:p]) as they go flying past with their engines hurling insults at my virility when you are dragging your butt up a hill at 60km/h. Fair enough too. What I couldn’t accept was the fact that I wasn’t the slowest vehicle on the road. I came up behind a little Mazda doing 70-80km/h (the speed limit is 100km/h) along a bit of flat road. There was no way in hell I could muster enough acceleration to safely pass between corners so I just sat there mournfully watching this car as it bounced from one edge of the lane to the other. I noticed that it had a big NL sticker slapped on the back. Johnny bloody foreigner[;)]. After a while the road tilted up & couldn’t even keep up with this speed-challenged motorist. In fact the road got very twisty & undulating & I didn’t get beyond 3rd gear again for about 30 minutes. When the road flattened out I caught up with the Mazda again after less than 20 minutes! Luckily it was on a straight downhill bit of road & I went sailing past at almost 100km/h.[8D]

An hour later I stopped for some food before the next stretch. This allowed the Mazda to leap-frog me but less than an hour later I caught them up again & it took 10 minutes to re-pass them. I had hoped to make it the rest of the way without a fuel stop but it wasn’t to be. But I didn’t want to risk being stuck behind the Mazda for a 3rd time so I calculated that if it had been 1 ½ hours since I last passed them & I was going 10-15% faster than they were, I had about 10 minutes for a fuel stop. I raced into a service station, leapt out of the van, realised I’d parked on the wrong side of the pump[:(!], leapt back in & repositioned the vehicle, pumped diesel into the tank while keeping an eye on my watch, ran into the cashier, paid & ran back out. I jumped in, fired it up & exited the forecourt just as the Mazda cam in to view. Phew! I felt like I’d just beaten the pace car to prevent going a lap down at the Indy 500.[8D]

I got to Jolyon’s place just after dark feeling a little road weary so it was nice to relax in his very tastefully decorated home, meet his tastefully decorated partner Gail, down a few tastefully brewed beers & catch up with what he’d been up to in the 12 months since I last saw him.

It turns out that he’d been building a TR7, Shock horror.[:0]

The next day Jolyon helped me do my errands, which was just as well. The MG was sitting in a very muddy patch & the only way we could move it was to use his 4WD to pull it onto the trailer. Then we went to see a bloke called Morley who was also restoring a TR7. Morley used to work for the Triumph special tuning department but reckoned that we knew more about the cars than he did. I was delivering a 2.5PI motor to Morley for his son’s Herald so he might have a point there! I think Heralds are best left unmolested. Finally, we paid Jolyon’s car a visit at the upholsterers & I have to say it is looking very good. It has a few stylish enhancements courtesy of the local plater but otherwise has the look of a brand new car (Canley, not Speke) as you would’ve expected to see in a BL dealership back in the day. It has taken a year or so but he has done a careful & thorough job of this & does him huge credit. I know he is itching to get the car finished but he is still taking the time to do each job properly & I am in awe of his patience. I can see all the shortcuts I’ve taken on my car just so I could both afford to keep the car & actually have it ready to use but Jolyon will be justifiably very proud of what he has accomplished with his 7.



Then, with the little hand on the clock starting on its downhill path it was time for me to hit the road. I wasn’t looking forward to another 9 hours of drudgery & annoying other drivers but was now even more determined to get back into my 7 for a return trip before the end of the year to see Jolyon’s car completed.





The map: http://tinyurl.com/wedgemap . The blog: http://www.forum.triumphtr7.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8548

Hi Peter, sounds like you had an "other side of the coin experience".

I used to own a Transit, an earlier one, a 1980.
This one was a little table top, & we built a body on, to carry 3/4 horses, when the kids were show jumping.

These were a special supplied to the post office department, & built here. In oz we didn't think much of the asthmatic 4s our pommy mates had, so Ford fitted a detuned [about 165 BHP] Ford Falcon 250 cubic inch straight 6 in them. Only problem was they didn't change the diff.

Unlike yours they had so much torque they would drive up the side of any mountain, in top, at anything from 20Km/H to about 75Km/H, with four horses on board.

The trouble was that about 80Km/H was about top cruising speed. It would do well over 100, but above 80 it sounded as if the engine would jump out & join you in the cab.

So it wasn't up hills, but on the flats that mine became a mobile chicane. I used to keep an eye in the mirror, & pull over when I got more than 5 cars behind me.

The expressway was the worst, particularly on a Saturday morning. People did not expect to find anything trundling along at 80, & would suddenly discover they were about to run up the back of the thing. We got used to the screech of brakes behind us.

After a bit of spring work it rode beautifully, making it easy on the horses, who would arrive ready to go, not needing half an hours exercise to work the stiffness out of them, the way they arrived when carried in a trailer horse float.

With all that experience I'll give you a call when I need something transported.

Hasbeen

Now you mention it, I did get delayed behind a horse trailer for a while. From what you say it seems that the less time a horse spends in a trailer the better so why don't the owners do the horse a favour & speed up a bit.



The map: http://tinyurl.com/wedgemap . The blog: http://www.forum.triumphtr7.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8548

Peter the problem is centre of gravity. How quick do you think your car would be if it was as high, & you sat up on top of it.

If you see a good horse doing barrel races, they lean in so far, & so low, that the riders foot can touch the ground.

We then stick them in a box designed for the road, not the horse. We make him stand up straight, by the design of the box, then throw him around corners faster than he can go himself.

In the truck you could hear the thumping of the horses hooves, as he scrabbled around trying to keep his feet. People with horses in a truck, for the first time, were horrified when they realised how they had been throwing their horses around in a trailer.

The most stupid thing is that our horses still seem to like us, despite the treatment we give them.

Now if only you can get all those horses, under your bonnet, to work for you, as well as some of my single horses did for us, you'll be a world beater, & may be able to afford a better tow master.


Hasbeen

I am not allowd to drive my own car when the horse float is attached and occupied..... drives me insane to see the ques behind us. Still i go for my first formal riding lesson next week so I may become one of "them" yet.

Still prefer the horses under the bonnet though.

Jolyon

Jolyon, the second most important instruction in the horse riders manual is,

DON"T FALL OFF.

The most important instruction is, "If you are too old stiff & inflexible to bounce WHEN YOU DO FALL OFF, don't get on in the first place, you silly old fa*t.

How old are you mate.

If I were to organise a crane to pick you up, hold you horizontal 5 Ft in the air, then drop you flat on your back, do you think it would hurt? Would it be better if it dropped you on your head instead?

If I arranged the crane to be doing 25MPH down the road when it dropped you, would that be better?

Do enjoy those riding lessons now mate, won't you, I was only kidding, I think. Oh, & don't be nervous, horses don't like it when you're nervous. Makes them more likely to drop you on your------, think of any bit of anatomy you may like to insert here.

Hasbeen

Looking at the weather forcast for the UK this weekend, this thread's name might well apply to CT's RBRR 2010.
Of to the plane in a few minutes time to meet the rest of the Wedgy team and the start tomorrow evening [:)]

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