The Triumph 2000 / 2500 / 2·5 Register Forum

Now we seem to get "My Grandad used to have one of those"! Sadly a sign of the times.

Well I'm the fourth generation of my family to own LuLU (after a gap of 15 years outside the family) which was bought new in 1966 as my Great-Grandpa's retirement present to himself (not a typical car for an OAP, it was somewhat of a compromise, he wanted a sports car but Great-Grandma wanted something comfortable and practical).
I got into big Triumphs partly because I have fond memories of my Grandpa driving LuLU and because the are good cars, really good value and they have a bit of class.
I think the problem is that because they weren't the most common car even when they were new (despite the numbers of people telling me that their Dad had one when I park on a busy street) people don't think about buying one. I've never heard anyone say anything terribly bad about them (apart from late 70s ones rusting and PI problems) whereas you get all sorts of stories about cars produced in the same period by Austin, Rover, Ford, The Roots Group etc.
On the other hand prices do seem to be rising. Maybe people are more keen to imitate their Dad after a certain age?

Trouble is imho,they were not aimed at the average working blue collar man when they arrived,unlike ford,austin and the like.They seem to be more of a "i think i remember them"type car.Of course there was far less disposable income then in the average family .In 1965 my dad was still on a pushbike,despite hankering after a Morris Minor. But they are great cars.


Bill

willjan wrote:despite hankering after a Morris Minor. But they are great cars.

No they're not, they're awful ! Oh, you meant Triumphs.


Lots of people admire cars but for some reason it never enters their heads that they could own one.
I've been driving to work in an old Volvo 240 for over ten years, and seen other people's cars come and go. Everyone always says "those Volvos keep going for ever" but they never get one themselves. They'd rather spend thousands of pounds on depreciation, servicing and repairs, and periodically moaning because their cars are in the garage, again.

Amanda has owned our everyday modern, a base model non turbo diesel 206 for over 9years now, it's the only way to get your money's worth out of a car.
Changing them every year is a sure fire way to lose lots of money.

Colin

CRAJ wrote:Amanda has owned our everyday modern, a base model non turbo diesel 206 for over 9years now, it's the only way to get your money's worth out of a car.
Changing them every year is a sure fire way to lose lots of money.

Colin

That's also my philosophy on motoring Colin, 12 months ago my good lady fancied a change from the 1994 BMW 325TD that we had been running for about 7 years, nothing wrong with the old girl (the car)! as it was completely rust free and still looked very presentable and at only having 165,000 miles under the crank had loads of life left in it but she fancied a Toyota Celica, so I found a nice '51 plate example which we will run for at least 5 years!

Going back to big Triumph saloon values, they do seem to be creeping up now and I think I was very lucky to pick up my '71 2000 manual o/d example just over 12 months ago for £1500, it being a nice one too. As much as I love my MK3 Zodiac, the Triumph is just so much better to drive and is a very well put together car for it's era.

The car we call our modern everyday!!,is a 96 bmw 323 auto we have owned for 11 years,its very good and it is the only car of our 3 that i let the garage do the work on, no real need to change it.It is Jans car anyway!!

Bill.

CRAJ wrote:Amanda has owned our everyday modern, a base model non turbo diesel 206 for over 9years now, it's the only way to get your money's worth out of a car.
Changing them every year is a sure fire way to lose lots of money.

Colin

There's "moneys worth" and then there's "fun" though, isn't there?
I couldn't comprehend the idea of owning a car that long. In truth, I normally get bored about 3 months into ownership and start getting itchy feet. Nic and I have a different attitude towards cars than most folk, granted. Every journey should be special even if it's just nipping to tescos for some milk. I guess that's why we don't own a modern car.
For us there's also the issue that in our lifetime, these old cars just aren't seen anymore. I can vaguely recall my mother having a dolly sprint but this is back in the 80's. I suppose that they would have been considered to be at the end of their natural life back then much in the same way as you'd think of an X or Y plate hatch today?
We just like the idea of trying something new and different. To illustrate the point last year we tried a '56 Ford 103e (20mph uphil was exciting as was the rain with a vacuum operated wiper!) through a 1.3 marina coupe to a 4.2 Series 2 XJ6.

I suppose in a round about kind of way I'm just trying to say that life's too short. I've got a quote that i've printed off and stuck on the side of my PC that kind of sums it up...
"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, 'Wow! What a Ride!"

Well... that's my 2p worth anyway!

Cheers,

JC.

Here endeth the first lesson.

Bill.