alstrMK

on the other hand...last time I was in Argos to buy a toaster there were hundreds to choose from!! white, silver, black, 2 slot, 3 slot, 4 slot, digital displays, bun warmers, racks, keep warm..defrost setting!!!..it was a minefield!! ha ha

I think that like most things, the economy has a lot to do with it. Many years ago I worked for a company that supplied cabinets (the kind that house PLC controllers etc) and we supplied a lot of them into the vauxhall plant in Luton. At the time, I read that the cost of developing a new car was in the region of 500 million. That's spread across development costs, testing, manufacture of new tooling etc (its a pretty endless list). Considering that only a handful of companies own most brands, you can expect that costs need to be reduced and so components, tooling and even designs are shared, and the result is a bunch of very similar cars. Remember when you got into an Aston Martin and the cockpit was covered in the same switches you got in a Mondeo. Or you took the body off your Saab 93 and there was a vectra sitting underneath it. The result is only so many new shapes and styles...

didn't Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall drive one of these in his River Cottage program? did that put the values up or down?

what to get...oh I have no idea!! I've been in touch with a couple of people over here. There is a fairly big following of English Classics and they class them that way rather than say the Triumph Club, or the MG club. The clubs cater for anyone with an old english car (there's even a guy over here with an XR3!!). Right now I drive a VW Jetta....and I hate driving down the freeway and seeing people in classic convertible mercedes, or an old mustang, or a TR of course (of which I've only seen one!!). I have a Harley so I do get the chance to coast through California in the way god intended, but for longer trips and anything involving the g/f, a old convertible is sorely needed. If money was no object I'd buy an old 911 Convertible (964) from the mid nineties....but...more realistically, A TR6 would be within the realms of possibility.

Sorry to 'hijack' this thread but when I bought my first TR6 I had a hell of a job trying to trackdown any history, and the DVLA was less than helpful. So in annoyance, I created a website http://www.wheresmycar.co.uk where people can register and add a history of the cars they've owned. The idea behind it was if people did this then the next owner could search, see what happened to a car they owned, or see the history of a car they own now. Obviously this only works if people add the history of cars they've owned, but thinking back to when I got my cars (both the first and the second) I wish someone had done this since knowing the history of a car helps with both the buying process and the 'pleasure factor' of knowing the history of your car and even possibly connecting with the previous owner (optional of course). Of course it's completely free, your personal information is hidden and encrypted and I just thought it would be nice to help people trace the history of their cars, knowing how much I wished I had had this available when I bought my cars.

Owned two TR6's previously, got rid of them both in one way or another (one a long story involving a restoration project and a vindictive ex fiancee, the other just a case of not 'loving' the car for some reason). Now living across the pond in Sunny California, and despite there originally being thousands of TR6s sold over here and me being here for nearly two years, I saw my first one while sitting in a bar a couple of weeks ago. I heard it first of course, and when I turned my head this gorgeous red beast came into view. I must have sat still for 10 minutes while my mind drifted back to rare sunny day in the UK when I could get the car out of the garage, put the top down and cruise through country lanes, struggling with the heavy steering but enjoying the sounds of the engine and the stares of people as I drove past. Had a quick look around, but couldn't find much club information over here, so for a while I'm going to enjoy reading about everyone else's exploits, seeing pictures of your cars, hearing stories about how you spent hours tinkering in the garage working on what for me was always a long list of 'things that need doing at some point'. Great to see the Triumph marque still going strong though. I've already spent quite a bit of time looking at the old regulars (Rimmer bros, TR Bitz etc)..just nostalgic I guess.