The last real sports car?

Sir,

I have just read this month’s copy (December) of MOTOR SPORT and was deeply interested in a letter, or should I say, three letters, concerning a most loveable car, the Triumph TR.

I have owned one (a 3A) for the past two years and in this time I have driven in all kinds of weather and have to agree with the letters with regard to road-holding in the wet, although since I put Pirelli Cinturatos on this has greatly improved, but care with the throttle foot still has to be taken on sharp corners (there are many in the Isle of Wight) and the car must be pointing straight ahead out of the corner before the power is brought in.

With regard to my particular car. It was built in 1959; first registered in 1964 and first taxed in 1966. The registration number is 4562DG and if any reader could help me trace its home before 1964 I would he very grateful. Perhaps a “TR Register” as suggested by Mr. Uprichard (an excellent idea) would be very helpful to myself and any other TR owners who would like to learn more Of their own car’s history. I have not been so lucky as the TR owners who have written to you before, as I have just had to rebuild the engine, rewire and completely overhaul it.

I am now waiting to run the engine in before I can once again hear the mighty roar of the engine as I overtake the well-known woman’s shopping car—MG-13. It is the performance and everything about it that makes this great car so well loved by anyone who has owned one. As often happens with ears like this, it is only the faults that are noted and not the good things. Perhaps this is why the good solid engineering and British styling of the TRs are not in the news today, but you can bet our life that as the years go by every once in a while someone will mention the TR and bring it back into the limelight, as old soldiers never die—nor will the TR.
Shanklin.
K. Mitts.