Tales of a TR in Puerto Rico. The owner is Dale Todd and his story is told by Nick Morgan, a regular Running Reports correspondent. And without further ado, let’s hear it.

WE Triumph owners are so lucky here in the UK. We have the support of a number of excellent Triumph clubs and numerous parts suppliers and specialists. It is easy to chat about problems we are having with our cars at a local club meeting or to phone our friendly parts supplier and ask for advice.

But imagine what it must be like living abroad. Fine if it is the USA or Australia, but not so easy somewhere a little more remote. Phoning your parts supplier would mean an international call and the likelihood of passing another Triumph on the road is very unlikely. Often in such circumstances, older cars are kept going by substituting parts with something similar from another vehicle or trying to repair an already worn-out part.

In 1995, attracted by the weather and sea-fishing, Dale Todd and his wife, Wendy, moved to Puerto Rico, which is located at the eastern end of the Caribbean about 1,200 miles from Florida. The main island is about 100 miles from east to west and 40 miles north to south. It is famous for its long, white sandy beaches and mountainous interior. It is also blessed with perfect "holiday weather" with the average temperature being around 28 degrees Celsius. There is one main road around the island and numerous smaller roads criss-crossing it, so it is an almost ideal place to own a sports car.

Dale had previously worked in Puerto Rico as an architect, specialising in designing buildings that are capable of withstanding extremely high winds. His intention was to retire to the island, but after a series of hurricanes, his skills were in high demand. It has taken until this year for Dale to manage to retire properly. Two years ago, Wendy spotted what appeared to be a showroom condition 1969 TR6 for sale only a few blocks from their house. Christmas was coming up and she thought that it would make the ideal retirement present for Dale.

"I imagined us driving up the winding roads of the rugged mountains and past the beautiful beaches as the sun set over the sea. The TR certainly looked very good and I was told that it was almost 100 per cent restored to factory showroom condition and all it needed was a new ignition key," muses Wendy.

ALARM BELLS

The normal rules of purchasing a car have to be bent slightly in such circumstances, especially the one that says don't buy the first car you see. For all Wendy knew, this may have been the only TR6 on the island. Alarm bells maybe should have started ringing when the owner refused to let Dale and Wendy take the car further than a couple of blocks on the test drive, especially when the speed bumps on the roads prevented them from getting out of first gear. Nevertheless, they were charmed by the car and they made an offer, paid cash and took the TR home.

Dale said: "The next morning marked the start of a long, strained relationship. I jumped in the TR ready for a short excursion. I started the car, heard a dull thud and noticed water running down the driveway - the radiator had blown."

For the next year, it seemed that no sooner had one issue been resolved than the next one occurred. To list the full extent of the problems would take up most of the rest of the magazine. In fact, it would be much easier to list what was not wrong with the car. In their first year of ownership, the Triumph would only get to travel 69 miles under its own power.

During this time, Dale discovered the British Car Forum. This Internet community threw him a lifeline and encouraged him to try some of the repairs himself. Soon, he had completely rewired the car and refurbished the gauges. He had a new dashboard made locally out of solid teak and he repaired the large holes he discovered in the floors. Dale was quickly on first-name terms with various parts suppliers in the USA. His phone bills increased and the cost of shipping was often more expensive than the parts themselves.

Dale also had a bad experience with some of the local mechanics on the island. This became very apparent when the clutch release bearing started to make a horrible noise. Dale found a mechanic who said he would be able to replace it. "To keep costs down, I stripped the interior of the car and removed the gearbox and the old clutch. The mechanic demanded $600 before he would start the work, kept hold of the car for two months and ended up doing nothing. Bizarrely, during this period, the car was kept in a funeral parlour, which somehow seemed rather appropriate."

This episode was discussed much on the British Car Forum, with a lot of sympathetic help offered. Several people said that if only they were closer, they would have helped Dale to reinstall the transmission. One member of the Forum went that little bit further and helped restore Dale's faith in humanity. Dave Graves, from Canada, had been offering advice to Dale throughout his ownership of the TR6. Dave takes up the story:"Dale's mechanical knowledge was limited and so he was asking for advice. As is often the case, the answers he was getting were all over the spectrum and he was becoming increasingly confused. I decided to offer my services, as I was available. Dale and Wendy contacted me by phone and offered to pay the air fare. I then flew out of Detroit, Michigan, to Puerto Rico."

The following day, Dave and Dale had the clutch and transmission installed and the driver's seat bolted down in only three hours and they were able to drive the car to Dale's garage to finish it off. The whole episode was recorded on the British Car Forum, with photographs of progress and a final video of Dave and Dale driving the car along the island's roads.

NEW-FOUND JOY

Dale took Dave deep-sea fishing as a small thank-you and a great friendship was struck up. "By the way," continued Dave, "Dale paid for everything (totally unexpected) and was the best of hosts."

However, the car continued to swallow up money and several times, Dale considered that it may be better to cut his losses and scrap it rather than let it continue to drain his bank account. But, encouraged by the Forum and having already spent so much on the Triumph, he soldiered on.

Only a few days after Dave left, Dale and Wendy were enjoying their newfound joy of driving a British sports car. They were becoming more confident with the TR6 and had managed to complete 52 miles when the handling started to feel rather odd. Dale suspected a rear puncture, but the tyre looked OK. He limped home with the rear end of the car feeling very wobbly. After dismantling the rear suspension, he discovered to his horror that the rear hub had pulled off the trailing arm. Previous Helicoil repairs had not been carried out properly and the trailing arm was now scrap. Dale looked on the bright side and thanked his luck that he wasn't going any faster when the failure happened.

However, this failure made Dale think a little more seriously about the safety of the car. "It's all very well having the fuel pump go, or the petrol tank start to leak when you are driving the car, but a suspension failure could result in a serious accident.” he said. As a result, Dale has systematically gone through all of the front and rear suspension and braking system, replacing every ball joint, bush, bolt, hose and seal.

One of the great frustrations when working on the TR6 for Dale is finding that the original nuts and bolts have been replaced with the nearest metric equivalent of dubious quality. Whenever Dale is working on the car, he makes sure that he replaces any fastening with high-quality items of the correct size. Not only that, but he also strips each component and paints or powder-coats them.

Dale has a very methodical system and he places the parts he removes on to card, with a description of what they are. That way, they should go back on to the car in the correct order, assuming that the previous owner had got it right.

After all of his work, virtually every mechanical component on the car has been overhauled or replaced. There only remains the chassis and the outer body panels. Before Wendy bought the TR6, Dale said that he didn't own one automotive tool. He now has a well equipped workshop. Dale describes himself as a "know-almost-nothing-about-cars, non-mechanic TR6 owner".

I would have to disagree. Dale has written a series of technical articles about his work on the TR6. He has proved to be a very capable mechanic and he is an inspiration to others on the British Car Forum. Most of all, his patience and persistence to get the TR6 back on the road make him a real hero among Triumph owners.

 It's Your Triumph - so tell us your story and you could be rewarded with a superb set of high-quality combination spanners and wall rack from those good people at Sealey Power Products which, we feel, is a rather spiffing prize.

Send your stories to Triumph World, PO Box 978, Peterborough, PE1 1JA. Or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it