By Bob Swanson
My story begins when I was 10 years old, in the early 60’s. That’s when I saw my older brother, home on leave from the Naval Air Station, pull up in front of the house in a black 1959 TR3A. I immediately fell in love with that car.
Fast forward to 1969- and yes, I bought one. A black 1959 TR3A, while I was a senior in high school. That car carried me through graduations, engagement, my first career job, and my first three years of marriage. Sadly, needing much work, I put it in storage in 1973 with the intention of rebuilding it in a few years.
There it sat until the fall of 2013 when I brought it to a body man for restoring and refinishing. He turned out to be a miracle worker, restoring parts that had rusted away decades earlier. I made his job a little easier by ordering as many replacement panels from Moss Motors as I could. I started ordering parts I knew that had to be replaced such as bumpers, tops, turn signal lights, grill etc etc. Once the body was returned to me, weekly orders occurred. Without the help of many, from the Minnesota Triumph Sports Car Club and these weekly “rebuild sessions”, I’d still be months if not years away from completion.
In the winter of 2015, I got the call, the body was done. October 5th 2016, the 1959 TR3A coughed and sputtered and came to life. 43 years after entering storage, it was reborn. Sure the hood was off, the grill taped in place and no windshield, but my face hurt from smiling so big as I drove it up and down the street for the first test drive. A big thank you to Moss Motors for there part in making the life long goal a reality. It was completed just as the snow and cold hit, so I patiently wait for spring. In the meantime, I’m browsing thru Moss Motors catalog to see what Triumph Accessories I have to have.
'Reborn- 1959 TR3A' have 2 comments
March 7, 2017 @ 1:15 pm Penny Herman TTSCC
Hooray for you and your beloved TR3A. We have a 1958 TR3A that has been kept as a parts car for our running 3A. Your article makes me think that I should start bringing the parts car back to life rather than keeping it as a possible donor car.
March 8, 2017 @ 5:40 am Farouk El-Khalil
What a lovely Job. Heartiest congrats. I owned a TR2 when I was studying in UK late sixties/V early 70’s that I bought which had a facelift made to it to look like a TR3, just like yours.
It was a lovely car to drive and I kept it till one year before I travelled back home to Lebanon, by which time I purchased a new MGB GT, which I then shipped home.
Moss has helped me a lot in my MGB restoration that I found here in Lebanon 2 years ago. I may send in my story sometime 😉
Cheers, Farouk