Chapter 13: First Car Show!
We took Bugzilla to the Good Guys show here in Loveland for the weekend of June 5th, 6th and 7th. We trailered it to the lot and drove back and forth from the trailer. We originally thought that we’d just drive from the shop and back but that’s a little far with no windshield in the car yet. It drove great though, we even got it into 2nd and 3rd gear! 4th gear is going to be fun – that’s the overdrive which should really let the 2110cc roar.
Mike and Bugzilla getting ready for the day to start. This was the morning of the third day at the show. We wound up leaving just before noon when the first raindrops of the weekend showed up. There’s no glass in it yet, the battery is exposed with some wiring so we ran like chickens.
I actually heard people say “Look, they’ve stretched the doors!” when we were at this spot. We got a bunch of “Ooh, Porsche wheels” comments too. Overall though people really seemed to enjoy seeing the car. The most common question, though, was “What year is it?”, like that means anything. I just said “It’s titled as a ’70.”
The most predictable conversation went like: “What year is it?” “’70.” “Ah, I used to have a <insert year here>.”
The wing mirrors Shawn found look great on it. They definitely stay out of the way and people often didn’t see any mirrors at all on it. The hideaway exhaust looks great on it too. That’s going to catch some bumps..
We carried the canopy from the trailer out to the show area by sticking it through the back windows so that it hung out on both sides. It was too big to get into the car any other way. That got some chuckles from the event staff greeting us in the morning, driving in.
I don’t think anyone mentioned the side markers all weekend. They do blend in pretty nicely, I’m glad we added those.
Here’s Shawn digging in the trunk. We didn’t leave it open, so we didn’t get anyone wondering where the engine was, but we had plenty of little kids walk around the back and freak out that there was an engine there. The suicide doors got tons of looks too. Shawn got some rods to connect the post and claw to keep the door open which worked great. Saturday had some wind and the one door that was open with one rod didn’t even budge.
The Lucas tripod headlamps got a few nods too, a nice British touch by the British shop finishing the car up.
The front seats are done and were installed for the car show. What you can see here represents what the rest of the interior will be finished with.
Here we are back in the shop on the lift. This is before the Good Guys show and just after the engine was started for the first time. It all fits in there pretty snugly, the decklid didn’t need to be stood off or modified at all and there’s about an inch from the fan to the lid.
Another rear quarter shot, so you can see the exhaust poking out. It’s a street sweeper!
Here’s the dash with everything that’s going on it. Lights and wiper knobs on the left, turn signals added above the speedo and tach, and the emergency flasher down where the ashtray originally was. This hood finally has a VW emblem on it now too.
You can just barely see the four rocker switches next to the steering column for the doors and windows. They hide in there really well.
And the wiring, in progress. It’s getting pretty close to done, at least done enough to drive home from the shop and start building a speaker box to go behind the back seat. That’s not integral to getting the car driveable, that’ll just be fun to do in my own garage.
Themocracy
Shawn and Mike,
Mike, maybe you should talk Shawn out of selling the TR6 and just have him drop a V8 into his Triumph. That way you could take both cars to the Good Guys show.