[2002/May/08] My favorite junkman (his business includes an import salvage yard oriented to British cars). Ted Schumacher is an invaluable source of unobtainable parts (if it exists anywhere, Ted can find it) and resource of incredible information (there are two sizes of that? And then he'll help you determine which you have). If you have a perplexing problem with a British car, Triumph especially, Ted is the guy to go to. And his gear-reduction starters are an absolute must-replacement for those old Lucas units. -- Rocky Entriken <rocky@tri.net>

[1997/Nov/05] [vendor supplied] We have now completed our gear reduction starter program for all the popular british cars. This is a small, 3"w x 5"h x 6 1/2"l starter that weighs 9 1/2 lbs. It has been hotrodded to put out 525 ft lbs of torque vs 250 or less on a stock Lucas unit. Design features include slotted mounting holes for ease of installation and the ability to use your vehicles original solenoid with no need to rewire or use the solenoid that is built into the starter. Some design features are unique enough that a patent has been granted. Since this is a gear reduction, less current is needed for cranking. The starter is preengage so it does not hurt the ring gear. This is NOT the starter being sold by MOSS, nor is it the one sold by Tilton. We use a base Nippondenso unit while Tilton starts with a Hitachi unit. The starter is available for the following cars; tr2/early tr3 w/closed nose starter; tr3/tr4; spitfire/gt6/tr250; tr6 and tr8. Also available for sprite/midget; mga; mgb and jaguar. At the SCCA runoffs this year at mid-ohio, the e prod. race had 5 of our starters, 4 sets of our roller rockers and several sets of our brakes. This starter sells for $225 ($250 for the V8).

British leyland spares. Is also a good source of racing lore, especially for Triumphs; they (Ted Schumacher) did much of the sub-contracted engineering work for the factory race teams (Kastner and Group 44). They still have cams from the original specs (will grind an S-2 or S-4 for you) as well as tubular pushrods and uprated suspension springs and other goodies they made for G44 in the old days. They have an ongoing interest in TR8s for competition. - Chris Kent Kantarjiev <cak@parc.xerox.com>

At British Car Day at Chateau Elan I met Ted and Doris Shumacher of "Motoringxtras / TS Imported Automotive" who had a stand there selling auto stuff. I bought a neat enamled British flag belt buckle. When I got home I noticed that the hasp was about 1/8" off center. (I know Ph.D.'s / Minutia) I called and asked if I could exchange it. When they received it, Doris went through all of their stock in order to find me one that was on the centerline. I thought that was awfully nice of her. Ted used to have an MG dealership. Now they sell auto stuff :patches, pins, autowear, bags, totes, caps, hats, mugs, rebuilt lever shocks($54.95), TR3-TR6 competition front springs, crankshaft kits, etc. etc. etc. They have nice color catalog. They race a TR8 SCCA race car. - Don Mathis, tdm@akguc.att.com

Ted is hardly a new vendor to the folks on this list, but he is a good guy. :-) He shows up @ VTR just about every year, recognizes the motorheads, and is perfectly willing to reccommend how you should spend your money! I don't buy much from him, but if I ever needed SD-1 parts, he's the first place I'd call. TR-8 engine bits as well. He's owned and raced some incredible cars, including some of the Group 44 cars. An admirable bench racer, Ted is. - R.M. Bownes III

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