Youthful Exuberance, Glass Packs
By Brian I. Peters, copyright
Now that we’ve all matured we try to keep our cars as correct to the factory spec as possible. But think back to your youth. As soon as that factory exhaust rusted out on your TR6, 4-4-2, Morgan, 100-4 or (insert your model here) you threw on a glass pack. I remember my first car, a Sunbeam Alpine. It cost $175. The exhaust kept getting progressively louder and while I liked this at first it went from loud and aggressive to just plain nasty and ragged in the span of a couple of weeks. I went to the local muffler shop and had them hang a glass pack on it. I still remember driving away from the shop. It had a deep mellow sound that was just like music. It seems to me that the manufacturer of this exhaust component was “Cherry” and the model designation was “Bomb”. I recently found a car that I’ve been interested in for some time. It is a ’68 Triumph TR250. This is a one-year car, stuck halfway between TR4A and TR6. The best of both worlds if you ask me. It is not a one owner car but almost as I bought it from a fellow who had bought in 1970. During my inspection I knelt down to check the undercarriage and what did I find but a big ol’ glass pack. When I drove it, it took me back to my teenage years. What a sound.