Automatic for the people?

I'm back, and with tales of Triumph ... although not particularly triumphant, yet.

In Australia for a day and I've already found a sweet sounding mk2 2.5 pi to go and inspect (In fact I spotted it on the wibbly wobbly web before I even got out here). Fortunately it's in East Brisbane, just 5 minutes drive from Spring Hill, where I'm living. We went to check it out today and as I suspected from the advert on the web, it's one very smart looking car. The paintwork is spot on - it's very odd going to look at a Triumph and not being able to find any bodywork issues to worry about (sorry if that makes you jealous). As for the chrome; shiny like it should be!
Under the bonnet was pretty tidy, too, lots of new bits including PI gear, linkage, alternator, etc. It had the Bosch pump conversion, and loads of work had been done recently. Apparently it didn't leak oil, or burn much ... so I was tempted to ask for paperwork to check that it was actually a real Triumph. Best of all, though was that it even had the plastic covers still on the original door cards in the rear!
Unfortunately the guy selling wasn't the most knowledgeable of owners, which is a bit awkward (i.e. he didn't know if it was electric ignition or points, so I had to check myself). But that didn't detract too much from an obviously well looked after car.

We went for a spin, but I have no insurance yet, and as we were in the centre of Brisbane I let him do the driving.

The guy was haring along showing how good the newly built suspension and the Datsun driveshafts were and launching into corners. And here is where the problem with the car arises. When he came out of the corner and put the power down the automatic gearbox just took all the power away and we might as well have been out for a jolly sunday afternoon thrash in a pedalo! Oh god i'm coming over all 'Clarkson' about this now ... Who on earth invented these things? If I didn't want to change gear myself I'd hire a flooping chauffeur! Maybe a croc will one day bite one of my legs off, but until that day (well maybe a few days after as I'll probably suffer from shock) I won't be driving a slushmatic.

To cap it all, on the way home we saw a tidy looking green 2500 S going in the other direction ... and I just know that it had a lovely 4 speed with overdrive. *sigh*.

I've looked into the cost of getting the gearbox converted - thanks to all the Club Triumph guys who chipped in with tips and suggestions - but as the car's not exactly bargain basement and there seem to be enough around to choose from, I'm going to keep looking ...