Oh dear, this looks as though it might just get a little bit out of control -
or will it?
Apologies for my lengthy input (as usual) but I'd like to offer a different set
of
perspectives in no particular order of importance.
Mark Bradakis is to be highly commended for the work he does and has done in
compiling the
list and the daily digests. It must be a thankless task and certainly one I'd
be cautious
about doing myself, even if I did have the time! However, the nature of the
list is that
it cannot easily handle (or handle at all?) submissions other than text. This
is a shame.
In that respect, Jeff McNeal's initiative is equally commendable in that there
is a
website where other material poses little or no problem for inclusion.
What I regret is this.
This list (and Jeff's website as well?) is primarily accented towards Triumph
sports cars
and because of this, it's understandable that it's North American dominated -
or appears
to be. While the sports cars were the only vehicles the North American market
imported in
any volume, both Mark's work and Jeff's new initiative have (perhaps without
fully
appreciating what has happened) almost entirely isolated the better part of 60%
of
Standard Triumph's other production output of Heralds, Vitesses, Stags, big
saloons and
the later smaller saloons of 1300fwd, 1500fwd and rwd, Toledo and Dolomite. All
these cars
have profound followings among many enthusiasts all over the world. This is a
fact, and by
the exclusion of these models, it is NOT a criticism of either person in our
current
focus. Because of that, those of us who live outside North America do tend to
find this
list (on occasions) becoming a little limited in its scope - and at times, even
a little
tedious. Largely because of that, many potential listers who own and enjoy the
many other
equally interesting products of the former company either do not join the list
or go off
to find other (smaller lists or newsgroups) which do cater for their particular
tastes.
Looking at the clubs scene, the same has already happened in quite a number of
countries -
particularly in the UK. While this is perhaps understandable, it sub-divides a
global
community. What useful purpose does this serve? Taken to extremes, it is not
unknown in
model dedicated clubs where, with dwindling memberships, someone is at variance
with
another and goes off to set up another club catering for the same model! All
this does is
serve someone's self-gratification and further divides the membership in such a
way that
the viability of the club can soon become questionable. In the UK, Club Triumph
caters for
all models and while I am not a member, it seems on the surface that those who
do belong
are happy because there is popular and friendly interaction between people who
own
different models within the same make. Isn't this what classic car ownership is
all
about - or am I mistaken? Surely it is a sharing of ideas, achievements,
problems, some
gentle leg-pulling and an avoidance of the taboo subjects of sex, politics and
religion
within a broad forum. It's surely about enjoying your preferred car with others
who
support the marque but may own a different model. Well, it is in my book - but
maybe I'm
in a minority.
I'd be delighted to see something of that sort happening to Mark's doings
and/or possibly
Jeff's website. I'd be a lot happier to see all the splinter groups coming back
together -
and in the process introduce or solicit new listers with other Triumphs as
well. If we
could achieve that, we'd achieve something on a global scale that I doubt
anyone has
convincingly achieved this far at a clubs level. In principle, that's something
I might
think about doing myself but it would possibly detract from this list and I
wouldn't want
to be guilty of such an indiscretion. From a cost perspective, I'd err towards
Mark's
efforts for the simple fact that web surfing time in the UK (and many other
countries too)
is chargeable on a phone bill - even if it is at a local rate. Frankly, I'm
less than
willing to *pay* to read yet more stuff limited to just TR's, Spitfires and
GT6's. The nub
of the issue is that Standard Triumph made many other models that were just as
entertaining but these hardly get a look-in within the present structure. I
don't mind
paying for a few seconds of digest download and I'd positively leap for joy if
a whole lot
of other Triumphs featured in the same list. That WOULD make it interesting and
many more
people would get to know one another.
Oh yes, one more thing. The vast majority of the cars we enjoy today were made
in *one*
factory by a group of people who didn't give a monkey's toss what model it was
they worked
on, as long as they got paid for the work they did. They worked *together* and
the
sub-division of clubs (with their inevitable politics), interest groups, lists,
websites
or whatever - seems to entirely overlook this now distant aspect. It also
explains why
many ex-employees (and they're not all pensioners) don't belong to any club or
on-line
group. They are too dis-heartened by what they see as 'unnecessary
splinterisation.'
Jonmac
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