Listers,
Last week I was in London for 4 days on a business trip to visit
customers. I took the later flight home on Thursday and drove up
to Gaydon in Warwickshire to see the famed British car museum. It
was a really interesting drive up the M25 to the M40... about 160
miles roundtrip. I was driving a Ford Mondeo with a 5-speed and
diesel engine. I had driven in the UK before... but all those
roundabouts require complete concentration to find your way, be
in the right gear and not be in the wrong place on the road.
I also had a chance to meet and get the grand tour with John
Macartney. John even came in on his day off to meet me. He was
very gracious and gave me the insiders tour. He is filled with
an endless supply of TR and British motorcar detailed knowledge.
I really great guy... it will be nice to know the face and
person behind the e-mails.
I was disappointed at not seeing a TR4 on display. I wanted to
see a real original car to compare mine with. There was a TR3
and TR6 there... but they were restorations. The TR7 and
Spitfires were there with genuine original "last built" and
special rally cars. There were some early Triumph saloons and a
1930s sport model. I'm guessing that the Standard Triumph
collector TR sport series didn't survive all the turmoil in the
70s.
I did visit the "archives" and saw where all the detailed records
are kept and where the BMIHT certificate searches are done.
I found 3 good TR books in the gift shop I had seen offered here.
The first is "Triumph TR4-TR5-TR250 1961-1968" from the
Brooklands Road Test series. I have never seen this particular
volume for sale in the us. Another is " Triumph TR" by James
Taylor. It is in the same style as the Bill Piggott original
series but not as detailed... lots of good pictures of TR2
through TR8. The last is the latest book from Bill Piggott
titled "Triumph: The Sporting Cars". This the best of all in
that it has an extensive collection of Standard Triumph official
archive B&W photos with the stories and detailed info the goes
with each photo underneath. Lots of information I had not read
before and great detailed pictures of the cars and production
shots.
Brian Sanborn
'62 TR4 CT16260L soon to be "O" - Groton, MA
My TR4 Restoration Web Site
http://www.net1plus.com/users/sanborn
E-Mail: sanborn@net1plus.com
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