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To: "Leon Guyot" <GuyotLeonF@aol.com>
From: "John Macartney" <jonmac@ndirect.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2000 23:06:47 -0000charset="iso-8859-1"
Cc: "Triumphs List" <triumphs@autox.team.net>, "Friends of Triumph" <fot@autox.team.net>
Leon Guyot wrote:

I shall make up for it, by representing the TSSC as the officially invited
representative at the dedication of the TR Registers' Triumph Monument at the
Triumph factory site at Coventry on April 16th. After all, I love my Triumph.

Leon - with some respect, I shall be there too - but in an entirely personal 
capacity. No
doubt I shall remember my Dad, many of his former colleagues and friends of 
mine who have
now died. Apart from visiting the original Triumph site in Priory Street and 
commemorating
the memory of Siegfried Bettmann later that day, I will be at Fletch 
remembering the
people of *The Standard Motor Company*. Please do not overlook the fact that 
had it not
been for Sir John Black of STANDARD, the Triumph name might not have survived 
after
November 14th 1940. The bottom line is your car and a good few others which 
have survived
were made at "the Standard" on the site of Aero One - they were not made at 
Triumph and
they used engines that first appeared in Standard cars and Ferguson tractors!
Those of us who worked there regarded ourselves only as Standard employees and 
many still
do. What's more, we're proud
of it. The fact that in a variety of roles we designed, made, sold and serviced 
Standard
and Triumph badged cars post war is how things should be seen and it's how the 
various
factory people who will be there, will regard things as well. For us, the 
alternative
perspective of enthusiasts that the former site is/was the Triumph factory in 
isolation is
both incorrect, irrelevant and bordering on snook-cocking contempt. This subtle
distinction may not matter to any of our transatlantic readers (or possibly 
even you) -
but it matters to many of us, big time.
I love my 'Triumph' too - notwithstanding the fact that it is still regarded by 
many 'on
the inside' as a fuel injected Standard Vanguard and it shares an engine which, 
like your
Vitesse, had origins that first appeared in a Vanguard as well. If you insist 
on calling
and garlanding the whole affair as a Triumph event, then either do us former 
employees a
favour by staying away or if you do attend, at least remeber the thousands who 
worked
there as true employees of only The Standard Motor Company. I don't think 
that's too much
to ask.

Jonmac



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