[WPTA] Remembering Mike Cook

[Ross, Lawrence]

Remembering Mike Cook








Bad news travels fast, so I can imagine that most of you have already heard that TVT Editor Mike Cook passed away on November 27. Mike was hospitalized the previous week with pneumonia and passed away peacefully on Tuesday morning while listening to Miles Davis and surrounded by family in a room filled with much love.

Mike bought his first British sports car, a white long door TR2, in 1957. The following year, Mike started his British car career, and his association with Triumph clubs, when he was hired by Standard-Triumph Motor Company as Assistant Advertising Manager and secretary of the Triumph Sports Owners Association (TSOA) in August of 1958. I’m going to say that career and association with Triumph owners isn’t quite over, since Mike’s last written words haven’t been published yet. Mike’s last editorial column will appear in the next issue of The Vintage Triumph.

If you recall what Mike said in his commentary entitled “Replacing Rare Parts” in TVT issue 168, you may have noticed the incredible irony in these words: “In the not-too-distant future, we, with our first-hand knowledge, will be gone; when it comes to that personal knowledge that has kept VTR alive and energetic for many years, who will replace us?!” Of course, in this case, part of that answer is that Mike Cook is irreplaceable. As soon as word of Mike’s passing got out, people started filling social media posts with pictures of themselves and/or their cars with Mike and warm remembrances of the time they spent with him. Mike’s knowledge and memories were incredible enough, but everyone who met him at any of our VTR events also felt they had made a new friend.

Another part of the answer to Mike’s question lies in the fact that VTR has unceremoniously dumped the responsibility of finishing a TVT double issue onto new TVT Associate Editor Shawn Frank. Shawn hasn’t flinched, (at least not that I can tell, from this far away) and the show will go on. If you have photos or memories of Mike Cook you’d like to share in the next TVT issue, please send them to Shawn at editor at vtr.org.

Mike's family has requested that those wishing to honor him do so by making a donation in his name to either The American Cancer Society<https://donate3.cancer.org/?lang=en&_ga=2.209888977.514392338.1543885531-1932406826.1543885531> or the American Heart Association<https://www2.heart.org/site/SPageNavigator/donatenow_heart_alt.html?s_src=123DR>.

More needs to be said about “keeping VTR alive and energetic for many years”, but I’ll save that for the next member email – which may look like a “help wanted” ad. Today we’re just remembering Mike Cook.

Cheers,
Jack McGahey
VTR President



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