Just a rambling...
I had a day of lounging yesterday (stranded in New Hampshire), and so I
spent it at a Border's book store, and perused the periodicals to waste the
time.
Lo and behold I came across two interesting magazines/articles. The
first was the new installment (#8: body, paint and updates) of the Ro-Spit
project car in GrassRoots Motorsports. What a nice looking automobile. A
spit that does 0-60 in 4.6 seconds and the quarter mile in 12.5? Not too
shabby. (Of course it's just a Spitfire exterior on a Rotory engine and
drive-train). I don't remember the race, but it came in 1st in class and
3rd or 4th over-all at it's first public debut. And did I read it's still
using the transverse leaf spring? They're supposedly going to upgrade the
suspension even further (giving even stiffer front coils and changing the
rear to a coil over shock).
Interesting article, and such a nice looking car.
The second magazine/article I came across was "The DuPont Register: Top
100 cars of this Century". (Doesn't sound too impressive, until you
consider that there were only a few hand-made automobiles BEFORE 1900). I
decided to see if Triumph had received even an honorable mention in the
side-lines. I figured I would start from the back of the list (100) and
work my way backward, and I'd eventually run into atleast a TR2 or TR3
aknowledgement. Page, after page of Jaguar, Ferrari, Porsche, Lotus, Aston
Martin, BMW, et al.
The Ford Mustang was listed twice. Once for the classic 62-70 and again
for the 90-99 models. Both incarnations of the Shelby Cobra were listed
independantly as well. But, search as I might, no listing of a
single-solitary Triumph in any way shape or form.
I don't mean to sound spiteful, but I guess that Triumph was just a
bit-player in the grand scale of automobile geniuses, such as the creators
of the Plymouth Prowler and the DeLorean DMC. (I let out a very audible
"You've got to be kidding!" which seemed to resonate for minutes in the
cloistered confines of that Border's Book store.)
Disgusted with that blatent disregard for the entire line of enjoyable
Triumph models (which I might add, have elicited as many excitable squeels
from delighted drivers in their 50 year or so reign as any Corvette or
Volkswagon Beetle), I beat a hasty retreat, with my
triple-grande-no-foam-half-decaf-now-tepid-latte in tote, out of the store.
My head is still shaking (like the toy-dog in on the dash of a 74 gremlin)
in disbelief.
Terry L. Thompson
'76 Spit 1500
Maryland
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