Bruce T. Clough wrote:
>
> Hats of to those driving restored cars! Road chips and bug goo are a sign of
> a happy car, and non-compulsive-obsessive car owner.
Now what is all this talk about bug goo? <g> The real problem is bird
sh*t! That stuff is _corrosive_! <g> Aren't explosives made from
rich-in-nitrates bird dung? <g>
> Joel Rosen (TRA
> treasurer and hard-core sidecurtain car fanatic) restored a small-mouth TR3
> and won 1995 TRA Best of Show, needless to say that took a huge outlay of
> both cash and elbow grease. He's been driving the car since. At TRA
> National this year somebody backed into the car in the parking lot. Joel
> took this in stride as a hazard one must expect when enjoying the car - it
> will be fixed soon back to it's pristine shape and covered with bug goo.
Hats off to Joel. Same thing happened to one of the Spits at the VTR
national, I think.
This whole thread about driving vs. showing, potential revisions to the
rules to require more driving events to qualify for shows (sort of a
demand for every trailer queen to prove she's got on Cinderella's
underwear <g>), etc., points out a major division in thinking... sort of
like the one Triumph owners feel about Jaguar owners, and vice versa.
<g>
For what it's worth, walking around the Nationals, I got a sense of that
division--there are cars that are regularly driven, and those that are
not. Those that are not are maintained in a way different than the daily
or near-daily drivers. On the day before the show, one fellow was
soliciting advice on whether or not the speedo cable should be over or
under the master cylinder brake line on his TR4... okay, a Virgo's
watchmaker mind at work. <g> The person next to him, by contrast, is
trying to get the timing right.
I generally subscribe to the opinion that the cars ought to be driven...
all three of my Triumphs have been, for practical purposes, regularly
driven. After all, that's what one presumably intends to do with any car
after purchase. <g> However, I can understand that minor obsession to
make the car perfect, to allow no defect, even those created by driving.
It's not what I would do, but I admit it happens. Whether or not those
cars should be judged on the same basis as those driven frequently is a
more difficult question.
I was interested in the GT6s, and the Spits, and the TR4s, since those
are the cars I own or previously owned, and the GT6s were an interesting
case in point. Only four were shown for concours, and _all_ appeared to
have been driven more or less regularly. And yet, one, Richard
Ceraldi's, showed a greater degree of care and attention. His car won.
The lesson--even if the car is run regularly, the degree of care and
attention is evident--so the fellows who garage and trailer their cars
without driving them are simply missing out on something the rest of us
understand--driving them. It is their loss, I believe, not ours, and not
something which can be easily resolved by nattering about the rules.
I brought a car which, in the context of that event, was ludicrous--torn
jeans in the midst of tuxedos <g>--but I still enjoyed myself, and made
more jokes than others about the car I'd had only five weeks... "I'm
trying for Worst of Show." <g> At the group picture at the Stockyards,
"The way this weekend is going, I should have the hood up for this
picture." <g> To someone struggling with getting the Triumph letters
onto the hood of his TR4 and having trouble, "I brought mine along to
make _everyone_ else look good." <g> One of the RRTC people, walking by,
said, "The important thing is that you brought it."
And, that is the important thing. If you're fond of driving it, bring
it. If you're fond of polishing it and looking at in the garage, bring
it. Most of us, deep down, enjoy them all. Some of the more competitive
people see unfair advantage given to the trailer queens, unless they are
required to participate in several driving events. In truth, those
competitions don't change the fact that the cars aren't driven with
regularity, but they do make the daily drivers feel better. So, keep the
rules about participating in driving events being required for all cars
to be shown. Simple.
I think the rule inclusions for modified and modified prepared are
probably a good thing, but is it necessary for someone to get a show
prize for a car which is solely intended for driving competition? Ah,
probably not--a review of form and function might be necessary for those
owners who think they're being left out. <smile> But, if the prizes, in
those classes, were a reflection of workmanship, rather than
correctness, they might have some value to the participants.
The latter brings up a curious point, a conflict between the typical
British car owner who wants to only show his car, and those relegated to
the classes other than pure show. I have worked as a mechanic for a
number of years, and, in that context, have had the curious sideline of
teaching American literature at a small college. One of my favorite
passages about cars in American literature is from John Steinbeck's
_Cannery Row_. Mac and the boys, smelling money and needing
transportation, abscond with Joseph and Mary's Model T pickup... because
they could hot-wire it, and because they could keep it running for the
trip. They fool and fiddle and improvise to get the truck to do what
they need it to do, and then return it.
That seems to me to be typical of what Americans do with cars--fiddle
with them, make them better, if they can, and if not, keep them running
with spit and grease and leftover pieces of who knows what from the
garage (Mickey Thompson once wrote that none of the pistons in the four
Pontiac engines in his Challenger land speed record car were the same
size <g>). That typically American tendency ought to be recognized as a
natural outgrowth of car ownership in this country, regardless of the
origin of the car. We are tinkerers at heart, and that obsession ought
to be recognized to the same degree as the obsession creating perfect
examples of showroom cars. (!) Lord protect us if all think the cars, as
built, were examples of engineering perfection and should be preserved
as such. <g> There is Lucas to be considered in this.... <g>
Cheers.
--
My other Triumph runs, but....
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