Hello All,
I've always been a "big picture" sort of guy, so this issue I raise
herein goes far beyond just a single car
model, but applies to all out of production British marque vehicles,
and for my interest area, all
Standard/Triumph/British Leyland models.
I have been attempting to gather various information on the Triumph
Stag after rumor and speculation by
some of the clubs and periodicals. My latest inquiry was directly to
the British Motor Industry Heritage
Trust by letter, located in Gaydon, Warwick, UK. I inquired
specifically as to the availability, relating to
the Stag and Triumph marque, of:
- Drawings
- Production Assembly Procedures (other than those in published repair
manuals)
- Tooling
- Technical Bulletins
- Ownership rights to the Triumph Marque and Stag Marque
- Costs for searches for the above information
- Catalogue of archive contents
The response of the inquiry was quite surprising...
On February 20, 1998 I received a letter from Bob Wintringham,
Operations Director of the British
Motor Heritage (BMH). In that letter he explains that upon the end of
production and service support for
many of the various marques and models, particularly low production
models, there was little interest to
control the preservation of the documentation and tooling for these
vehicles, which resulted in little or no
controls on collection and archival. Hence, what does exist today is
patchy for some marques and was not
controlled very well. There are exceptions by car marque, as some
engineering departments were very
detail and preservation oriented.
Any tooling was salvaged by those companies and individuals having
enough foresight to realize that there
was a third party value in preserving production of the parts using the
original tooling. The remaining
unclaimed tooling was most likely destroyed when factories were cleaned
for new production, or when the
factory location was sold. I've heard and read accounts of bulldozing
some of the production facilities in
Coventry with tooling still in the building.
According to Mr. Wintringham, Technical Bulletins were never part of
the regular archives, at least for
Triumphs. He thinks that a full search of a marques archives would be
required in order to locate any
bulletins, or locate other sources. For example, I believe that these
bulletins may still exist at some shops
that service British cars today, (Triumphs and the Stag being my area of
interest and focus), and possibly
may be stored on shelves of dealers that had once sold British Cars. I
believe that these Technical Bulletins
and Factory Notices would be a great benefit to maintaining our
vehicles, and should be part of any British
car related club and Internet WEB site.
As many of you most likely know, Rover owns all the rights to many
British vehicles such as Triumph,
British Leyland, Standard, and many of their related lines. What I did
not know (I am just way behind in
my reading) is that BMW now owns the Rover Group. Mr. Wintringham
tells me that BMW does not
control any of the old Rover names as a "separate activity", but in
reality, BMW now owns the archives. I
would hope that BMW will continue to preserve this valuable history,
much of which has contributed
greatly to BMW model lines.
The British Motor Heritage is a Rover Group Company as stated on the
letter footnote I received, and as
previously stated, is now owned by BMW. It was my understanding that
the British Motor Industry
Heritage Trust was established to insure preservation of the British
Motor Industry history, and as such,
remains the official repository for British marque information. It is
time we LBC owners begin to support
the organization of this archive, so we can readily locate valuable
information to preserve our hobbies.
Mr. Wintringham advises me that archive searches cost upwards of £300
per day per archive search
person. There are not catalogues of the Triumph archives per se.
So where is this leading? Well, don't get your checkbook out yet.
Bottom line here is to what degree we
LBC owners, suppliers and service groups wish to participate in the
preservation of our hobbies and
livelihoods by insuring the preservation and availability of information
relating to the various models of the
Triumph and other British car marques? There are many individual
efforts around the world preserving
these marques, but remember that there is a central repository in the
BMIHT. As Mr. Wintringham states,
there is no real organization to some of the marques archives. What I
am offering here is a discussion to be
commenced and carried out in every Triumph (and British) club worldwide,
extending to suppliers and
service companies; that being to sponsor a fund to support the
cataloging of every Triumph (and British
marque) document in the BMIHT archive. In this way, a catalogue of
archive documents could be made
available for owners, clubs, suppliers and service groups to view or
purchase. I would think that service
and parts suppliers have a vested interest in the contents of the
archives relative to their product lines, and
would possibly wish to sponsor a portion, or all of this effort in the
continuing interest of keeping our
Triumph and British marque cars on the road. I would also think that a
catalogue effort may be in the
planning at the BMIHT, but with club, suppliers and owner support
expressed in certain marque areas, the
effort might be sped along.
As opposed to having the discussion begin here on these Internet
digests, I propose that those of you
reading this article take up the discussion within your local clubs,
then respond with a consensus of club
opinion to the main chapter to be discussed with suppliers and service
groups for sponsorship. This issue
could become a normal part of discussion at every club and board
meeting, along with the methods to
coordinate with other clubs and the BMH archives. As a coordination
effort, a central club for each
marque would be identified as the managing sponsor for their marques
catalogue.
(Tongue in cheek here!!) Now, I would gladly take on the management of
this project as a full time
occupation if any sources could be located to support me, family, and
various and numerous LBC's in a
suitable flat, full salary, benefits and expenses of course!! ;->>>
(Very Big Grin...I've been thinking lately of
ways to be full time involved in my hobby and be supported too!!)
Seriously enough though, there are most likely others more suited
for the task, and I believe that this
could be done as a function of the British Motor Heritage (BMH), British
Motor Industry Heritage Trust
(BMIHT), Heritage Motor Centre, etc. with sponsorship of parts and
service suppliers, volunteer efforts
on the part of the main Triumph and British car clubs, and of course,
BMW. I would also think that this
catalogue effort would turn up documents, tooling, prototypes and other
Triumph and British marque
related stuff not yet located in the archives.
If you have any club and/or supplier contacts please forward this to
every British and Triumph club, British
and Triumph parts and service supplier you know of, world wide. Talk it
up!
So, how is this for pipe dream of the day?
Regards,
Glenn Merrell
73 Mark II Stag, USA Model, LE23398U
Member of the following clubs:
Vintage Triumph Registry
Stag Owners Club, UK
Stag Owners Club, Northeastern US (only active SOC in USA??)
Rocky Mountain Triumph Club
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