Hi Paul,
I am very afraid you are right. I remember going to car shows in the 70's
and 80's and seeing oodles of T's and A's (and maybe a little T n'A too) But
it seemed thru the eighties the number took a dive. Our car club tried
different things to get them out, but nothing seemed to work. JC Whitney
used to have lots of pages dedicated to old Fords. Where did they all go?
Did serious collectors buy them up after the wills were settled or are they
all rotting in the grandkid's garages? Are our LBC's that are going to our
kids destined to have thumping stereos, neon lights and hydralic
suspensions? Or maybe just get pushed into a dark corner of the garage.
What can we do to preserve the LBC way of life as well as all of our much
appreciated support network of business'. The answer is: Everyone must find
a new project work on. There are plenty of still unrestored TR's and MG's
out there. Then we must nurture the little greasey LBC genes we passed down
to our children so that they will continue to restore and drive our little
rumbling gems of fun.
That brings me to another observation. When I attended the VTR meet in
Columbus in '99, I noticed a great number of TR's that do not see the
outside of a garage. That is one reason I left the old american car clubs.
They no longer get pleasure out of driving their cars. They are content just
making sure that they are as shiney as possible, then sitting by the car and
watching people look at their pile of parts. I ,for one, use my TR3 to get
to work during 60% of the year and the rest of the time I drive my Series 2
Land Rover. I continually try to educate the masses to appreciate what a
Triumph, MG and etc. are. And yes I get tired of telling them "It's a
Triumph not a MG" or "no it's not a Jeep, it's a Land Rover"
Sorry for going on so long...
Cheers,
Mike Thompson
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