Last day of the convention and it is the car show itself. Some 280 cars
had signed up for this convention and most of them were on the show field.
Triumphs as far as the eye can see. One way to get to know a model of car
really well is to judge a concour class and I judged the early TR6 class
along with four other gentlemen who know TR6's quite well. Reminded me
that my TR6 is a world away from being a concours contestant. But there
were many cars that were immaculate. There were many others that were well
loved and well used and still very lovely none the less. There were many
TR3's. There were many TR4's. There were many Spitfires. And there were
many, many many TR6's. There were two Vitesses's, one of which is a right
hand drive, blue one shown by Cecil Wise and his new bride (honeymooners)
and there were no less than three 1800/2000 roadsters (one of which had
just received a $20,000 dollar restoration by the son of the original
owner).
I remember when one of these things would command center stage at a VTR
event but now there are three and they were upstaged by three pre-war cars
- two Gloria Southern Cross's and a Super Seven. These cars and the half
dozen Stags and the 2500 Saloon and all the cars in between represent a
good representation of the diverse product line offered by Triumph over the
years. And from the absolutely original concours cars to the thoroughly
modified race and autocross cars shows the range of owners' ability to
maintain and adapt these cars to varying applications. I think that this
is what makes Triumphs so popular - each owner can set up the car the way
he likes it - whether that is showroom original, enhanced road use, or
strictly track. Or anywhere inbetween.
The day started out beautiful. Clear blue skies and warmer than previous
mornings. It had rained overnight but the day promised to be a nice one.
And it was. Until about 1:30 when the clouds welled up and sprinkled. Not
much rain but enough to cause a premature departure of many exhibitors.
But enough remained on the field after the rain stopped to allow much
socializing and note taking. Then there was a long break before the
banquet.
The banquet started out with one of the best dinners I've had at such a
large gathering. Usually you get a piece of rubbery mystery meat and some
nondescript vegetables but not this time. The food was quite good. Not
the best I've had, mind you, but remember that fixing dinner for 600 folks
is not as easy as for a small group when dinning out.
The awards went quite quickly. This is because the RMTC had strategically
placed awards and runners throughout the banquet hall and when an award was
announced the recipient stood and the runner delivered the award to
him/her.
(Special note: These are UNOFFICIAL results based on my memory so any
errors are to be taken in stride and omisions are to be forgiven.)
Awards were given out for the crafts, models and photos as well as the
walking tour and the fun tour. Joe Curry took second place in the crafts
contest with his sofa crafted from the back end of a mark I Spitfire.
Quite becoming. I'm sure my wife would love having one of these in out
living room. (Well, if she doesn't I sure would) These were followd by
the TSD Ralley awards and it appears that the amateurs faired better than
the experienced ralleyers.
Next came the autocross awards. My prognosis from yesterday proved correct
- the smaller cars faired better than the bigger ones on this tight, narrow
(in spots) course. Bud Rolofson took first in the stock TR6 class. But
even he was beaten by a couple of Spitfires. Henry Frey took first in the
Stag class with a time that would be quite respectable in the smaller car
classes. One of the Southern Crosses also competed.
In the Modified and Prepared classes the cars were a bit faster but the
tighness of the course made the distinction a bit on the subtle time. The
fastest stock car was a Spitfire with a time of 39.xxx seconds. This was
better than many of the prepared cars (taking cones into account that is).
Scott Tilton took first in the modified TR6 class (I think) but Susan
Hensley put us all to shame with her time in the Killer Spit. And I think
she was the fastest lady out there that day. I guess since Val Lopez
wasn't here someone had to do it.
So the big question from yesterday was who would be the fastest car, Mark's
Killer Spit, Joe's race Spitfire, or John's TR4. And the results are:
well, John's TR4 turned in the fastest raw time but the wider car acted as
a cone magnet. 36 seconds is a very respectable time - none faster - but
two cones put the time up tp 40 seconds. So the tight course did favor the
smaller Spitfires. But there were two of them. So, which was faster?
Well, by a narrow margin Joe Curry squeeked one away from Killer with a
clean run at (I think) 38 seconds. Congratulations, Joe.
There were many show trophies awarded as well. Too many for me to remember
with any accuracy but a few highlights are: Brad Kahler and Susan Hensley
with their white Spitfire took a concours throphy, Joe Curry took a popular
choice award in the modified class, Ron Bonelli took a First place Concour
trophy in the TR8 class (that's a second one and now he is bumped into the
senior class), Pat Pinkston too first in the late TR6 class after years of
taking second place (Pat's car is unrestored, all he does is keep it clean
and maintained), Ralph Zerbe took a concours trophy in Special Interest
(you may remember he took Best of Show last year with his very nice
Standard 10), Fred Thomas took first in TR3A popular choice. HArry
Cornelius took a first in a Spitfire concours class. And there were many
more.
Special awards: Cecil Wise and his new bride (honeymooners) wound up
pushing their car to several repair facilities (on their way to the
convention) before finding one that could repair their broken car and won
the Hard Luck trophy for their efforts. Don Elliot won the Ken Richardson
Award for the sporting use of his TR3 - a well deserved award in my
opinion.
Many clubs were represented from as far away as Washington State,
Wisconsin, Texas, St. Louis, and Virginia and all had a good time.
Well, life at 9600 feet has come to an end and it is time to return to the
flat lands where the air is thicker and my lungs can resume normal
operation. It is with much meloncoly that the end of another VTR has
arrived and I look forward to next year.
Oh, and as Bud Rolofson said in his post, Brad and Susan had a Mystery car
that they would reveal at the car show. And so they did. You may not know
that Brad and Susan have a quite diverse collection from a Mk I spit to a
very late TR3B to a very early TR4 and even a Mayflower but this car trumps
them all for sitting on a trailer at the far end of the show field was a
somewhat tatterd but not too badly so, are you ready?...Sit down...
an Amphicar.
I have heard said that the amphicar makes a lousy boat, too. We will see.
The restoration is about to commence. More surprises next year.
That's all for this year.
Meandering back to sea level
Dave Massey
80 TR8
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