President’s Message – February 2022

President’s Message – February 2022

I’m sending out Feb’s message a little earlier than usual as I wanted to remind you that if you haven’t submitted your application for a long distance award from the British Car Council, you have until 31st January.   Here’s the link to the BCC page. http://www.britishcarcouncil.ca/index.php/awards/

We have a “double header” planned to celebrate Sir. John Black’s 10th February birthday.  He’s the man who organized Standard’s purchase of Triumph after the war and went on to make the cars we enjoy driving today. Read on …

1. John Macartney presents Sir John Black – the man who saved Triumph

 DATE:            Wednesday 9th February

TIME:             6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. (11 p.m. for John in the UK!)

FORMAT:      Virtual Meeting via Zoom. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7092439786?pwd=WXo0UlI1MDBnTDBvUnNWWFpkSkxFdz09

SYNOPSYS:

This time last year John Macartney made an excellent presentation to our club reviewing his epic “Turn Left at the Pacific” journey of some 18,000 miles across the US in a Triumph Stag.  He’s also entertained us with a number of in-depth and humorous articles in Ragtop.   I’m delighted to report that John has kindly agreed to come back and talk to us again, this time on Sir. John Black – the man who saved Triumph.  Coincidentally this is planned for the eve of Sir John’s birthday and Drive Your Triumph Day (see below).  John Macartney has now retired from a motor industry manufacturing career and spends some of his time writing extensively on the history of his former work environment.   As a result, he has become widely recognised as a reliable information resource to British sports car enthusiasts around the world whose interests lie in the products of Jaguar, MG and Standard-Triumph. John’s key interest when writing about his chosen subject concentrates not so much on the finished products, or the many technical aspects of automotive manufacturing but on the people, who designed, made, sold and serviced the cars in question.  John is also a strong advocate for addressing PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) in civilians rather than in the military where it is popularly and mistakenly believed to be the only environment where PTSD is experienced and suffered.

2. Drive Your Triumph Day – Thursday 10th February

Are you ready for Drive Your Triumph Day on Thursday 10th February to celebrate Sir John Black’s birthday?   Rye Livingston of the Triumph Travelers Sports Car Club in Northern California is once again organizing this event.   Some years ago, Rye encouraged members of his club to drive their Triumphs on Sir John’s birthday and what started as a local event has gained momentum and last year Rye received 527 photos from all over the world. He’s hoping to increase that number again this year!   Last year TTC club members sent in 28 photos picturing 37 Triumphs and 14 Triumph models were featured.   Here’s a link to photos from the 2021 TTC participants https://torontotriumph.com/drive-your-triumph-day-2021/

The concept is straightforward. On Thursday, February 10th, go for a drive in your Triumph. Take a scenic drive on a country road or out to lunch, to the market, to work, wherever. Go for a drive alone or in a big group from your local Triumph Club. Take your spouse, buddy, child, grandchild or dog; then take a photo. The photo is mainly of the car, and the owner or passenger, if possible, ideally in front of a cool spot, landmark, scenic view or in your driveway. Even though we are in the middle of a long winter in the Great White North you can still participate.   Just take a hi-res photo of your favourite Triumph(s) in the garage, on the driveway, or if you are really brave take a spin in the snow … but not on salty roads!

The next step is to email a high-resolution photo to Rye Livingstone at driveyourtriumphday@gmail.com, along with some basic information: owner’s name, year and model of car, and place photo was taken (city, province, country). The photos will then be published not only in our club newsletter, but also in USA’s national magazine: Vintage Triumph Registry, and on the Drive Your Triumph Day website: https://driveyourtriumphday.shutterfly.com   Thanks for joining in the fun! I’ve just taken a sneak peak at the latest Ragtop which as we speak is being printed.  Here’s a teaser of what you can expect to read.   It should arrive in your mail boxes in early February

In January we held our TTC Quiz via Zoom.  Presented by Terence McKillen there were 29 questions on Brit cars through the ages.  It was definitely challenging with Tony Fox coming out on top followed by Chris Weekes and Clive Huizinga.   Thanks to Terence and well done to all our participants.

At our January virtual board meeting I had the pleasure of presenting The British Car Council Order of British Car Enthusiasts Award to Rob Ragsdale for his stellar work on setting up the new membership database.  Rob is in very good company as in past years it has been presented to Keith Stewart, Terence McKillen, Wayne McGill and David Tushingham.   Congratulations Rob!

And finally, I received this short YouTube clip from Tony Fox featuring a 1956 hill climb that took place at Rattlesnake Point.   Those of you who participate in west end club drives will recognize it although 66 years ago it was still a dirt road.   Enjoy!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU–oqD9jkA

I’m looking forward to joining you for John Macartney’s presentation on 9th February as well as seeing many photos submitted to Drive Your Triumph Day, but in the meantime, stay safe and stay warm!

Cheers; Dave


Dave Sims
President, Toronto Triumph Club