May Day, May Day. Yup it’s 1st of May and all the signs are that spring has arrived … now all we need is some warmer weather. I know my TR is raring to go after a sleepy winter; just a couple of odd jobs to complete and we’re ready to roll.
April was a good month for getting out-and-about as we participated in two face-to-face events within a couple of days of each other. It was a tad cool for the 39th British Car Flea Market and Car Show which was hosted by the Austin Healey Club of Southern Ontario and the British Sports Car Club of Hamilton. Numbers were down from 2019 and attendance seemed to dwindle around lunchtime however it was great to see lots of club members, both old and new, at out table. It also gave me an opportunity to pick up a case of Kendall 20W-50 oil from Fred McEchern of British Autosport who was selling this wonderful ZDDP-enhanced oil on behalf of Crescent Oil.
The following Tuesday, Joe Dukova of J.D.Auto fame, hosted a Q&A at his shop in Etobicoke. As always Joe was informative and entertaining and answered questions on gearboxes, overdrives, motors, carbs, suspension … in fact all our favourite topics. Good job Joe. Over 40 club members were in attendance and we finished up with pizza and soft drinks courtesy of the club.
It was touch and go for Spring Fling as we just didn’t get the expected registration take-up, however, after meeting with the hotel and banquet facilities they have agreed to honour our contract even though less than half of the number of promised people will be attending. Good news indeed!
Dianne & Barry O’Rourke together with Dianne & Andre Fleury are looking forward to bringing the 28th Spring Fling to you after a few stop/starts over the past couple of years. Finding hotels, banquet facilities and venues has been a real challenge because of COVID and I have to commend the SF team for their resilience and persistence. It will be great to get back together for a weekend after 2 long years and meet up with our friends from both TTC and MGCCT. While registration is closed, if you have a last-minute change of plans, there may be some room available to squeeze you in. If so please contact either the Fleurys at adsfleury@gmail.com or O’Rourkes at spikeorourke@gmail.com
Shown below is a photo from SF 2019 where a demonstration was made on how to start a recalcitrant TR6!
I received the following message from Stephen Nutt today concerning John Macartney’s new book. I will you know when I find out more but in the meantime here is what John has to say …
I thought I’d let you know I signed a contract with a London, England publisher for my latest book called “FROM IRON CROSS TO THE CROSS OF NAILS”. It was originally my late father’s story to tell but he was dogged by ill-health after retiring from Standard-Triumph in the 1960’s and never got to write the narrative. After some forty years of research on my part and several complete re-writes, the story is finished. If you’re interested in automotive history – especially if it’s to do with Jaguar and Standard-Triumph – you may well be interested in my latest offering. It concerns the escape from Austria in the summer of 1939 of two people, both Jews, who were the official and only importers and distributors for Austria for cars made by The Standard Motor Company and SS Limited – which post-war became Jaguar Cars. The two people in question were Hans and Monika Koch and a very compressed version of their story appeared in “In the Shadow of my Father” but in “From Iron Cross” you get the full story in every detail and you’ll get to *meet* Sir John Black (CEO Standard Motor Co) and Sir William Lyons (CEO Jaguar), read about some of their conversations and how they helped the Kochs in the early weeks of their unplanned and very coincidental arrival in England just before the outbreak of WW2. That’s the basic background. The book is scheduled to appear in the Spring of 2023 but at the time of writing I have no idea of its pricing. I do know it will be available as a print on demand from Amazon in the UK, Barnes & Noble (I think), together with e-book versions and on Kindle.
The next thing we have to start planning is some drives and while I don’t have anything firm yet stay tuned for announcements from Clive & Alex in the east, Derek & Rob in central and Terence & me in the west end.
Maggie has been busy organising us for vacations – 3 are booked so far – so we’ll be having a particularly busy summer. Can’t wait to get out in the TR and we look forward to seeing you soon.
Cheers; Dave
Dave Sims
President, Toronto Triumph Club