Over the past couple of weeks I have been chatting with Tony Fox and Terence McKillen about possible on-line meetings for our club. They recommended a fellow Triumph aficionado – John Macartney – from the U.K. and I am delighted to report that John has agreed to present to us “Turn Left at the Pacific”. The title of this talk comes from the book John wrote in 2011 that describes a marathon Charity Drive he undertook between June and September 2009. The event was to draw attention to 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. The route for this American trip was certainly circuitous and went from Florida to California – via Texas in the U.S with Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and B.C. in Canada – with an awful lot of everything in between!
The total journey was 18,000 miles long and made North American motoring history. No-one had previously driven that far – for charity – in a car of any age, make or origin over that distance. What makes this achievement even more remarkable is the car John drove was a 1973 Triumph Stag which required a ground-up rebuild before the event could get underway! This was not a solo journey. While John and the Stag certainly drove the whole distance, they were joined for intervals by over 1,000 other British and European sports cars (including Triumphs from Toronto Triumph Club members) and those other participants collectively clocked more than 100,000 miles.
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.
Details of the virtual meeting follow:
Date: Tuesday 19th January 2021.
Start Time: 6:00 p.m. (11 p.m. in the UK – thanks John!).
Duration: 90 minutes (Presentation followed by questions).
To join Zoom Meeting click on: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7092439786?pwd=WXo0UlI1MDBnTDBvUnNWWFpkSkxFdz09
Meeting ID: 709 243 9786, Passcode: 530500.
Meeting Etiquette
- Each participant will be kept in the “waiting room” until they are authorised to join the meeting. Please be patient.
- All audience members will be muted to cut down on background noise.
- If you have a question, use the Chat function and we’ll ask John to respond once the formal presentation is over.
- To sign into the meeting, you don’t need to download any apps, just click on the below URL and enter the password. PLEASE start to log on by around 5:45 p.m. which will give us a chance to get everyone out of the waiting room and address any issues.
Please make a note in your schedule of this fascinating event. I look forward to enjoying John’s presentation together with a full TTC audience on the 19th. I’ll be sure to send out a reminder closer to the date.
Cheers; Dave
Dave Sims, President Toronto Triumph Club