Triumph Involvement

Could there be a better hobby than this? Now that you have that fine old British sports car, what kind of world has unfolded before you? I must confess that my ownership of a sports car is a manifestation of my reluctance to let go of a cherished part of my youth—to be forever young! That’s my aim and I don’t care who knows it!

The cherished part of my life that I do not want to relinquish? Those were the weekends spent at roadracing tracks such as Mosport or St. Jovite. Too, it was the warm summer nights of topdown motoring with like minded friends that we met at the A&W Drive-ln. Swell places those drive-ins. but they expected to clip this tray onto your partially rolled down window which was kind of a neat trick with the Mini-Coopers whose windows slid back to front. Even more difficult with the TR3s which not only had no windows but whose doors didn’t go all the way up either!

Well, the drive-ins are gone but there’s still plenty to do with a sports car. A quick perusal of the events calendar in Moss Motoring will amply show that your British sports car need not be a sedentary relic and neither, for that matter, do you! As for myself, I have returned to Mospsort and St. Jovite because, thanks to the many vintage racing organizations and sponsorship of certain cars by friends such as Moss Motors, the cars have come back too.

So we have it all to do again and though we might age. we need never grow old. If racing is not your thing then it serves well to remember that sports cars were also rallied, slalomed and just driven on the road for the pure fun of it. Fun and involvement are the operative words here! Join a club, most clubs produce excellent newsletters about things to do with your sports car or, as I said before, read the events calendars on what’s happening out there.

Above all DRIVE your sports car! For heavens sake it’s got wheels hasn’t it? As Bun Levy once said, “They were built to suck up asphalt not park on it!” In the home where I grew up we had elegant French Provincial furniture on which we were not allowed to sit. Remarkably, it deteriorated (sunlight, etc.) and had to be recovered anyway. Your pristine sports car will rust while it sits, I guarantee it. Are you sometimes afraid you will wear it out?

Thanks to Moss Motors, among others, replacement parts tot nearly everything are again available, often more readily and cheaper than when the cars were current. You’ll never sec my Spitfire on a trailer, it’s rust free and mechanically sound because I treat it well. It has several features which identify it as a rally car. The rare steel hard top, stoneguards on the headlamps, authentic Lucas 576 WLR driving lamps, and the factory pencil-beam map light mounted below the Heuer stage-watch which itself is surrounded by dash plaques which tell of the car’s history. (But not as eloquently as the dents in the doors or the stone chips on its nose!)

You can tell I’m proud of this car can’t you? Well I’m going to allow the old war-horse its pride too. It will never be restored but maintained religiously and allowed to wear its patina of age with dignity. It will be rallied again, maybe slalomed and as for concours can sit among its more sybaritic kin lest anyone forget the purpose of a sports car. “…but I gaar-on-tee cars driven in anger are gonna get a quick five or ten point bonus anytime I’m on the judging. I’ll be darned if I’m going to knock off a point for a…stone chip, brake powder haze in the wheels or some oil sweating out of a fitting still warm to the touch. I guess I just have a basic contempt for ‘glass case’ restorations!” quoting Bun Levy again!

So that’s what it’s all about folks—involvement. Get involved! Moss Motors is involved with its motorsports program and the great events held on both the East and West Coasts. See you there? Use your car and let it enhance the quality of your life!

By Robert Morrison – Ontario, Canada