Along with mjb's collection of Triumphs, he has a collection of old
Roadster Factory catalogs. While visiting the Fat Chance Garage last
week, I had a chance to peruse some that came before my time.
Charles Runyan, proprietor of TRF, always writes an essay or two for
the Christmas catalog. I ran across one from a few years ago that
struck my fancy. It's entitled something like "Why our Triumphs are a
national treasure", and bemoans the fact that we're trashing Triumphs
while the rest of the world is buying them up and restoring them. The
final, somewhat sexist, paragraph pretty much sums up the whole thing:
I've often said that there is a certain way of life that centers around
having a British car. It includes brave men, pretty girls, quiet pubs,
crowded bars, tweed jackets, twisty roads, navy blazers, country
houses, long gravel drives, silk neckties, sunny autumn days, wool
scarves, leather couches, Persian carpets, picnic lunches, good books,
French champagne, silkver ice buckets, lively conversation, romantic
restaurants, wild parties and many other things. But you've got to have
the car to live th elife, and that is why the rest of the world is here
trying to take out future Triumphs.
|