On April 3, Leon Guyot wrote:
>Yesterday at Gaydon, I got a chance to speak to the Managing Director of
>BMIHT, Fred
>Coulthas,(sp?) and I asked him who now had control of the Triumph name. He
>advised me
that
>it was BMIHT, who also have control of all the other old names, apart from
>Rover, MG and
>Mini. They, (BMIHT) pay at least 60,000 GBP a year to retain copyright control
>of then
>names as they are a Heritage issue. Furthermore, and with due respect he told
>me that in
>order of perceived merit, Triumph is regarded by the BMIHT board as number
>three in terms
>of importance. He did apologise for that.
Personally speaking, I see absoutely no reason why Mr. Coultas, a man for whom
I have the
highest regard, respect and confidence - should apologise. Leon, with respect,
you
(conveniently?) overlook the fact that the Trust has a responsibility for
TWELVE marque
names - Austin, Austin Healey, Land Rover, MG, Mini, Morris, Riley, Rover,
Standard,
Triumph, Vanden Plas and Wolseley. How the Trustees may choose to rank the
relative
importance of those names is their affair and to suggest they have a pecking
order does us
no favours at all. For all those working at Gaydon and who have an affection
for all those
names - which, I might add, borders almost on a neurosis they are all equal
number one -
period! Of those names, Land Rover, MG, Mini and Rover are current brands
administered by
BMW while Gaydon has a responsibility to care for the older versions of those
same
marques. This is not a two tier or multi-level custodianship.
I have to say as well that your reporting of a conversation with Mr. Coultas
runs a
serious risk of being grossly misinterpreted by many listers in that the
Triumph name at
Gaydon holds less 'clout' than two unidentified others. In this respect, you do
Gaydon no
service at all. Indeed, you run the risk of being perceived to be joining
forces with a
certain Triumph columnist (for whom I understand you hold scant personal
regard) who last
year reported in a popular magazine that in his opinion there was a possibility
that
Gaydon management would marginalise Triumph. Never was there a more preposterous
assumption.
> I briefly explained, in the short time avaliable, the error of that line of
>thinking!
Thank you - but it is you who have made the error, not Mr. Coultas. Just
because you are a
Triumph enthusiast and see the marque ranked at Gaydon as Number Three, does
not mean that
you or anyone else should work towards changing a perspective at the expense of
enthusiasts who are just as dedicated to their preferred marques and want them
at Number
One as well. By doing so, you make our jobs at Gaydon that more difficult to
achieve and
you needlessly divert us in having to maintain our complete impartiality. We are
impartial because all these makes, without exception, have made unique
contributions to
the British motor industry history and should in no way be overlooked or
prioritised and
Triumph is no exception to that rule. Marque favouritism is perhaps inevitable
at a
personal level but it cannot be allowed and is not allowed to prevail, neither
should it
be - at a corporate level.
> He understood my feelings. I will say no more, but he did seem like a nice guy
> otherwise!!! (we must keep up the pressure).
Fred Coultas is a nice guy and he's presently trying his damndest to preserve
Gaydon and
ALL its marques in its entireity. I think he'd be grateful if you didn't try to
"keep up
the
pressure." He's got quite enough of it without Sports Six or any other marque
club
stirring the brown stuff and jockeying for position in its own or a marque
related
self-interest. On behalf of all my colleagues, please desist from circulating
this
alarmist hyperbole and let us get with the job of trying to allay mass panic,
rumour,
counter-rumour and rabid speculation. God knows, we've been having it by the
truckload
these last few weeks and your report does little, if anything to make a
difficult job any
easier. As I wrote in SIXappeal last August, Triumph at Gaydon is safe and if
anyone seeks
to dismember the marque's presence at Gaydon, they'll have to dismember me
first. Thank
you for your input but may I politely suggest you let us get on with our job of
crucial
custodianship at what is proving to be a difficult time? After all, we are
rather closer
to the action than you - and your interests together with those of all the other
enthusiasts of whatever make, are most clearly in our focus.
Sincerely
Jonmac
>ps.to those of you with minis, BMIHT is getting ALL the old Mini tooling as
>it ceases production in October 2000.
FWIW, Heritage has already taken over all the Mk 4 Mini tooling and has been
making those
bodies for at least one year - maybe longer than that.
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