Hey Guys,
Boy, did we stir up some dust on this one! Sorry but I feel compelled to add
one last Rant. Hopefully I don't add gas to the fire since I may have a
minority opinion here. I have my Flame Retardant Suit in place. My goal
however is to try to bring us all together.
First of all, popular choice car shows are fun. They provide us a forum to
get together and enjoy our cars regardless of their condition. It is as
simple as that. Lets not get hung up on who wins and why. We should enjoy
the day and vote for who we like. We often pool our votes to get a driver
car a win to recognize the owner. Sure if you don't win you always have the
"Red Car" excuse or the home court advantage, etc. If an original driver car
shows up us Concours guys are usually all over it doing research. We
appreciate you showing us how they really were. I remember a TR250 that
drove onto the showfield at the VTR Nationals in Portland, Maine. It was a
dead nuts original untouched driver car. While my 250 was scoring 398 pts in
Concours I was going over that car with a fine tooth comb and I learned a few
things. I was not the only one, several other 250 guys with premier cars
were mesmerized by the original driver. I have personally judged a TR3A at a
VTR in Savannah Georgia that was like a time warp machine. Although it was
of kind of ratty and well worn it was again dead nuts original and I learned
a lot from it. By the way it also scored over 300 points and earned a Silver
Certificate.
Let's talk about judging. Now this one kind of hits my funny bone since I
have volunteered to be the VTR Chief Judge. In regard to the Gloria Southern
Cross that won Best in Show last year, I believe it was an outstanding
freshly and authentically restored example of a very rare prewar Triumph.
However to tell the truth it was not my favorite. I am a "hairy chested"
type of guy and there was also an early TR6 which scored an equal amount of
points and was certainly my favorite. It was a very close call. However in
the end the factor that tipped the scale in the Gloria's favor was the
extreme difficulty that the owner must have had to restore this car with such
rare parts and all. I feel confident that it was the right decision. Now
the BOS TR7 that is being discussed that was in Portland is actually my car.
I was extremely lucky to find this car in 1996 with only 92 miles on it. It
had been stored in a dealer's barn from new, never sold or titled. I
actually got to buy it off the dealer's showroom floor for a price slightly
under what the cars were selling for in 1981. I was extremely proud to win
BOS with this car however I felt bad for my other competitors that may have
spent countless hours restoring their cars to a high standard. All I did was
plunk down the dough, clean the shit out of it, replace the chunky brake
fluid, fix the stuck fuel injector, and generally get it road worthy. I was
just a regular judge then and was not involved in the choice for BOS. The 7
is a good example of how the cars really were. I brought it to the show,
mainly for this reason. I was also proud of the fact that a Wedge actually
won a BOS. By the way, I also had this car fresh off the dealer showroom at
the VTR in Albany, NY. BOS that year was a painstakingly and authentically
restored TR3A. I didn't bother me a bit. The Judges at VTR including me are
all volunteers. We are not paid professionals, but believe me we do know a
thing or two about Triumphs and we are not playing favorites in any way.
IMHO VTR also provides plenty of respect for the regular driver guys with
awards in all the moving events and the Ken Richardson Award, Carolinas Cup,
Bill Wood Memorial, Long Distance Award, Autocross, TSD rally, Etc. Now I
hope I did not upset any of them by winning the Carolinas Cup in Portland
with my BOS Concours TR7. Where are you guys? I rest my case.
Sorry but I have to voice my opinion about Trailers. DON'T CALL MY CAR A
TRAILER QUEEN! Yes, I have a trailer. It's a nice one a Featherlite 18'
open car hauler. I worked hard to earn the money to purchase it and the tow
vehicle required. Yes, I enjoy the creature comforts provided by modern
transportation for a long haul such as from Ohio to the Pacific Ocean. I
like air conditioning and such. I also don't really like sharing the super
highways with 18 wheelers while driving my LBC. I like to get to the shows
fast and take it slow. It has nothing to do with my car. In fact, the first
thing I do when I arrive is take the car off and go hide the trailer so I
don't have to listen to the criticism that some people insist on giving. Now
I know there are a few people with trailers that give us all a bad name. I
recall a guy who brought a TR3 to a TRA National some years back in an
enclosed trailer. He pulled up a few hours before the Concours, rolled his
car off, had his crew detail it, and then stuck it in the show. The funny
thing about it was that the car, although beautifully restored, was entirely
incorrect and got masequered in the Concours. Now the guy was upset, left
pissed off, and has never been seen again. These guys are the minority and
all cars that come in on trailers should not be grouped with them. Even
though I have a trailer, I have driven my cars to St. Louis, MO, Asheville,
NC, New Hampshire, and others too numerous to mention. Give me a BREAK. I'm
autocrossing, rallying, drag racing and driving the crap out of it once I get
to the show. I'm not the only one.
If you actually got thru all this counter rant without deleting, thank you
for listening to my opinion.
Darrell Floyd
VTR Chief Judge
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