A review of the TTC display at the 2012 Canadian International Auto Show in Richmond Hill. It was while I was here that the starter in TS2 would ONY T A whizzz and whirr, but it N R E wouldn’t start. I called S E C E D the TR Register who ar- ranged the local Y B towing service to Don at speed driving up the Harewood Hillclimb in TS2 the day before the TR Register’s Annual International PHOTO ANTONY TRIUMPH take TS2 to The Worcester Classic Weekend . Harewood is in Yorkshire about 30 miles south of Harrogate . Car Co. about six miles away where they in- The original carbs and intake manifold are ford and handed in the keys. Then Allen stalled a new starter and sent the bill to the still installed. TS2 has better acceleration Forster, the manager drove me and my The History! The Glory! TR Register office. The small pinion on the than my own TR3A and I would even say luggage plus camping gear to the station front end of the starter shaft had become it was very noticeable. I feel it must be the to catch the train heading back to Edin- cam that made the difference. burgh. I spent these final days with my The displacement is still at the daughter Catherine and we took in sev- original 1991 cc – like mine. I got eral of the stand-up comedy shows at the 28.8 miles per Imperial gallon, Edinburgh Fringe Festival. using the lowest UK grade of un- Then it was back to Montreal via Heath- leaded petrol and I managed to row on British Airways. All in all, it was a easily reach 80 MPH on the mo- wonderful trip. It was a dream come true. torways a few times. Next year, the 2012 International Week- After these four days in and end will be back at the Malvern Show- around Worcester, I drove TS2 grounds where it was held from 1999 to back to the TR Register office in 2009. Malvern is famous for Morgan Cars Didcot, a few miles south of Ox- being built there. RAGTOP TS2 leading the International contingent with Chris Cunnington the Chairman of the TR Register holding the Canadian flag . There were over 50 TRs from overseas, E mostly European and Irish . RVILL E M SO disconnected and it had fallen into the bot- A Y B tom of the bell housing. This was the only time that TS2 caused PHOTO PHOTO D VID a technical problem in 2088 miles over 23 days. I feel that TS2 is a solid and very re- liable TR, much as my own TR3A is. There are no squeaks in TS2, nothing was loose or rattling, the steering was direct without being heavy and it had no sloppiness at all. During the first few days of driving in the rain, quite a bit of water came in over the top of the windscreen and up the sides, because the sidescreens could not to be tucked in behind the chrome plate on the stanchions, as they should be to keep the All the TRs that were shown at Harrogate were in one of the huge buildings for the Fairgrounds . In the Masters Class is rain out. But once the rain stopped, I drove the TR2 Francourchamp belonging to Patrick Van Houtven from Belgium where these unique cars were built . Notice in the final 17 days with the top down and for the side view that due to the rigid roof, that the door is lengthened for easier entry and the rear dogleg (quarterpanel) me, the problem was no longer there. has been trimmed . The windows crank up and down with a simple crank and bicycle chain guides on sprockets . Since A supplement to They told me that the engine had been all the TRs assembled from kits in Europe were sprayed there, the colour, in many cases was not the same as the cars tweaked. A mild cam has been installed. assembled in Coventry . 22 www.TorontoTriumph.com RAGTOP I SPRING I 2012 RAGTOP BY DAVID FIDLER Triumph Heaven “Just a quarter inch to the left and it will be perfect“ - Bill Flemming (rear left) and the CIAS ‘Heavy Gang’ in action It was late January 2011, a typical winter day in southern Ontario, 2 feet of snow piled up and minus 20C out- side. Enough to freeze the spheroids off a non-ferrous anthropoid. Sitting at my desk in my nice warm home of- fice, I must admit, the last thing on my mind was Triumphs or car shows. But this soon changed when I opened an E-mail from Jon Rosenthall, Classic Ve- hicle Event Organizer, for the Canadian International Auto Show (CIAS). Jon was asking if the Toronto Triumph Club would be interested in providing etc., but again they were too far away. Triumph Ten enthusiast that just hap- LL vehicles and volunteers for their 2012 A Mayflower and/or Renown proved pened to know someone in the TTC “Classic Concourse” display area? Situ- equally elusive so, my original plan had who had kindly passed on my E-mail ated in the South Building of the Metro to be modified a little. to him. Enthusiast is an understatement, Toronto Convention Centre and cover- I eventually settled on going for a David totally embraced the show and ing 70,000 square feet of Level 700, display in The History Room consisting with very little persuasion from Jon and this area has previously played host to of examples of every post-war Triumph I, he agreed to bring not one, but FOUR displays of classic Lamborghini, MG, sports car ever built and variants there- Standard/Triumph Tens to Toronto (see Just one year (and about 3”) separate and Mustang cars etc., as tributes to of. This was pretty much achieved, with followup story in Summer 2012 issue the 69 TR6 and 68 TR250 as they nestle past classics, contrasting with the other onboard the trailer the exception of a small mouth TR3 (I of Ragtop). Jon Rosenthall also came to halls full of all that’s new and innova- thought I had one, but when it arrived the rescue and helped procure two Ita- tive. I was definitely intrigued on site, it was actually a big mouth lia 2000s, a GTR4 Dové and, the star and eager to know more. DF TR3A!) and I didn’t get a first year 1966 of the show for many people, a 1935 Ian Parkhill, Scott Douglas the horns and decided to come up with What went on behind the scenes GT6. However, we had everything Gloria Southern Cross. Apart from and I attended the 2011 CIAS in a comprehensive plan to put together a Our display was to be split into three else, 17 cars in total, plus 3 examples our own Dave Roeder’s 1948 1800 February to view what the On- show that was worthy of our marque. areas; 1. Restored and modified, 2. of racing TRs, provided by members Roadster, all of these cars came from tario Camaro and Firebird clubs Little did I realize how much work I Rare and unusual, and 3. “The History of VARAC, taking pride of place in the the USA - as far afield as High Point had provided for last year’s dis- would have to do to make it happen! Room” (in a separate large hall). Un- middle of the room. To help visitors un- NC, Perkasie PA, Long Island NY and play and to meet with CIAS exec- I have a few years experience of stag- derstandably, areas 2 & 3 were the big- derstand the history of Triumph sports Caldwell NJ. The rare model section utives, including the show’s Gen- ing and exhibiting at trade shows, but gest challenge. cars, I wrote a script which the folks was a big hit with visitors. eral Manager Tom Tonks, himself nothing prepared me for the amount of I had an ambitious plan to procure at CIAS had professionally narrated The restored and modified cars a Triumph TR8 owner. We were work this project eventually entailed at least one example of every Triumph by radio personality, Bill Hewitt. Visi- were all provided by TTC members stunned by the sheer size of the or some of the hoops I had to jump produced, pre and post WWII. As it tors could listen and follow the story and ranged from a TR250 to a Herald display area and the standard through in order to get what the club turned out, the pre-war cars were nigh chronologically around the room and Convertible, TR8s (4), TR6s (5), TR4 (1), of the presentation. We chatted needed and to ensure that the display on impossible to get, because most we saw numerous people doing this TR3s (4) and a fuel injected Spitfire. with the Camaro guys at their was top notch. Between reaching out are either in museums or private col- and received a few “thumbs up” signs Across all three sections, we had a to- club booth and were pleased to for cars, keeping owners happy, sourc- lections (mostly overseas) and many as they left the room. tal of 46 Triumphs on show. The larg- hear that their expectations for Fasten your safety belt, and off we go! ing covered transport (that was a whole of them are “one-offs”. With a strict For the rare and unusual display, I est ever indoor display of Triumph cars the event had been met and rela- DF story in and of itself!), rostering volun- budget provided to the club by CIAS, needed the assistance (and addition- in North America, which included not tionships with the CIAS executive had We reported all of this back to our teers and dealing with PR & media, I shipping cars in from Europe wasn’t an al resources) of the CIAS executives.