T HE M AGAZINE O F T HE T O R O N to T RIU M PH C LUB S U mm ER 2 0 1 6 BBQ BASH Spring Fling Review • Wire Wheel Fix • Miata Seats ® contents “Keep’em On The Road” Summer 2016 Parts and Accessories for TR2, TR3, TR4, TR4A, TR250, TR6, TR7, TR8, GT6, Spitfire 15 26 30 19 Member Pages From the Editor......................5 From the President ..................7 Club Hub............................8 35 Owner’s Manual . 12 Features Events: Spring Fling ....................... 15 Victoria Weekend.................. 19 T HE M AGAZINE O F T HE T ORONTO T RIUMPH C LUB S UMMER 2 0 1 6 TRiumph Tales: BBQ Life as a Car Nut’s Wife ............. 26 BASH On the Cover Restoration: In my eight years as Ragtop‘s Generation Next – TR-6 on a budget .. 30 editor, I’ve resisted the temp- tation to flaunt Rosie on the Tech & Resto: " cover. But this is my last issue, so TR-250 Restoration ................ 35 K " e d e a I decided at the last minute to p o 'e R waive my self imposed restriction Bits and Pieces: m On The VictoriaBritish.com (800) 255-0088 and put Rosie in the spotlight as Wire Wheel Fix..................... 39 a tribute to her & the extra time I Mazda Seat Swap.................. 42 will now have to enjoy her! Spring Fling Review • Wire Wheel Fix • Miata Seats Photo by David Fidler Tail Lites.......................... 46 16 Ragtop 02 07.indd 1 16-07-28 2:37 PM ©2014 Long Motor Corp. RAGTOP I SUMMER I 2016 www.TorontoTriumph.com 3 Ragtop.indd 1 6/26/14 9:43 AM LANT INSURANCE BROKERS from the editor (A Division of Wayfarer Insurance Brokers Limited) SUBMISSIONS Format: MS Word files are preferred. Send via Canada’s Leader In Classic Vehicle Insurance Since 1978 email or on CD, 20Mb limit on email files. Send BR-EXIT & Fid-Exit photos separately, do NOT embed in the text file. Hard copy submissions are acceptable, but not preferred. Graphics must be in major graphics for- Many of you have ties to Great Britain. Whether it’s as an ex-pat mats, jpeg, tiff or Photoshop files. In Person: To the editor at the monthly meetings or mail: like me or just that you own a Triumph, we have a common in- 2421 Poplar Crescent, terest with the comings and goings of our friends across the Mississauga, Ontario L5J 4H2 pond. Or should that be ‘Remainings and Leavings? Whatever E-mail: [email protected] your thoughts about the recent referendum and it’s resulting ADVERTISING BRexit vote, it could have a very positive effect for fans of British Contact the Club’s advertising representative for vehicles. details of dates and submissions. Submit ads as The European Union and free trade had a lot to do with the high resolution (min 300 ppi) PDF files, saved for print in CMYK format, fonts embedded, by E-mail demise of the British automotive industry since 1983 and, with to [email protected] only a handful or exceptions, the wholesale sell off of house- The advertising year is from Mar. 1 to Feb. 28. hold names like Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Jaguar, Mini, Triumph, MG A copy of Ragtop is sent to all paid advertisers. etc. began. It should be said that the nationalisation of companies such as BMC, which later ADVERTISING RATES became British Leyland, didn’t help the cause and dubious labour practices, production qual- per year ity woes and strikes put them on the auction block. But the EU and its easier access to the UK Rear Cover (full colour) .....................$500 market for the likes of BMW, Mercedes, Audi (of Germany) and Peugeot, Renault and Citroen Inside Front Cover (full colour) ..............$475 Inside Back Cover (full colour)...............$450 from France, was the main reason the UK lost its automotive industry dominance. Full Page Inside ............................$305 So why might the leave vote help? Well the way I see it, with greater control of its domestic Half Page..................................$185 Offering The Quarter Page ..............................$115 affairs and markets, a weaker Sterling and probable import tariffs, the UK should get a jump Business Cards .............................$70 start to claw back its manufacturing base and along with that, maybe some of those marques Full colour ...........................$115 extra will return to their homeland? Triumph, which is owned by BMW, might TR-exit the EU too! Second colour ........................ $75 extra Antique, Classic, Special Interest Flyer Inserts ..............$190/issue (max 4 pgs) Oh, and parts from UK suppliers like Rimmer Bros are now cheaper, yay! (All rates are for 4 issues, except flyers) After eight years as Editor of Ragtop, I’ve held my own BR-Exit “Leave/Remain” referen- and Modified/Street Rod [email protected] dum and the result was unanimous for the “Leave” camp. It was with a heavy heart that I recently tendered my resignation to the Executive Board of the Club to be relieved of my 2016 SCHEDULE Automobile Insurance Issue Editorial Deadline Mailed duties as Vice President & Director of Communications. Along with my job as Editor, I sold Program Spring..............February 22 ...... March 29 and managed the advertising in Ragtop and sat on the British Car Day committee, I have Summer ............May 23 . .June 30 reluctantly also stepped down from these duties. I have been finding it increasingly dif- Fall/ BCD Program...July 25 .......September 20 Winter..............November 7 .. December 30 ficult to juggle my volunteer work for the Club with my business and as a consequence my business has suffered. With thoughts of retirement, hopefully in a couple of years time, I General Enquiries need to concentrate on my real work and family commitments. We’re also well along with [email protected] plans to move out of the GTA into the countryside, maybe north, maybe west, haven’t really Ragtop is published quarterly by the Toronto Tri- decided, but attending the monthly Executive & BCD meetings will prove quite difficult for umph Club Inc. (“TTC”) and is distributed to its members as part of their annual dues. The TTC or me in the future. the Editors cannot accept responsibility for the I am pleased to announce that Assistant Editor, Terence McKillen, will be taking over safe return of any submitted material. We will do as Editor from the next issue onwards. I’m happy that Ragtop will be in good hands and I our best, but accidents do occur. congratulate Terence on his promotion! Please continue to support him with lots of stories We accept no responsibility for errors or omis- and photographs. I will retain my role as Publisher and continue to print Ragtop through sions. Opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the TTC Ex- my business contacts in the industry. ecutive or Membership. Although I’ve left the Board, I am not leaving the Club and I very much look forward to Non-profit groups may reprint articles from this pub- seeing you all at the monthly club meetings and at many more events in the future. Now I’ll lication, where the author has not reserved rights, be able to spend more time chatting with you and looking at the cars, instead of running provided we get credited and both the author and around doing Club stuff and hogging the microphone! TTC receive a copy of the publication in its entirety. Distribution by Pillar Direct. Printed by Printwell Offset for the Toronto Triumph Thank you for your past support and encouragement everyone... Fid over & out. Club. 37 Sandiford Drive, Suite 100, Stouffville, ON L4A 7X5 Tel: (905) 640-4111 • Fax: (905) 640-4450 Copyright © 2016 by the TTC. www.lant-ins.ca Canada Post Publications # 40022175 RAGTOP I SUMMER I 2016 www.TorontoTriumph.com 5 from the president Executives President . Dave Sims 905.331.1496 Vice President..................David Fidler 905.829.9340 Crazy Days of Summer Secretary . Alastair Wallace 905.627.2941 Treasurer ................... Clive Huizinga 905.884.2091 When you get this edition of Ragtop we Director of Communications ....David Fidler 905.829.9340 Membership Chair............Wayne McGill 905.847.5532 will be well into summer and I do hope that Director at Large ..........Terence McKillen 647.202.8243 you’ve had a chance to get your Triumph out Director at Large ..............Patrick Caria 416.562.1642 Past President ........... David Tushingham 416.419.2201 as often as possible. Recently we had the premiere for Warren Beech and Mike Pearse Ragtop Magazine Ragtop Editor .................David Fidler 905.829.9340 as hosts for the club BBQ which attracted an Assistant Editor ...........Terence McKillen 647.202.8243 excellent turnout of club members with an Distribution ........... Rod Jones – Pillar Direct 416.755.9494 eclectic collection of cars. The food was great Art Director ................Michael Cleland 905.873.7704 Advertising Sales ...............David Fidler 905.829.9340 as was the company and the weather was spectacular. Well done Warren and Mike! Website Web Manager/Classifieds .....Keith Stewart 519.660.1916 You’ll see elsewhere in this edition a write-up of Spring Fling which was hosted by the OUR PARTS FINDER MG Car Club of Toronto. Captioned “Bounty in the County” the event was centred at the Meet Davin, Club Coordinators Meeting Coordinator ........Larry Llewellyn 416.245.9217 Isaiah Tubbs resort located close to Picton in Prince Edward County. A good weekend was Interclub Coordinator........... Tony Fox Sr. 905.632.0479 enjoyed by all in a beautiful part of Ontario. “SEARCHING FOR HARD-TO-FIND PARTS Ambassador-at-Large..........Wayne McGill 905.847.5532 Regalia........................Dion Widrich 416.464.6057 What else have we been up to so far this year? Ancaster was a very good day out with Historian....................Frank Manning 905.643.2359 more LBCs in the parking lot than I’ve ever seen before..