Spotted

I've seen rather a lot of Triumphs in Brisbane recently. They haven't been the normal Sedans (Saloons) either.

On the way to the supermarket a couple of weeks ago I spotted an old fella attempting to fit his white Dolly Sprint into a parking space so he could go to the nearby polling station. A week later I came face to face with a white Tr6 in the car park at the super market. Unfortunately it had nasty looking wire wheels on it, was running rough and smelt very rich.

The weekend just passed we saw two Triumphs. The first was a Spitfire (possibly with a six-pot). It was badged a 1500 in a metallic red colour, with gold TR7 wheels, a weird exhaust (twin-branch with four tail-pipes !?!) a Triumph Sports Owners Club "Spitfire 5" registration plate and "tow" stickers suggesting it sees a track from time to time. I put my foot down and did a cheeky little undertake to get a wave. On Sunday we saw a TR3, but the grumpy old sod driving didn't return my wave. Meanwhile we did our bit for showing off the Triumph marque getting admiring looks from Lotus Esprit and Jag XK8 owners as we blasted past them on the 'mountain' roads - I blame Chris Witor's exhaust!

I find it funny how many Triumphs I see, ranging from the immaculate TR's to the shoddy looking student Saloons and Dollys when poor old Dave Pearson seems only to see them when they come and visit him at work. He's on the doorstep of the old heart of Triumph and I'm many thousands of miles away. I guess it says something about the real reach that the British car industry had, and just how much it has declined.