ABOUT JOHN
Forty years ago and at the age of twenty-three, I was transferred from the Export Department of Standard-Triumph in Coventry, to the company’s only showroom in the heart of London’s Mayfair district. The showroom at 15–17 Berkeley Square, London W1, was a prestigious location and in the fall of 1967, I became one of the team. Those of us who worked there used all our guile and persuasive talents to secure personal export orders for the company’s product range, and perhaps inevitably, two of the prime markets for the sports car range were Canada and the United States. As order followed order – and successive customers told me where they lived, how and where they planned to use their cars, I developed an ever-increasing interest to see this huge continent. As my career later developed over the ensuing years, I visited many continents – including North America, but only on business. I can’t say those trips allowed me “to see America†because they didn’t. One airport is much like any other, all hotel rooms are seemingly ‘L’ shaped and if I never see Chicago O’Hare airport again, I won’t lose sleep fretting about it. But seeing so many Triumphs going Stateside, I resolved that one day I’d visit North America myself. I’d go where and when I wanted – and at a time to suit only me. Most of all, I’d do the trip in a Triumph and at the end, I’d arrange things so I could have some quality time admiring The Fall on the east coast.
The downside to that distant pipedream is that no Triumphs have been made for more than twenty years – but the trip plan is still in place. What’s more, it’s all coming together right now, though by somewhat curious means. I don’t need to go into the key reason at this point, because there is much to say on a variety of important things. At this stage and with 2007 having seen many emails going back and forth, I can now break cover and declare the intentions!
In 2009, and as a now retired UK Standard-Triumph employee, I plan to drive the U.S. and Canada in a Triumph, raising money for charity – in no more than three months. I can’t make it longer than three months because of US visitor visa conditions. I doubt any of my former colleagues or forebears have ever done this, so it could be another ‘Triumph First.’
But, while I travel, I want to meet as many Standard-Triumph enthusiasts in those two countries as I can. Most important of all, I really want them to help me achieve the overall objective of completing what is likely to be at least a 10,000 mile journey in a little over three months in a car that’s likely to be thirty or more years old. Are you up for that, guys?