44 days to go!

A little bird has just reminded me that there is only 44 days to go before the kick off to that highlight of the Triumph calender the 2004 RBRR. Other entrants seem to be in the throws of putting the finishing touches to their steeds. As usual (traditional) the Canley entry sits forlornly awaiting any attention at all! We (Team Canley; Jason Chinn, Jerry and yours truly) have entered in a real rarity, one of the 4 2600 MK111 saloon prototypes we own, Triumph's last ditch attempt to squeeze another few years out of the 2000 range pending the introduction of the SD1 6 cyl range, using the same engine, i.e the 2300/2600 Triumph developed OHC 6 cyl. Only the MK111 we are using never actually got 6 cyl running gear, as neither did the majority of the 30 + prototype shells produced, as far as we can ascertain only 4 or 5 of the cars got 2600 engines. Our cars have fitted TR7 16 valve engine and 5 speed box, 'normal' Triumph OHV 2500 running gear (the wifes everyday car), a 2600 OHC and 5 speed box, and our RBRR entry fitted with TR8 V8 and 5 speed box. Ray Henderson (Triumphs chief engineer) once explained to me on one of his visits here that very early on the whole MK111 project was soon sidelined and the spare shells were used in a variety of other projects mainly to do with the introduction of the TR7, hence the 16 valve car, and the V8. I remember as a lad (this would have been 1972-4) seeing the experimental guys tooling around locally in thinly disguised TR7's and these special saloons, distinguished by the raised centre section of the bonnet (originally there to accommodate the taller OHC 2600 engine). Even then the saloons looked, and sounded radically different to the normal 2000 family, I must admit to being quite confused as to the 4 cyl exhaust noise coming from some of them! As strange coincidences go it gets no stranger than having these cars not 50 yards away from our neihbouring business the owner of which's husband was actually one of those experimental drivers!
44 days to go, hmm, when was the last time I drove the V8? Come to think of it' it was 1998, I wonder where the keys are, and the exhaust system, and the radiator, and the ?!!!

Spoilt fer choice

If you are into your webnetebayyahoogrouptsscmessageboard type of stuff like me then there never seems to be enough hours in the day anymore, specially if you are trying to earn a living as well! Have just spent half an hour on the TSSC messageboard catching up with the gossip, but equally it might have been ebay, and of course you have just got to read all of those Yahoo Triumph group digest's in the morning haven't you? Is any one else out there signed up to all the Yahoo Triumph groups and reads them religiously or is it just me? When I say religiously I don't adopt a kneeling attitude and start chanting or anything like that. Something has to give, to much information, so little time. What's worse in my case is that I have gone from being completely disinterested in all of this webby stuff to being completely hooked in 4 years, I have to get up 3 hours earlier in the morning now to fit my 'normal' day in!

Swamp!

Seasonal weather we are having, lovely isn't it?! The car park has just emptied out as the last of the workers departed to reveal the Canley swamp. Wonderful car park we have, it can accommodate 30-40 cars at a push, only problem is it suffers from terrible drainage and after a days rain it looks more like a swamp. Its no better when it dries out either as the pulverized stone dust created by lorries etc churning it over day after day, blows around on a windy day like being in a shotblast cabinet. Not conducive to welcoming customers from far and wide in their cherished Triumph's, if you come in anything other than a Triumph then tough, you deserve to get it dirty, only joking (no I'm not!).
Anyway the quotes are in for the whole thing to be done to the highest standards, and they range in cost to the equivelant of a concours TR5, to two concours TR5's! I think we are going for a fancy block paving effect, so no more dirty cars when you come and visit us anymore. This brings with it another problem though, what do we do for car parking whilst the car park is being done? Fear not we have another, regular visitors may not have noticed it before but its there on another part of our site with its own entry/exit, and it can also accomodate 30+ cars, you will have a little further to walk that's all! Can't believe I'm getting excited about car parks?
Picture: Canley swamp!

What!?

A little bird told me yesterday (a mate in the Triumph trade) that he had heard from someone in Triumph circles that we (Canley Classics) were in the habit of selling 'loss leaders'? For the uninitiated a loss leader is a product the large supermarkets sell at cost or less, to entice new customers in through the door in the hope of gaining their trade.
This is news to me! We make a fair profit on everything we sell, and if that is far smaller than your usual supplier then time to shop around. We work off a cost plus basis, pure and simple, others work on a RRP (recommended retail price) in other words what they the think the market will stand. Some would argue that to sustain fancy premises, large staffing levels, and fancy catalogues then higher margins are justified. We manage with adequate staffing levels, cheap rural premises, and a new catalogue that has (so far!) taken 3 years to do, purely because its being done in house on a tight budget. Someone once said, 'you pays your money and takes your choice' smart arse! In other words next time you buy something expensive for your Triumph ( or anything come to that) have a look around and compare prices, if you prefer to be lazy it could be costing you big time!
You could try this website for comparisons on price between the usual Triumph traders;

http://www.gingell.com/partfinder

One thing is for sure we like to be in there with the most competitive, but we aint giving the stuff away!

Flogging tackle!

I wouldn't normally use me Blog for trying to punt stuff out to you lovely people but I am making an exception this time. How about this, Herald and Vitesse rear light lens complete part number 514416, now available and in stock. Unavailable for many years, we exhausted our good secondhand stock of these a year or two back and have struggled since to find anything useable. Only £26.95 including VAT, time to replace those faded, cracked, and broken originals, even comes complete with stainless steel strip.

Part Number: 514416, price £26.95

Buy Online Now

Clearout!

As the pace of collecting increases for the Triumph museum it has become more and more evident that the only real limiting factor (apart from the finances!) is the space required. We initially envisaged when we formulated our collecting policy that the acquisition of 2 to 3 significant cars per year was possible but unlikely and that we would be happy with 1 or 2. This has proven pessimistic as the number of interesting cars available seems to have gone through the roof in the last couple of years. Its strange that after so many years of owners of special Triumphs keeping them hidden in private collections, that all of a sudden the market seems awash with some really interesting stuff and we have been spoilt for choice. As I said though the inevitable has happened and we have run out of space. The 'new' museum buildings have a capacity of only 10 cars, and at that we are a little tight for space. The reserve shed can hold another 10 at a push, and we currently have another 12 in the workshops, not ideal! Add to that the 4 or 5 we have taxed and in use at any one time, and some of the less than healthy none special cars residing either on the car park or in other buildings around the place and the numbers soon pass the 50 mark. So its time for a clearout, I shall be looking at moving on a good proportion of our Triumphs that are not historically significant, i.e not a factory prototype, racing/rallying car, earliest production car. The condition of the cars we will be moving on varies from basket cases to some really nice stuff, watch our Cars for Sale bit of the web site in the coming months for details.
Picture;some of the first candidates for disposal!