There was a meme that circulated recently on social media that encouraged the reader and potential participant to leave a one-word comment that started with the same letter of one’s first name which was to be something positive to carry forward into the new year. I liked the idea of ending last year with positive words and associations, and also of it being absolutely okay to start the year with the expectation that great things will happen. Only a few weeks ago, I observed that Friday the 13th (of December 2019) had a few of my friends and acquaintances having fits, even if only jokingly. The truth is that if we look for bad things to happen, we will totally succeed in finding what we’re looking for. My Friday the 13th was most excellent, productive, and fun (can a Friday really be that sinister?), and I’d like to think that many others had the same experience.
What’s also true is that each added year of life experience brings with it new ways of being disappointed. As each of us cruises further and further into adulthood, it can become increasingly difficult not to become jaded, and so it becomes a conscious choice to look for what’s good and embrace those things. I spotted our featured car while visiting my sister and brother-in-law in Nashville almost seven years ago. Many families fall outside the ideology presented by TV shows like “Father Knows Best” and “The Cosby Show”, and mine is no exception. My sister and I are fifteen years apart and (obviously) didn’t grow up at the same time and in the same house together. One could say that our personal relationship started in adulthood, and with effort and genuine care on both of our parts, we’ve now been pretty tight for quite a long time. This was no small triumph.
The rest of the world got the TR5 PI (“Petrol Injection”) for 1967.
My sister is a little thing (as was our paternal grandmother), echoing our featured car’s diminutive size. The Triumph TR250, which replaced the TR4A for model year ’67, could be considered a winner, even if it was basically a two-year stopgap before the TR6 was ready for ’69. The 2,138 cc four-cylinder from the older car was replaced with a a 2.5L six-cylinder in the TR250. While the rest of the world got the TR5 PI (“Petrol Injection”) model, which featured 150 horsepower, the U.S.-market TR250 had about the same 100-or-so horsepower, and was about as fast as the outgoing model (0-60 mph in the upper ten-second range), but it was also noticeably smoother under acceleration. Only about 8,500 of these TR250s were produced over two model years, so this little, white Triumph is something of a rare car. Seeing it pass my brother-in-law’s Grand Marquis on the expressway miles after we had seen it at a gas station gave me a little thrill.
I would have missed getting my final shot of this Triumph in motion if I hadn’t been in the moment, paying attention, and ready with my camera. Similarly, we must be open, ready and attentive – not just in the new year, but always – in order to capitalize on the treasures set along our respective paths that will manifest themselves from time to time. We’re all going to experience (more) setbacks, so let’s just learn to shake hands with that fact of life. I can say from my own personal experiences, however, that some of the best photos I never took were opportunities missed because I was stuck in a negative mind frame that kept me from being ready for the possibility that something good could happen in the next moment. It is my hope, for both myself and for the CC readership, that we will all contain some degree of optimism as we take a few more baby steps into this new year and decade.
Nashville, Tennessee.
Saturday, April 13, 2013.
Happus New Year, New Decade!
A CC “Blast From The Past”.
Let’s hope the roaring ’20’s is a happier time! Happy New Years to all of CC land.
Every time I seen one of the TR series Triumphs I am reminded of high school Latin class, where of course some study of Julius Caesar is mandatory. Setting the wayback machine for 1966 I can still see the picture (long before Photoshop) of J. Caesar entering Rome in triumph, in this case a TR4A. The 14 year old me thought that was hilarious, Mrs. Riehl who taught Latin, not so much.
As do you Joseph I have a sibling with a huge age difference between us. My youngest sister was born when I was in the 9th grade and was still a small child when I left home to go to school. It took me a good number of years before I could think of her as anything other than a small child. Fortunately for both our sakes I was able to adapt and understand that she is a grownup, just like the rest of us. As it turned out she too inherited the dry, understated sense of humor that our father possessed.
I hope that the new year brings peace, prosperity and happiness (not necessarily in that order) to everyone here at CC. I have been a regular reader of the site for the past six years or so and it is one of the highlights of my day. The breadth and depth of knowledge displayed here is just incredible, with a special shoutout to Paul and the rest for insisting on civil discourse. Anyone who has spent 10 minutes on the Internet knows how rare this is. Thanks for listening, I felt like rambling this morning.
Thanks for the kind words, Joe. It’s always good to hear from you and get a bit of validation. 🙂
Great tribute to the New Year. I often struggle with keeping myself on the sunny side, so I absolutely get where your coming from. I suppose we could all benefit from focusing more on our small triumphs.
Here’s wishing everyone in the CC community an Excel-lent New Year!
I believe many TR5 & 6 models have been converted back to carburettors over the years, the Lucas fuel injection proving troublesome….
Good thoughts, here. Yes, I’ve not bothered to shoot some cars that I later really regretted because of my negative mood at that moment.
I’m feeling encouraged and optimistic about CC in 2020, as I’m sensing an upward trend. Stay tuned…
One of these TR5s photographed in Kersey, Suffolk nearly 50 years ago, the Summer of 1971:
In front of a Ford Anglia, no less! This is a beautiful scene.
Thanks. It was taken by my Dad. The whole picture from which it was clipped is nicely composed too (Renault 8 on the distant right). I’m one of the two boys standing in the ford – the wet one, not the Anglia.
That looks like Essex to me, or Suffolk.
Happy New Year to all contributors, readers, and those who provide a comment once in a while. Of course a special shout out goes to our host, Paul, who has invited us all to his little party. I am looking forward to a very busy, productive New Year, even more so than last year. I’ve got big car related plans for the immediate future. I agree with Joseph that we’ve got to look for and accentuate the positive. And more importantly, appreciate the positive, especially in our own personal lives. I just qualified for Medicare, so I’m a verified crotchety old man, but still very busy with work and projects.
The Triumph TR models were overlooked by myself during my youth. I was a total American car guy back then. Now I find the TR to be a very handsome, elegant design. I especially like the way the over sized 15” wheels fill out the wheel openings. It gives the car a very poised, confident, athletic stance. Not diminutive like a Spitfire, which also one of my favorites, though for different reasons.
José beat me to it, but I’ll echo that the TR’s, especially the 6 cylinder TR5/250 and then the TR6 never seemed diminutive at the time, compared to Sprites and Spitfires. Even the TR2 and 3 seemed large; more Healey-sized than MG-sized.
I too would like to thank everyone and wish good things for CC and our community in 2020. With the regular industry updates, CC has become one stop shopping to satisfy my online automotive habits.
Excellent advice for the new year, topped off with pictures of a great car.
May you handle 2020 like a Champ.
I’ll second that – well said Joe!
Three days into the brand new decade and CC is still running just fine, must take my now 60 year old classic out of the carport and over the curb for a trip up the street systems check time.
Happy New Year Joseph, and to everyone associated with Paul’s site. Thank you for contributing so many enjoyable and thought-provoking articles over the years. With so many fun topics and wonderful photos. I’ve always found volunteering to be a genuine source of happiness and fulfillment.
I’m amazed you were able to keep these nice pics under wraps since 2013. lol What a beautiful Triumph. The wire wheels are stunning.
We have a very popular rock song here in Canada, ‘The Boys in the Bright White Sportscar’ by iconic Canadian rock group Trooper. And your images very much remind me of this tune. It didn’t make the Billboard Top 40 when released in 1979, as commercial success in the US market sadly eluded this group. In spite of having a very commercial sound. Many YT videos featuring this song. 🙂
Daniel, thank you for the good words. For some reason, I was unable to play back the song in the link you posted – something about “The uploader has not made this video available in your country.”
However, I will say that I’ve always been intrigued by songs the differ vastly in popularity and chart positions between our adjacent, North American countries. I suppose I will always be a music “junkie” – and I’m okay with that.
Those TR4/TR250s are just terminally CUTE.
If there was ever one British sports car I’d have to own, this would be the one, although the MGA has a soft spot for me as well.
Joseph, you’re our shining star from the Second City, and I thank you for representing the north side in so many great pictures.
A happy new year and best wishes to everyone.
I too have always had a soft spot for these cars, almost certainly because I never owned one. Their virtue is also their curse: they’re as crude as a brick.
But darn….handsome as the devil and lots of torque….. yeah, sign me up.
Joseph’s posts (and I repeat myself) are stories in themselves, managing to shoehorn the cars (or is it the other way round) to smoothly take part in them.
His stories (and Paul’s, and JPC’s, and so many others I’ll doubtlessly be unfair to most by not naming them) are exactly why I come over every day to take a look, and don’t leave articles unread. I haven’t found so far a place where cars, my favorite subject, are discussed in an environment so relaxed, where fanaticism might be assumed but never forced, where politeness is everywhere, where so many people open up and thell about their lives in such a warm way. For us a car is more than a machine. For other people, a plane is more than a machine, a secretaire is more than a piece of furniture, or a canary is more than a bird. So, cars (or transportation, generally speaking) are a way of expressing ourselves and reflecting how we feel about life.
I hope Paul and his lieutenants go a long way doing this magnificent work. And, referring to an earlier post by Paul explaining why we are seeing many more ads, they are not even a minor inconvenience in exchange for the experience. And if and when a need for a typical subscription or whatever means arises, I’ll be there.
Happy New Year for everyone in the neighborhood!!!!
Thanks so much, everyone! Hopefully, everyone’s 2020 has been off to a good start.