THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE GLOBE
A Potted History of TRSC in Twelve Chapters
Musings and Photography by Marty Lodawer
Chapter One - The Beginning
Next month, on February 27 to be precise, a momentous occasion will transpire, namely the twenty-fifth Birthday of our club, the Triumph Register of Southern California. It is an event to celebrate with gusto, and a testament to the enthusiasm and dedication of the TRSC membership. For the benefit of more recent members who may be curious about the formation and evolution of their organization, we will journey into the past and visit the people, places and events that have shaped TRSC into the premiere haven for Triumph devotees that it is today.
We will preface this account with a glimpse of the general Triumph environment which existed at the time. This story really begins in 1974. At that time you could visit your friendly Triumph dealer and buy yourself a brand new TR6 or Spitfire 1500, and there were still some new Stags left, although they would soon be gone forever. The GT6 Mark 3 had been pulled from the USA market the year before, and the TR7 would make its debut the following year. The older Triumphs, the TR2's, 3's and 4's were basically daily drivers... many were beaters owned by college students, while the nicer ones were owned by engineers or military personnel who enjoyed the sounds and mannerisms of a traditional sports car. There really wasn't any such thing as a "restored" TR then, just some that weren't as beat up as others! It was not uncommon to find original owners still driving their TR's and these were often the ones kept in the best condition. Spare parts for these older cars were usually obtained from junkyards, or with considerable difficulty and expense from some of the dealers. There were only two "mail order" businesses at the time, J.C. Whitney, and Marshall Hagy's Excelsior Motors, both of whom supplied N.O.S. and some new repro parts to the dwindling band of older TR drivers.
As far as enthusiast clubs were concerned, the only national organization was the factory-sponsored Triumph Sports Owners Association (TSOA) which was primarily devoted to current models available in dealer showrooms. There were numerous small local clubs, but these generally took the form of company "multi-marque" clubs such as the Northrop Sports Car Club or the Lockheed Imported Car Club. It was around this time that a growing restlessness among some owners of the older TR's, who wanted a new forum in which they could share their devotion to these early Triumphs, began to coalesce into a new movement. It was in 1974 that the seeds of the modern era of Triumph clubs were planted.
A group of TR3 owners in the Columbus, Ohio area named Joe Richards, Tom Householder and Skip Marsh formed a club, the Triumph Register of America, devoted exclusively to the sidecurtain TR's that they loved. They decided to go national the following year and placed a small ad in "Road & Track" magazine to attract other enthusiasts. At the same time, another small group of enthusiasts led by Randy Mason of Michigan and Richard M. Langworth of New Jersey started a club for all Triumphs ten years of age and older and christened it the Vintage Triumph Register, also placing ads in national publications to spread the word. The call was heard by quite a few So Cal TR owners, who joined one or both of these organizations depending upon their particular Triumph interest.
Two Southern California TR3 owners who joined the TRA were a professor from Claremont named Mario Gottuso Jr., who drove a well-used red TR3A he called "Tonto" (his only car), and a young man from nearby Upland named Tom Taaffe, who drove an exceptionally nice original white TR3A, also his only car. Mario and Tom had crossed paths regularly in the course of their daily driving and often stopped to talk TR's. One of the topics that invariably came up was the club they recently joined. They were glad to be a part of this new group, but felt a bit left out because all the activities took place in the east and their only link was the quarterly newsletter. They saw that several local groups had formed within TRA in Virginia and Pennsylvania, and thought, "why not here?" Mario decided to take action and see what would happen.
Just after New Years, 1977, a small ad appeared in the automotive events calendar column of the Los Angeles Times, known as "Pit Stops." It said "TR2/3 club forming" with Mario and Tom's phone numbers for contacts. The date was to be Februsry 27, the venue being the parking lot of the United Sporting Goods store in the Eastland Shopping Center in the city of Covina. Mario and Tom waited as the day drew near, wondering if anyone else would come. They had received a couple of phone calls, so they expected that they would meet at least a few new TR friends.
The Triumph devotees who showed up at Eastland Center that day were treated to an incredible sight. Eight TR3A's and more that thirty people came, a gathering virtually unheard of at that time. None of us had seen that many TR's together before and we were stoked! It was clear that the time had come for a So Cal chapter of the TRA to take flight, and everyone present agreed that this should become an ongoing gathering. Ideas for a club name were bandied about, including Los Angeles Triumphs and L.A. Center-TRA. It was (prophetically) recognized early on, however, that participants would be coming from far outside L.A. itself to attend activities, and thus the name agreed upon was the Triumph Register of Southern California Center, Triumph Register of America (TRSC-TRA). Mario Gottuso Jr. and Tom Taaffe were voted by acclamation as President and V.P. respectively, and another Sunday afternoon meeting was set for April, this time at Pearson Park in the city of Anaheim.
TRSC had become a reality... now we had to get it rolling!
Chapter Two - "Let's tell 'em we're here!"
We left off last month with the very successful first club meeting in West Covina. The excitement generated at this gathering was truly palpable, and a second meeting was a must. As a historical tidbit, of the thirty-odd people who came to that first meeting, four are still members today: Ken Gillanders, Mario Gottuso Jr, Marty Lodawer and Joe Shepherd, and a fifth, Roland Ferguson, would certainly still be had he not sadly passed away in 1997.
The second meeting of the fledgeling TRSC-TRA club had been set for April 17, 1977 and the anticipation ran high after the great success of the inaugural gathering. Mario Gottuso Jr. and Tom Taaffe chose Pearson Park in Anaheim as the venue, and again, ads were placed in the "coming car events" columns of the L.A. newspapers. On that beautiful spring afternoon, all hopes were fulfilled as nearly forty people and 13 TR's in a row made a very satisfying display. Most of the people from the first meeting returned, a at least a dozen new faces joined in the fun, including Steve Hedke and Tim Matthews who are still with us today. Another tidbit; nowadays we are used to club members driving their TR's halfway across the USA or farther without drama to attend national shows. Back in 1977, many owners never took their cars out of the city. Tim Matthews showed up with what was, at the time, one of the nicest TR3A's on the road, and such was his confidence in this machine that he pressed his wife Carol into following him in the family station wagon as he doubted the TR's ability to make the round trip from Northridge to Anaheim! Again buoyed by the success of this gathering, Mario and Tom proposed bi-monthly afternoon meetings for the remainder of 1977, to be held at different venues around L.A. and Orange County.
Mario began producing a mimeographed newsletter as a forum for new members to share information, and readers learned a new word: "Buckaroo!" (Mario's patented cry of exultation). A modest annual dues of $15.00 was established to cover expenses. This was the M.O. for the remainder of 1977, culminating in the club's first Christmas Party hosted by Fred and Sonia Nichols in Manhattan Beach. TRSC's first year was considered a great success by all.
1978 dawned with lots of energy ready to be unleashed. An officer change started things off; Tom Taaffe had to bow out of his VP role due to other commitments, so a new Vice Prez came in the form of charter member Joe Shepherd, a wildly enthusiastic TR3A owner (his only car, of course) from Sunland.
The only real advertising being done at that point was the newspaper event notices, and the time-honored technique of leaving handwritten notes on TR's found in parking lots. We were all enthusiastic about our new organization and decided we needed to find other avenues to let the TR2 & 3 owners of the southland know we were here for them. The first plan: The TR Display
At the time, there was a very popular custom and classic car show held each February inside the L.A. Convention Center over three days, the World of Wheels. It was heavily populated by breathtaking custom cars and low-riders, but also featured a large number of restored 40's, 50's and 60's Detroit Iron, with quite a few club displays. Steve Hedke and Marty Lodawer enjoyed going to this event as spectators and thought, "why not get a group of TR's in here?" It wasn't easy to get nice TR's together in those days, but we managed to get the minimum three cars from Ken Gillanders, Bill Farrell and Joe Diamond, and they made a very attractive display under the bright mercury lights. Other club members came to the show over the weekend in shifts to man the display and answer questions about the cars. It was here at this show that we first learned just how many people "used to have one 'til I had kids, had a neighbor with one in his back yard, knew of one sitting in a field," etc. etc. The reaction from the show crowds was amazing. The cars were a tremendous hit, and quite a few new members were gained from this venue. The next year we came back with five cars and a much nicer display, and the warm reception from the spectators grew accordingly. TRSC would do this show a total of four years, ending in 1981, when promoter changes made it unsuitable to continue. It was always a blast to meet both current and past TR owners, and the goodwill that was created for the club at World of Wheels is incalculable.
Club meeting took a new turn in 1978. It was thought that having the Sunday afternoon meetings at club members' houses rather than public parks might be fun, as well as a little more private, so a succession of brave TRSC members opened their homes to the happy crowds of TR devotees. The locations were varied as much as possible to share the chore of long drives, a situation we still must deal with today.
In the spring, an idea for a new club display was hatched by VP Joe Shepherd. He had gotten hold of the management of the ARCO Plaza, the underground shopping mall beneath the twin towers in Downtown L.A. This was a beautiful plaza that was receptive to car displays, and it was arranged to stage a full-blown club concours, with judging and all, here on Saturday, August 19. To honor our parent club's annual concours in the east, the event was christened "TRA West" and the quest began to round up as many presentable club TR's as could be found. We contacted TSOA, the factory organization, who very generously provided pewter plate trophies for the winners. Eventually sixteen beautiful sidecurtain TR's were loaded, one at a time, into a treacherous freight elevator and into the depths of the underground.
The resulting display was breathtaking, and was enjoyed tremendously by participants and spectators alike. Mario presented the beautiful trophies to the winners in each class, TR2,3,3A and 3B, and again we found a good number of TR owners who were unaware of a club, and who excitedly joined the TRSC family. The ARCO Plaza TRA West shows would be held twice more, in 1979 and 1981, and that last year was particularly noteworthy because we were able to stage a complete lineup of the TR heritage, from TR2 to TR8 (we were loaned a brand new TR7 Spider and TR8 from Hollywood Sport Cars, just for the asking, to make this possible!).
These displays, along with several more modest ones, really did a remarkable job of putting TRSC on the map with local TR owners, and they enjoyment they brought to our young club will be very fondly remembered by all those fortunate enough to have been there.
1978 was brought to a close with a fine Holiday Party hosted by Mario and Robin Gottuso at the Claremont home, and the TRSC faithfuls were eagerly planning ahead for more good times with their fellow TR nuts. Next Chapter: alright, we've done the shows... let's get out and DRIVE these things!
Chapter Three - "Let's DRIVE 'em!... uhh, where's the petrol?"
By mid 1978, the infant TRSC-TRA club was feeling pretty well established, and looked as if it was going to be around for a while. Mario Gottuso Jr. and Joe Shepherd had been putting a lot of effort into nurturing the young organization and the momentum was clearly building. At this time some officer "reinforcements" arrived in the form of Molly Bacon and Marty (known then as "Martin") Lodawer. Molly hailed from Riverside, and with her fiance Jerry Timm, had amassed a very respectable collection of project cars: a TR3 and TR6, and her half dozen 56-62 Corvettes and his 55-57 Chevy Nomads. Molly bought a new TR7 in 1977 and this was their mount in the early club days. Molly volunteered to take over publishing the club bulletins and act as Secretary as well. Marty Lodawer of Chatsworth had become a Triumph fan in high school after seeing an 1800 Roadster for the first time and was a charter member of the national clubs, TRA and VTR. At this time he owned a 1957 TR3 project car that would eventually become roadworthy in 1980. Marty had made a practice of documenting the activities of the TRSC with his camera since its formation, and came on the board as "historian/photographer" as well as helping Molly with graphic art contributions for the newsletter.
Before Molly published her first newsletter, the decision was made to give it a name (Mario's previous publication had none). A contest was held among the membership and the winning entry would be chosen at our Sunday afternoon meeting at North Hollywood Park. Some club wags submitted entries such as "The Hoarse Throat" or "The Brass Lung," but Larry and Lynne Minden really got behind this and submitted a dozen names including "The Tasty Triumph, The TRusty Triumph Tabloid, Triumph Tidbits and The Triumph Tribune," to name a few. That last one had a nice ring to it and was chosen the winner. "Tribune" Number 1 hit the streets in August 1978 and there's been no looking back. Number 2 followed close on its heels in March 1979! Ever since then, newsletter frequency has occasionally been a topic of discussion among club members. An historical tidbit: it cost 15 cents for a first class stamp to mail the newsletter at that time.
1979 brought both growth and change to the club. Mario announced
in February that he would be retiring as president after two years. Quoting
from his farewell address: "TRSC has great potential to become much more
than it is now. I really believe that we have a group that can continue to
make it grow and expand to even greater heights." Prophetic indeed. Joe
Shepherd assumed the presidency and Marty Lodawer stepped into the V.P. spot,
while Molly continued the editor/secretary post.
Discussions at club gatherings revealed the need for additional services for
club members, and several people gallantly stepped forward to offer help.
Technical help was the most topical issue of the day, and we
were fortunate to have in our midst an individual who had lived and breathed
TR's during the previous twenty years named Ken Gillanders. Ken lived in Temple
City and owned a TR2 which he purchased in France where it began life as a
works rally car. He built up this TR for drag racing during the 1960's with
some radical engine mods and was turning in quarter mile runs under 13 seconds.
a phenomonal achievement for a 4-cylinder TR.
He was always quick to offer assistance to club members and was voted in as
Technical Secretary.
The other big issue of the day was finding spare parts. The mail-order businesses we all rely on didn't exist then, it it was always a scrounge job to find missing parts as we began to restore many of these tired cars. Robert DeBock of Granada Hills took a special interest in this subject as he had spent many hours chasing items to complete the restoration of his 1957 TR3. He volunteered to become "Parts Coordinator" and performed yeoman service in compiling lists of local and national suppliers for the membership.
Other enthusiastic members who volunteered to assist were Tim
Matthews of Northridge and Bob & Tina Fleischman of Van Nuys, and these
folks joined together to form the first TRSC executive board (or "steering
committee" as we called it then).
Later in the year, Steve Hedke's name was added to that list and he contributed
generously in the areas of technical and newsletter assistance.
The first result of the new expanded leadership was a new agenda
for activities. The club displays we'd been staging were very successful,
but limited to members with presentable TR's (and a LOT of them were not in
those days!). It was proposed to put on driving tours and rallies in which
car condition would be unimportant, so that all members could participate.
This was a fine idea, except for one small problem:
remember Odd and Even? Yes, it was the great GAS RATIONING caper, thanks to
OPEC! This was the time when gas stations were only open two hours a day and
no weekends, and your license plate number determined what day you were eligible
to try and find gasoline. Our first rally, set for April, was postponed until
July because of this. We did manage an adventurous trip out to Perris to visit
the Orange Empire Trolley Museum organized by rail enthusiast Steve Hedke,
largely because prior reconnaisance had revealed a Riverside gas station that
would be open on Sunday.
Our first actual Rallye finally took place on July 16, a whale of a good time
organized by Ken Gillanders, with his family manning the five checkpoints.
It's rather amusing today to quote the notice for that event: "plans
have been made to have emergency gasoline available for anyone who needs it
at Ken's house."
The gasoline crunch did ease up as 1979 progressed, and we were able to do more and more driving. A wonderful day trip to Santa Barbara with the MGA Register was a breakout event, and an indicator of much more ambitious trips to come. Another Rallye was staged in November, to the famed (and sadly missed) Briggs Cunningham Automotive Museum in Costa Mesa. It became very clear to the membership that these drives were the best supported and most enjoyed activities the club had organized to that point, and they would become the primary focus in future events planning. TRSC had become a "driving" club, and there was much more to come.
Chapter Four - "From Little Acorns..."
TRSC charged into its fourth year in 1980 with plenty of energy and enthusiasm. A new club logo was another step along the way to "growing up." The previous year, resident graphic artist Marty Lodawer designed a logo featuring a TR3A which began appearing in print and shortly afterward was made into the first club windshield decal. The original version was yellow and green (very few of those in existence anymore!) followed by a change to red, white and blue in 1983. At that time, club membership was about fifty, and growing on an average of two new members per month.
In the spring of 1980 elections of officers were held and some new helping hands came on board. Steve Hedke was elected president, while former president Joe Shepherd volunteered to stay on the board as V.P. Bob Fleischman took over the Parts Coordinator post from creator Bob DeBock and carried on with it for another year, at which time the emergence of the national Triumph parts businesses The Roadster Factory, Moss Motors and Victoria British pretty well obviated the need for hunting things down and this position faded away. Molly Bacon continued her post as secretary/treasurer/newsletter editor throughout most of the year, but decided to retire from the TRSC board in November due to increased outside obligations. Former V.P. Marty Lodawer stepped up to fill this position.
Activities in 1980 consisted of a mix of public car displays
and driving tours, which were becoming increasingly popular. Regular meetings
had decreased in frequency to the point where only three or four business-type
gatherings were scheduled. This sounds like a perilously loose structure,
but it was all anyone in the group really wanted and worked well at the time.
The newsletters were being published bi-monthly at that point and contained
regular technical articles as well as TR2/3 "authenticity" features
to educate interested members about the specification and appearance changes
that took place during the production of the cars. This was a topic of great
interest in those days... most of the sidecurtain TR's were cobbled together
with whatever parts could be found at junkyards, and as interest grew in restoring
the cars correctly, information on how to do this became highly sought after.
This was the mission of our parent club, the TRA, and our group conscientiously
did our part to further the cause.
In an effort to further the club's duty as a "helpful resource" to its members, another new activity made its debut in 1980: The TR Clinic. Technical Secretary Ken Gillanders invited members to bring their cars to his Temple City driveway where he (and other technically able members) would perform light mechanical work in return for a nominal donation to the club treasury. This concept was a very well-received additon to the activity schedule. Other members aslo threw their hats in the ring to host subsequent clincs, and for the next five years or so these gatherings were a fine way to learn about the cars, bench race with club friends and consume large amounts of beer.
The longer driving tours became more popular than ever, and a repeat run to Santa Barbara, this time with the Morgan Plus Four Club, drew more than thirty cars. Some of the participants even made a weekend out of it, driving on to Lompoc Saturday night and touring the Santa Ynez Valley the next day. Confidence in these old cars was building thanks to the technical help available through the club, and the bar was continually raised for increasingly ambitious tours.
This was also the year that TRSC began seeking out "cultural exchanges" with other Triumph clubs outside L.A. We had made contact with the Triumph Sorts Car Club of San Diego, which had just re-formed under the dynamic leadership of a young lady named Kim Landry. TSCCSD had begun back in 1963 as an original Chapter of the factory-sponsored TSOA, but had gone dormant during the 1970's. Now imbued with new life, the San Diego TR folks invited us to attend the inaugural San Diego British Car Day, to be held at Dos Picos Park in the hills outside Ramona.
This was no trip to sneeze at for the TRSC folks. Drive time was about three hours and required a 7 A.M. departure. That didn't stop seven TR's an E-type Jag and four Morgans from our friends in the Plus 4 Club from heading south to enjoy a fine day hosed by the San Diego British Car Clubs. The highlight of the day's activities (after Car admiration, of course) was the inter-club volleyball tournament. TRSC was well-known for its volleyball prowess and a number of our club members were invited to join the San Diego Triumph team. The result was a thorough pasting of all the other marque clubs by Triumph, amid protests by the MG team that "infidels from L.A." were playing on the San Diego team and the win should be nullified. Steve Hedke produced a memorable cartoon to commemorate the event.
The 1981 season kicked off with some of the familiar, some of
the new. Two TR Clincs were held and both were very successful. Another drive
out to the Trolley Museum in Perris and another excellent trip to Santa Barbara
were well attended.
Three drives were made to San Diego this year: the inaugural "Wheels
for Wings" classic car show held at the new grounds of the San Diego
Aerospace Museum in Balboa Park where we displayed our TR's alongside those
of the San Diego Club in a fund-raising effort for the museum, followed by
an encore visit to the 2nd San Diego British Car Day (barred from the volleyball
competition, I might add!), and finally participationg in TSCCSD's annual
club concours as judges in November.
The new part centered around club business. First, a pivotal issue was brought before the membership: should TRSC expand its official coverage to include the TR4 series? This came about because there were several TR4-owning members who played an active part in club activities and raised the question of full recognition for their cars. The club policy then was to adhere to the TRA doctrine of catering to the sidecurtain cars officially, but at the same time welcome anyone as members no matter what they drove. A vote was taken at a special meeting at Pearson Park on July 5th and the decision was made to keep the official coverage confined to the TR2 & 3 series. The vote was an amicable one, and although the TR4 owners were probably disappointed, their interest in TRSC was undampened. It would be some years later before this subject came up again, in a different Triumph era.
The other major change for 1981 was (finally) the adoption of monthly evening meetings. The need for these had become apparent for some time and the decision was made to hold them in Pasadena, which was reasonably central to most members and also because Janet Hedke could offer the meeting room of the bank where she worked. The first monthly gathering took place on November 17, 1981 and ushered in the modern era of club meetings.
The "cultural exchange" program continued in 1981 when another TRA Center finally appeared in the southwest: the Desert Centre TRA had just been formed in Phoenix, Arizona by Tom Pennell. Tom contacted us and wanted to meet with members of TRSC during an overnight business trip. On a chilly night in March, a delegation consisting of Steve Hedke, Ken Gillanders, Marty Lodawer and Tim Matthews ventured into the City of Commerce to meet Mr. Pennell for drinks at his hotel. A very enjoyable evening was spent with Tom showing us photos of the the DCTRA members and cars, while we offered the same. One topic that came up was the TRA National Meets held each summer, in which the various local Centers gathered for a weekend of fun and frolic with their TR's. This looked like tremendous fun, but these meets were all held in the eastern part of the country and too far away for most people to consider. Wouldn't it be a great idea for our two groups to meet and have a little weekend party of our own? Because both groups would have to cross a vast expanse of desert to meet, summer was ruled out; October was the first month that cooler weather could be counted on, so a plan was hatched to meet in Lake Havasu, Arizona in mid-October. Tom had a connection that would permit us to display cars on the promenade under the London Bridge, and local accomodations were cheap and plentiful. All we had to do was sell this idea of driving nearly 400 miles to our respective memberships. Piece of cake.
As the four of us bade farewell to Tom and drove off into the night, we had no way of forseeing the mighty oak that would grow from the little acorn planted that night.
Chapter Five - How the West Was Won
We ended last month's installment of this saga with an account of the meeting in March 1981 between TRSC and the new Desert Centre TRA group from Phoenix, Arizona in which an inter-club weekend meet was planned for the coming October. While the board members of each club began trying to convince their memberships that driving hundreds of miles across barren desert was a good idea, other interesting activities were taking place within TRSC.
1981 was the year in which we discovered the joy of parades. It began when Bob and Barbara Loggins of Montclair thought a group of TR's would be the perfect choice to carry the princesses for the homecoming football game at their son Matt's high school. Now the Loggins were a true blue TR family... Bob, Barb and Matt each had their own TR3A, and Barb's wild pumpkin-colored TR would become one of TRSC's most famous cars. Four other member TR's joined this little Friday night party, and such a great time was had by the participants that parades became a regular fixture for several years. We did the Redondo Beach Christmas Parade, Placentia Heritage Days, South Pasadena 4th of July, etc. The TR's were always appreciated by the spectators, and didn't overheat too badly most of the time.
Probably the most significant news for all Triumph fans in 1981 was the somber announcement in May that Triumph sports car production was being halted forever. The last TR7's and 8's were some of Triumph's nicest cars, but the expense of manufacture (attributed largely to the British Labor Unions) made it impossible to be competetive any longer. Now, all of a sudden, even the newest Triumph owners found themselves just as "orphaned" as the owners of the old sidecurtain cars. Although it took a few more years before the impact of this would be fully appreciated, the gap between the "new" Triumph owners and the old TR enthusiasts would slowly begin to dissolve and the faces of Triumph clubs across the country would forever change as a result.
TRSC continued to enjoy healthy participation at events as well as the newly instituted monthly meetings in Pasadena. The "Triumph Tribune" newsletter was still being published bi-monthly and continued to improve as contributions from members increased. One of the most popular running features began in August: a continuous chronicle by TRSC president Steve Hedke about the frame-up restoration of his 1956 TR3 which continued up through the beginning of 1983 when the car was finally finished. Ken Gillanders xontinued to offer prodigious technical wisdom, and editor Marty Lodawer continued to write "TR Trivia" articles about TR2/3 originality.
Finally, October arrived, and with it the TRSC/DCTRA weekend in Lake Havasu. Borrowing the name from our ARCO Plaza Concours, the event was christened "TRA West," as it really did represent a gathering of TRA Centers as took place in the eastern part of the country every June. 10 TR3A's (7 from DCTRA and 3 from TRSC) made it to Havasu, with another dozen participants attending in modern tinware. The schedule was pretty simple: a Saturday concours, where the cars had the rare privilege of being displayed under the London Bridge, an evening bus trip to Laughlin, Nevada (where there were two hotel casinos at the time!) and a Sunday morning awards brunch. There were no driving tests, but there was a crank-starting contest (a popular event at TRA National meets) during the concours. To give you some comparison to today's conventions, the hotel rooms were $24 per night, the Saturday night Laughlin trip featured a free buffet dinner, two free drinks and $5 worth of gambling chips, while the Sunday champagne brunch cost $3 per person. There were no concours trophies given out, but rather personalized award certificates. The overall atmosphere of the meet was one of relaxed enjoyment, and it was a pleasure getting to know the members of DCTRA, who were clearly kindred spirits.
The verdict among the TRA West participants was loud and clear: this was a wonderful experience and absolutely MUST be repeated. The decision was made on the spot to hold the meet next year in Las Vegas, and advertise it nationally in the hope of attracting cars from further away. TRA West was here to stay.
1982 brought new faces and a further increase in activity to
TRSC. Elections of officers were held in the spring, and the club would gain
one of its most colorful and charismatic leaders in the form of Stuart A.
Stearns. Stu and wife Ann hailed from the city of Orange and was in the process
of doing an extensive (expensive) restoration on a TR3A he found in a field.
A gifted public speaker, Stu took the responsibility of club office seriously
and repeatedly reminded members about the importance of being involved. Elected
vice-president was another recent club member, Bob Rolfes, who had just emigrated
with his wife Barbara from Mankato, Minnesota to North Hollywood. They also
owned a TR3A, which had been Bob's first car when he turned sixteen. Yet another
new member who enjoyed the club and wanted to give something back was Bob
Youngdahl of Reseda, who was elected secretary/treasurer, the start of a twenty-year
career on the TRSC board. Bob, along with his wife Susan, was another one
of those folks who were contentedly enjoying another type of collector car
(Porsche 356) until he had the misfortune of meeting Marty Lodawer (co-worker)
who fed him the line about how great TR's were. Bob promptly found a derelict
TR3A in his neighborhood and embarked on a three year restoration. A new office
was created at this time, that of Events & Publicity Coordinator, and
the person elected was Steve Lamb of Pasadena. Steve, a true Renaissance man,
drove a TR3A whose appearance was a crazy-quilt of colors and metal and fiberglass
body panels, but was hopped up to the max; Steve felt a duty to defeat late-model
Porsches in street races and had the broken crankshafts to prove it!
Along with his wife Jeanette, Steve was an enthusiastic supporter of TRSC
and began to complile a calendar of events for the benefit of the members.
Now relieved of the additional burden of secretary and treasurer, Marty Lodawer
continued as newsletter editor, while Ken Gillanders continued his position
of Technical Secretary.
TRSC was about to begin one of its most active periods, and we'll learn all about it in the next installment.
Chapter Six - "Ain't Got No Home!"
The gang of Triumph sports car outlaws known as TRSC roared into 1982 with the fervor of NFL champions entering the field on Super Bowl Sunday. With a host of innovative event plans conjured up by the E-board and president Stu Stearns in particular, combined with several perennial favorites, there would be ample fun for all. New for this year was a visit to the Malibu Grand Prix raceway, a breakfast trip to the Original Pantry in downtown L.A. followed by a tour of the Griffith Park Observatory, a conbination rally and progressive dinner (!), an economy run and drive-in movie night.
The last two mentioned events deserve a little elaboration. Both were brought to us by Stuart A. Stearns and both were real standouts on the year's calendar for sheer enjoyment. The Economy Run was staged in the mountain town of Wrightwood, where Prez and First Lady Stearns had a vacation cabin. With the help of longtime friend and rally organizer Jon Sirrine, Stu mapped out a rally course which started at the Wrightwood Union 76 gas station, wound down the mountain to Palmdale, then back up to Wrightwood. In addition to following the prescribed course and answering insidious rally questions, the fuel consumption of each entry was measured after filling up at the gas station start/finish line. This brought out some amazingly creative driving skills on the part of the entrants and the mileage figures turned in by some of the TR's were remarkable, the best being Steve and Janet Hedke's 57.25 mpg posted by their 1956 TR3! The rally was followed by participation by the TR's in the Mountaineer Days Parade, followed by a wild barbeque party at the Stearns cabin which lasted until everyone was too inebriated to stand.
The Drive-In night was just as raucous. The first half of this two-part gala was dinner at Angelo's Drive-In, an Orange County legend. This was a classic burger joint with carhop service by long-legged young women in miniscule shorts and roller skates, sort of a spiritual ancestor of today's "Hooters" restaurants. Watching the carhops trying to mount a burger tray on a TR3 with its sloping doortops was purely comical. To add to the fun, participants were urged to dress in the year of their car, and some marvelous 50's and early 60's attire really enhanced the atmosphere. After dinner, the second half of the event took place at the nearby drive-in theater (remember those?). The TR's lined up to enjoy an alfresco double feature, while the participants hotly competed for the "Best Performance at the Movies" award, which gave recognition of excellence in that most cherished drive-in traditions, "making out."
A returning event we haven't yet mentioned in this account was the Sports/Foreign Autofaire. Held twice a year, in the Spring and Fall in the main car park of the Los Alamitos Race Track since 1980, this was the premiere event for vintage sports car buffs, featuring a large swap meet, informal sports car show, autocross and club stands. TRSC was an active participant in this event since it began and club members took turns displaying their TR's at our stand each time. This event had to leave Los Alamitos in 1983 because of loss of liability insurance, and relocated to Rio Hondo College for rwo more years, after which it shut down for good. It was very much missed, and never really replaced.
The monthly club meetings at L.A. Federal Savings Bank in Pasadena continued to be successful, and a favorite post-meeting pastime was to drive a few blocks west to the old John Bull Pub on Fair Oaks Avenue for a couple of pints of real ale from Blighty up in the loft, accompanied by long philosophical discussions on the meaning of life, and why it was better to replace that pathetic stock TR3 cooling fan with a 7-blade Hayden flex.
Another first for the club that year was an actual radio interview by Cal State Northridge's KCSN, who arranged to have Stu Stearns, Steve Hedke and Marty Lodawer crammed into their tiny studio to talk to their radio audience about the pleasures and pitfalls of operating old vehicles, and the value of a club in supporting this pastime. Somewhere, a tape of this still exists, and if you're lucky, you'll never hear it.
As the fall approached, eager Triumph drivers set their sights on Las Vegas and the much-anticipated sequel to "TRA West." The Desert Centre TRA and TRSC were again to meet for a weekend of wild abandon, and "TRA West '82" was billed as a "national" event this time and was advertised far and wide. Both groups contributed to the organizing this time, with DCTRA handling the accomodations and events schedule, while TRSC produced the first regalia to be offered, and handled the Concours judging. The turnout was exactly double of 1981, with 20 Triumphs attending. This marked the first appearance by members of the Triumph Sports Car Club of San Diego, who brought three TR's to the party. The activity list grew and included a Friday night hospitality party which began in Stu Stearns' hotel room and then spilled out into a nearby restaurant until midnight, whereupon everyone took to their TR's and cruised the Las Vegas Strip.
No one remembers how they were able to wake up at 6 AM and prepare their cars for the Saturday Concours. After the judging was completed, the crank-start contest from the previous year was reprised, while the first TRA West driving tests were staged: a funkhana and a "push the TR" contest. That night we were treated to a lavish Awards Banquet and another cruise into downtown. As if that wasn't enough, a spark plug changing contest for women only was staged on Sunday morning after breakfast, an hilarious event officiated by President Stearns.
The response to the event was even more enthusiastic than the first, and TRSC volunteered right then and there to host the next TRA West solo if DCTRA was willing to drive into California. Happy at the prospect of not having to arrange the next convention, the DCTRA crowd enthusiastically agreed. TRSC would choose a venue after everyone returned home, and promote the event nationally.
1983 started out innocently enough for the members of TRSC, but we quickly got thrown the first of several curve balls that year. The first came right after the January monthly meeting. The L.A. Federal Savings Bank eliminated evening meetings from their program, and we suddenly found ourselves homeless! This set into motion TRSC's "nomadic period" which found us wandering all over metropolitan Los Angeles and Orange counties for the next two years looking for another meeting place.
This did give the club an incentive to try out an idea that
was recurring; having meetings alternate between L.A. and Orange county to
share the immense burden of long drives to meetings that so many of us faced.
The first brave volunteers were Kathy and Bob Lundgren who offered their Placentia
home for the February meeting.
In March, we moved up north to Burbank to the Butcher's Arms Pub. April went
south again as the First family Stearns hosted a festive gathering at their
home in Orange. May saw us back in Burbank at the Sizzler restaurant. Irene
Vilchek owned the Mission Flower Shop in Santa Ana and generously offered
her premises after hours for the June meeting, while July found us in Downtown
L.A. at the giant DWP building where we met in their cafeteria As you can
see, this was getting interesting!
Special "event flyers" were mailed out each month in hope of relaying
the monthly meeting location to members.
The meeting venues may have been chaotic, but the events were going well. Our first desert Wildflower Tour was led by Duane Hedke, while our first (of many) winery tours was held with the Morgan +4 Club in the Rancho Cucamonga wine district. Our first visit to the breathtaking Nethercutt Classic Car Collection at the spectacular San Sylmar tower was organized by Sue Davis. Encores of the Cambria Tour, Wrightwood Economy Run, April in Perris Railway Tour and the Sports/Foreign Autofaire, not to mention the San Diego Wheels for Wings and British Car Day gave everyone plenty of excuses to get that TR out and blast down the road.
One other event began that year, and started with a note from Norn Kear of the Morgan +4 Club: "One of our club members, Ross Selvidge, is organizing a display of British Sports Cars at the annual Scottish Highland Games in Costa Mesa. Would your club like to join us?" Nineteen years later we're still doing it.
We had a couple of new additons to the TRSC Board in 1983 in the form of Wes Schaffner and Barbara Loggins. Wes and wife Melinda were proud owners of a BRG TR3A and lived in Lemon Heights. Wes was elected Secretary, relieving Bob Youngdahl of the burden of two offices, Bob continuing his post as Treasurer. Barbara Loggins (of "Pumpkin" fame) was elected to the post of Activity/Event Coordinator after Steve Lamb had to step down from the post due to outside obligations.
The north-south alternate meeing arrangement continued, although few would call it an unqualified success. We were lucky to have two places that we could return to each month, though, the DWP and Mission Flower Shop respectively, and this was done for the remainder of the year.
As the second half of the year began, our sights turned to October, and the TRA West that TRSC agreed to organize. There would be plenty of drama to unfold in the months ahead, and it will be recounted in our next chapter.
Chapter Seven - Peaks and Valleys
The second half of 1983 found TRSC with a roster of 103 members and plenty of activities. Monthly club meetings were still alternating between L.A. and Orange Counties, and events were being held all over the southland. It was around this time that preparations began in earnest for the upcoming TRA West ˜83 that TRSC would singlehandedly organize and host.
At this time we meet two individuals who were prime movers behind this event: Victor Vilchek and Kenneth Harpenau, both of San Diego County. Vic Vilchek and wife Irene lived in Del Mar and had a pair of beautiful TR3As, a stunning cranberry-colored 1958 that had been Irene's first new car, and a 1960 that Vic had recently purchased locally. Vic was a keen supporter of the fledgeling TRA West meets and had attended the two previous ones. He suggested holding the event in Del Mar and was able to arrange very favorable rates with a wonderful local hotel, the Del Mar Inn. Ken Harpenau resided in Chula Vista and owned a beautiful original 1958 TR3A and a genuine 1953 TR2 (TS286) project car. Ken's particular fondness was for competetive driving events such as rallies and gymkhanas and was very adept at staging them. Their talents would stand us in good stead.
While these plans were gathering momentum, there occurred a shakeup in the TRSC Board. We have previously described how the club organization was very loose, with no particular interest in parliamentary procedure or protocol. Most decisions were being made by the group of people who regularly attended events, often outside the forum of monthly meetings. For the most part, this arrangement suited everyone well. After all, most people are glad to have someone else doing the work! Occasionally, however, the wrong person is left out of the loop. This happened to president Stu Stearns, who felt that more and more policy decisions were being made in his absence, and at the August club meeting he admonished the members in attendance with this complaint and resigned his presidency on the spot. V.P. Bob Rolfes abruptly found himself in front of a crowded Mission Flower Shop, called upon to take over the meeting. The group recovered from this hiccup and Stu continued to be an active and contributing member, but this incident pointed out the problems when there is insufficient structure within an organization.
October came quickly and TRA West ‘83 was upon us. Thirty sidecurtain TR's graced the picturesque Del Mar coast as contingents from DCTRA and TSCCSD joined the TRSC hosts for a wonderful weekend. Attending for the first time were representatives from The Roadster Factory and Moss Motors in the form of Charles Runyan and John Swauger, and Eric Wilhelm respectively.This was the first year that a rally was on the agenda, but the star driving test was the Hillclimb. This marvelous bit of fun was organized by Vic and Kenneth, and made possible by the fact that a nearby posh hilltop housing tract was under construction. There were no homes built yet, but there was a lovely brand new double-hairpin street ending at the top which was perfect for high speed assaults. A fine awards dinner and the Sunday morning rally capped off this very successful gathering. The Desert Center Club offered to return the favor by hosting the 1984 event, and thus was born the rotating host†phenomonon.
On the way home from Del Mar, many L.A.-bound TR fanatics made a little detour into Brentwood to check out a new event. We had heard that a Morris Minor fan from San Francisco named Rick Feibusch was going to stage an all-British†car meet at Paul Revere Junior High School, a Los Angeles first. We arrived rather late in the day after the trip north from San Diego, but there were still about fifty British cars of all types present, which was very impressive. We promised to attend the next one in force.
We finished October with a most enjoyable Hallowe'en Party hosted by Kathe Leber and an equally fine Christmas Party courtesy of Barbara and Bob Loggins. At the same time we welcomed another new (old) board member in the person of Joe Shepherd, who came out of retirement to become Vice-president after the position was vacated by now-President Bob Rolfes.
Big Brother may have been watching us all in 1984, but the TRSC membership continued to pursue their devotion the these classic sports cars with uninhibited zeal. The first big news of the year concerned the monthly meetings. After a year of moving between north and south locations, it was clear that this system was experiencing diminishing results, and it was decided to return to a single meeting place, preferably in the Pasadena area, which seemed fairly central and had served us well in the past. Everyone liked the idea of seeking out a restaurant, but the difficulty lay in finding one that did not require a large minimum service. Finally, a promising venue appeared in the form of Stratton Place, a large pub just a few blocks from our original bank meeting room. The January meeting was held there and was well attended. Could this be the end of the TRSC nomadic tribe? Stay tuned!
Club events got off to a cracking start in 1984. We commenced with a group champagne brunch and tour aboard the H.M.S. Queen Mary in February, then entered into a thrill-packed two-stage competition with the Morgan Plus Four Club in March. The first half of this was Museum Madness,†a Funkhana at the Briggs Cunningham Automotive Museum hosted by the Morgan folks. A brilliant piece of organization, this event was a real hoot for the entrants and spectators both. Although the TR's were outnumbered, they took the first three places and left the Morgans wondering what hit them. Three weeks later, the Rallye Deluxe†was unveiled, beginning at the Rose Bowl and ending in the then-wilderness known as the Santa Clarita Valley. This was an equally brilliant event co-sponsored by TRSC and the Morgan Club, in two stages. The first stage was a Photo rally†ingeniously designed by President Rolfes, where each entrant was given a stack of photos depicting the Rolfes TR3A navigating the course and challenged to follow it. Those who were successful went on to stage two, where the Morganeers laid down an entertaining TSD rally, ending at the home of one of their members where a fine feast was enjoyed. The result here: the Morgans wiped up the floor with the TRSC drivers and avenged their loss at Museum Madness. Probably the most enjoyable club collaboration I've had the privilege to take part in!
Several popular outings were repeated, with visits to the Railway Museum in Perris, the Scottish Highland Games in Costa Mesa and the Sports/Foreign Autofaire to name a few. The San Diego Wheels for Wings was encored in June and well-attended by TRSC members in spite of the lengthy drive.
June would also see a very significant event in Los Angeles Triumph history.
Stephen Oertwig and his wife Ho Young were a couple of very enthusiastic Triumph
devotees who had joined us in activites for the past two years after moving
to L.A. from Hawaii. (Steve's career in the armed services
had long meant a nomadic existence). Steve had formerly been president of
the Triumph Club of Hawaii and recently bought a new TR7 Spider to enjoy in
Los Angeles.
He had been a longtime VTR member and found it surprising that there was no
VTR Chapter in the L.A. area after ten years. Over the next two years he began
making contacts with other later-model TR owners with the idea of forming
a VTR group. Finally on Saturday, June 9, a meeting was organized at El Dorado
Park in Long Beach and attended by nearly thirty people, including a dozen
TRSC members on hand to lend support. The result, of course, was the formation
of the Southern California Triumph Owners Association. Sadly, Steve and Ho
Young Oertwig moved away from L.A. not long afterward and are not mentioned
much today when the beginnings of SCTOA are discussed, but those of us who
were there remember what true kindred spirits they were, as well as their
being the spark plugs behind the formation of the new club, and acknowledge
them here.
July found us back at El Dorado Park for a big TRSC event: Redline Day! This was envisaged as a celebration of the club and featured a Kooky Koncours†with a bunch of bizarre award categories, all in lighthearted fun. Also that month came a new event courtesy of Moss Motors in Goleta: Triumph Marque Day. Moss had begun having special open house†days for each of the Marques they supplied parts for, and the Triumph edition turned out to be the biggest they'd had. The best part of this event was the wonderful post-event back road tour of Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties led by Jeff Truttman of Fillmore, who instantly earned the sobriquet Tourmaster†and would proceed to organize some of the best tours in memory for years to come.
August brought the XXIII Olympiad to Los Angeles and the club basically took the month off. After the July club meeting at Stratton Place, the decision was made to leave this establishment and seek out another home. The problem we experienced here was simple: noise. And not us, either! Our meeting area was the upstaurs loft, which had great ambience, but was completely vulnerable to aural assault from the boisterous crowds below. It was simply too loud to conduct meetings, so the search for a new meeting hall began anew. Once again, our colleagues in the Morgan Plus Four Club rode in on their white horses and saved the day. They had been meeting for ages at a pizza parlour in Lakewood called Me ‘n Ed's and told us of the warm accomodation they had received from the staff. We decided to try this out in September. Things got off to a rocky start when we accidentally reserved the sister location in Long Beach while handing out maps to Lakewood, but we survived that little fandango and went to the correct location in October! True to the sales pitch, the establishment welcomed us with our own meeting roon without charge, friendly atmosphere, plenty of beer and indifferent pizza. We had come home at last!
October found us preparing our TR's for the 400-mile trip to Phoenix, Arizona to enjoy the hospitality of the Desert Centre TRA as they hosted TRA West 84. As had become traditional in four short years, several firsts†were scored by DCTRA in their goal to make this the best meet yet. The most significant and far reaching was the inclusion of later-model TR's in the concours judging. This came about because DCTRA had officially opened its membership to the later models (they'd been struggling to keep up membership with sidecurtain TR's only). This would set a big precedent for next year and pose a profound question to TRSC. Also offered was the first Technical Seminar, hosted by DCTRA Tech Guru Bob Schaller. A great blind-driver funkhana and Sunday Rally were on tap, and The Roadster Factory and Moss Motors returned, with the latter bringing a table full of product samples; another first. The Saturday night dinner was a wild party at one of those giant outdoor steak houses north of the city. Around 45 cars attended that year, continuing the upward surge of participation. TRSC duly volunteered to host the 1985 TRA West at a California location to be determined.
A week after TRA West was the second edition of Rick Feibusch's L.A. British Car Meet in Brentwood. This time, with no schedule conflict, TRSC members were able to attend in larger numbers. The turnout was spectacular and completely filled the school car park to overflowing. It was clear that a bigger venue was needed, and that this event was here to stay. We finished the 1984 events calendar with another fine Holiday Party hosted by Isora and Duane Hedke in their Burbank mansion.
1984 had been a very successful year for TRSC, but restless winds were blowing.
They would bring profound change to the club in the new year, and we will
witness them in next month's Triumph Tribune. See you there.
Chapter Eight - We Come Alive!
The January 1985 TRSC monthly meeting witnessed a fundamental change in the club organization. Although the previous year was successful overall, there was a growing wave of unrest and dissatisfaction from some active members who felt that too few people were contributing to the running of the club. They believed that getting more of the members involved on the committee would result in a stronger and more active TRSC. To this end, a proposal was drafted and presented to the members by Duane Hedke at the October 1984 meeting. The key tenet of this proposal was short terms of office for committee members, to entice more people to volunteer. After all, it was thought, if people were assured that they wouldn’t have to serve 3 to 5, they might be willing to get involved! Terms of office were initially set at THREE MONTHS, but the more rational figure of six months was quickly substituted after further discussion. Two exceptions were the secretary and treasurer, which would be one-year posts. The traditional offices of President and V.P. were expunged, and a new two-equal-person position called the “Executive Office” was proposed, the officeholders becoming known as “co-execs.”
The members present voted to adopt this program, to become effective in January. The inaugural committee members were Duane Hedke and Kathe Leber as the Co-execs, Barbara Loggins assuming the editor position with Stu Stearns as her assistant, Steve Hedke as Events coordinator, while Wes Schaffner and Bob Youngdahl stayed on as Secretary and Treasurer respectively. Ken Gillanders continued as Technical Secretary for Life. All this change was carried out with shouts of the new slogan, “We Come Alive in ‘85!”
And so we did. Activities began in earnest, with some very successful outings such as a Sunday Briunch at Riverside’s Mission Inn, an Inland Empire Winery Tour and a terrific weekender to Mt. Laguna, both hosted by the Loggins’, an hugely-attended Tech Clinic at Janet and Steve Hedke’s home in Burbank, a wonderful weekender to the Sequoia National Park by Tourmaster Jeff Truttman, three “garage sales” to raise money for the coming TRA West, just to name a few.
A major accomplishment was achieved in the form of “Technical Talk,”
a compilation of the first eight years of TRSC newsletter technical articles,
put together by editor Barb Loggins; it was a runaway success and would spawn
several encores in the years to come.
At the six month mark, elections for new committee members were duly held, and the new public servants were Sue Davis and Jon Korbin as Co-execs. Sue, a TRSC member since 1982, drove a BRG TR3A which had been in her family since 1964, which she drove to L.A. from her family home in Virginia. Jon and his first wife Diana joined in 1984 with a white TR3A they recently purchased, influenced by Diana's childhood memories of driving around crouched behind the seats of her father's TR3A with the tonneau cover pulled over her head. Steve Hedke strapped into the Editor’s chair and Barb Loggins received a lateral promotion to events coordinator. Messrs Youngdahl, Schaffner and Gillanders continued their posts. Everyone was in place just in time to begin planning in earnest for TRSC’s major event of the year, TRA West ‘85. The members voted in Marty Lodawer, Bob Rolfes and Stu Stearns as the three wise men entrusted to get this show on the road.
Before any real plans could get under way, we had to decide, “what do we want to do with this event?” Desert Centre had opened their 1984 event to later TR’s, and many of those people would want to participate again. In addition, the young neighbor SCTOA club very much wanted to participate with their all-Triumph group. We had a big decision to make: should we stay faithful to our TRA heritage and confine the event to the TR2 and 3 cars, or open it to all? There were forceful arguments made for both sides of that issue at several club meetings and the debate became quite heated on occasion. In the end, it was decided that a bigger and better event would result from inviting everyone. With such a major change, the thought came up to giving the meet a new name to reflect this. Bob and Barb Rolfes pointed out our event's coincidental timing with Oktoberfest each year, and put forward the name “Triumphest.” The embracing of this was instantaneous and enthusiastic.
Everyone liked the idea of going to the Palm Springs area, which would be absolutely beautiful in October, so a reconnaisance party drove out there to spend a day looking at hotels. The Erawan Garden Hotel in nearby Indian Wells proved ideal, and when October 18-20 came around, more than seventy Triumphs of all kinds filled this venue. The meet was a tremendous success and completely vindicated the decision to go “all-Triumph.” Along with the expected showing from TRSC, the Phoenix and San Diego Clubs, there were representatives from the veteran Triumph Travelers Sports Car Club of Northern California, and the fledgeling Central Coast Triumphs based in Santa Barbara, CA, and of course, a large contingent from SCTOA, who offered great help by staging the concours event. The SCTOA group was so excited about the whole thing that they instantly volunteered to host the next year’s meet, adding the first new club to the host rotation.
Buoyed by the great success of Triumphest ‘85, TRSC celebrated with an all-club picnic at San Onofre State Beach organized by Barb Rolfes, with everything provided by the club. We also attended Rick Feibusch’s L.A. British Car Meet at its new venue, the Woodley Park section of the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Center in Van Nuys. Here, with ample room for everyone to spread out on the grass, the turnout of British cars more than doubled from the previous year, to more than 300. This picturesque park would remain the home of the L.A. British meet until 2001. We finished off an exciting year by bringing our TR’s to Redondo Beach to participate in that city’s Christmas Parade (Redondo mayor Barbara Doerr was a card-carrying, TR3A-driving club member) and followed that with a festive Holiday Party at the Encino home of Marvin and Beverly Korbin, Jon’s parents. It had been quite a year.
In honoring an editorial request for brevity due to space limitations this month, we will end this installment here. Be ready next month, though... the story gets even better!