Worst Triumph insults?

1. "Is that an MG?"

2. "Is that a kit car with a VW engine?"

I got #2 this morning. So annoying, but funny. At low rpms my straight-through exhaust and monza tip whistle a little bit, so I can understand.

I also got this one recently, which isn't necessarily TR-related. Guy at the stop light in modded Miata goes, "Nice car. You should restore it." With a straight face, I told him it WAS restored, thank you very much.

<span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="font-weight: bold">MG!!!</span></span> <span style="font-size: 20pt"><span style="font-weight: bold">MG!!!</span></span>

Tell them I'd rather <span style="font-weight: bold">push a TR</span> then drive an <span style="font-weight: bold">MG!!</span>

As far as the "you should restore it" comment, I know your car Gavin, and it's a gem. That guy probably saw some dirt spaltered on your<span style="font-weight: bold"> daily driver.</span> Pay it no mind.

I get waves from Corvette and Harley riders. There are some in the know, and then there are the lame-brains that <span style="font-weight: bold">think </span>they know. Just humor them and drive off knowing you're having alot more fun then they are.

I had a guy (with more tattoos than teeth) in a convenience store offer me 50 bucks for mine. Said I'd think about it.

A friend and I were at a show looking at a Healey 100 when my friend told the owner I had a TR6. He responded that while driving he doesn't wave at Triumphs, he makes them wave at him.

I had the owner of an XK150 snub his nose at me in my TR3 after his wife stopped me saying how much she liked my car. As he approached, she made a big fuss to him about my car. He said, "She wanted one of those, but I wanted this. You'd rather have one of these too." I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying, "No, I wouldn't want one of those for fear that people might mistake me for an "idiot" like you".

In both cases, neither car was more than a decent driver.

Here I always thought Triumphs were what they used to box up spare Jaguar engines to ship out of the country.

Kinda like the B-24's were the shipping crates for the B-17's.

I might add, that's why there are so may Triumphs around.....

Kind of the spin on the "is that an MG?" thing, local paper ran a story on a brit car collector, all the cars were MGs I guess, including a rare "MG Triumph 1800 roadster"

My son, 36 this year, and knows performance cars, getting his feet wet on British....made the comment, halfway through today's show, that all the cars had a certain similarity to them.
There were design items he could spot similar on MG, Triumph, Jensens, Rovers, Jaguars and Healeys.

Not that apparent to me, except for Spridgets.

It's the MG thing, and when I tell people I have a Triumph, they think I am talking about a motorcycle.

newmexTR3 said:

1. "Is that an MG?"

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Perhaps I'm just thick-skinned ... I've never taken that as an insult. Whether we like it or not, to some folk "MG" is synonymous with "Little British Car". Besides they are simply ignorant ... being insulted by someone's ignorance is just silly, IMO.

As usual, Randy puts it into perspective. Don't take it as an insult, as MOST of the time it is ignorance. Back in the old days, the 1950s, no matter whether you had a Healey 100-4, Triumph TR3, or MGA, the girls always asked the same thing, "Is that a Jaguar?" They were not trying to insult you; they just didn't know. The correct answer, by the way, was always, "YES."

And the pecking order for waving, unfortunately, was based on money. The MG waved to the Triumph who waved ato the Healey who waved to the Jaguar. Of course, the wave was always returned until the E-Type crowd showed up. Even if you had a brand spanking new TR3, you still waved to a beat up Healey. But, I didn't mind. It was fun.

At night time, you could even recognize them coming by their headlights and/or parking lights. God, those were the good ol' days. When I got my Miata in 1992, I waved to all Miatas. Maybe 10 percent of them waved back. It was a gender and age problem. 51% of Miata drivers were women, so you could rule them out. Then, most of the male Miata drivers were probably too young to remember roads full of sports cars who waved to each other. My wife used to say, "Why don't you quit waving - you look like a fool." What a shame.

I never had to take any guff off any person driving a BMC car, whether an MG, Healey or XK Jaguar. Because my retort was always the same. "Let's go find a puddle and drive through it! Have you got your distributor towel with you?" And watch the jaws tighten. Actually, the sports car crowd was a pretty good crowd, and most jawing was done in fun.

I used to love to ask the BMC crowd to "please turn your key off. With all that clicking (electric fuel pumps) I can't hear my radio." And metric tools always came in for a few shots, also.

Anybody remember the old Marlboro Race Track, in Maryland?

Wow, I got carried away! Sorry for the digression!

Heard this one about 6 months ago: the three settings on a Lucas headlamp switch: DIM - FLICKER - OFF. You gotta love it.

The Lucas motto: "Get home before dark."
Lucas is the patent holder for the short circuit.
Lucas - Inventor of the first intermittent wiper.
Lucas - Inventor of the self-dimming headlamp.
1) The three position Lucas switch - Dim, Flicker and Off.
2) The Original Anti-Theft Device - Lucas Electrics.
3) Lucas is an acronym for Loose Unsoldered Connections and Splices
4) Lucas systems actually uses AC current; it just has a random frequency.
5) "I have had a Lucas pacemaker for years and have never had any trou..."
6) If Lucas made guns, wars would not start.
7) A friend of mine told everybody he never had any electric problems with his Lucas equipment. Today he lives in the countryside, in a large manor with lots of friendly servants around him and an occasional ice cold shower...
8) Back in the 70's, Lucas decided to diversify its product line and began manufacturing vacuum cleaners. It was the only product they offered which did not suck.
9) Q: Why do the British drink warm beer? A: Because Lucas makes their refrigerators
10) Alexander Graham Bell invented the Telephone. Thomas Edison invented the Light Bulb. Joseph Lucas invented the Short Circuit.
11) Recommended procedure before taking on a repair of Lucas equipment: Check the position of the stars, kill a chicken and walk three times clockwise around your car chanting:" Oh mighty Prince of Darkness protect your unworthy servant.."

TR6oldtimer said:

and when I tell people I have a Triumph, they think I am talking about a motorcycle.

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So enlighten them. "I have the 4-wheeled kind, they're very rare."
:laugh:

when I joined my local car club, the club memebership representative introduced me every time to the current members as; "this is Dan he has a triumph spitfire, but we won't hold that against him."
Cant say it really bothered me at all but im pretty easy going.

The only one that ticks me off is when other Triumph owners proclaim that the last real car Triumph built was a TR6. Usually uttered by somebody with a tweed beret and jacket with suede elbow pads.

My father raced at Marlboro in his TR3a when new. I've had people ask me if my GT6 was a kit car, and I had a few Healey and Jag guys on time at a meet dismiss my GT6. Until I destroyed them in the autocross. I've had some ribbing from other Brit car owners about the various Triumphs I've had, saying how their Jag or MG or whatever is better. Doesn't bother me. I always laugh when they have an issue and many seem to have no idea how to work on their cars. Of course, conversely, I've gotten all kinds of help from other guys, so it all balances out. The worst thing I've dealt with was a few Camaro owners who decided to throw a bunch of trash into my TR4a about 10 years ago. I caught them and they then acted super tough until I gave them the option of cleaning out the car or dealing with the police. My Special Forces tee shirt and HK USP 9 might have helped, too when they started to move towards me threateningly...

Overall, I'm just happy other people are restoring and driving their cars. If they don't want to wave, or have an attitude, it's their loss. But most are happy to chat, lend a hand, and recount stories of when they were my age, which I find fascinating more often than not.

Was given this decal years ago. While funny, my experiences with Lucas electrics have always been good.
George, your "pecking order" description was so correct.

Not an insult to me, but an innocent one from me to someone else. Two years ago I was going to a show down at the Cape early one Sunday morning. I stopped for gas and a cup of coffee along the way. When I entered the highway two Jag XK120's passed me as I was coming up to speed. I waved, they waved. So i drive along and catch up to them and I stick a few car lengths behind them, but they slowly start to ratchet up the speed. So I stay with them right until another digit enters the numbers and then I pull along side them and flip in the O/D. I shot by them like a bat out of He&&.

Well when we got to the show, they both came up to me and one was laughing and the other one was pi$$ed off. The one who was mad wanted me to open my hood to prove that I had a V-8 under the cover. Naturally this was prime ball busting time for me, so I refused, but said it was a little 151 cu inch Triumph 6-cyl. Not stock, but not a V-8. Now the one guy is getting madder and the other guys starts busting him about a TR6 blowing his doors off. I finally opened the hood and the mad guy started turning purple. The other guy and the crowd were now in stitches laughing at how mad the first guy was. Turns out he had just sunk a ton in the engine and hated having to lose a little race that he started. Especially to a lowly TR6. The other guy kept laughing shook my hand and kept talking for a half an hour after the mad guy left.

TR6oldtimer said:

It's the MG thing, and when I tell people I have a Triumph, they think I am talking about a motorcycle.

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Triumph made motorcycles?Next thing you know -
- BMW will start making them.

- Doug

Guy I know, owned a local parts store...many years ago, he and a buddy had a 1940 Ford, dropped some fire-breathing twin 4bbl bow-tie under the bonnet, and were coming across one of our floating bridges one day, guy in a new Vette pulls up beside them blips the throttle and tries to take off.
They hammered the pedal on the 40 and literally left him standing there in his Vette.

Month or so later, they decide to sell the 40 Ford.
Into their garage, pull the bow-tie out, and drop the greasy old flatmotor stored in the corner back into the chassis.

Get all done, decide to go for burgers.

Pulled into the Burgermeister drive-in, order food, and this same Vette pulls in beside them, demanding to see what's under the hood that blew his doors off the hinges.

They get out, pull the lever, lift the bonnet, and say, "Just an old Flathead Ford........".

Guy was SO MAD he kicked a hole in the door of his new fiberglass Vette.

Ah, the fun of cars.......