Little kid made my day today

[TR4nut]

Beautiful weather here today, had a great time attending the annual British Car Day the Houston MG club runs. My spirits were a little down when a pristine TR4a parked next to me which made me realize how much work I needed to do on my car, as well as the fact that I wasn't going to be bringing home any trophies.

That all changed though at the end of the show when I noticed a ~12 year old boy snapping all sorts of photos of my car, cool angles of the front grille, tail lights, etc. And it also helped that he was ignoring the TR4a.. When he finished snapping, I asked him if he wanted to sit in the TR4, and man did his face light up. We snapped of couple of shots of him looking cool in the TR4, hopefully I've created a near future british car buff. Regardless, it was a heck of a lot better than a stinky old trophy!

Randy

 

[Brosky]

Having been a kid, who got his first Triumph experience thanks to a nice college guy with a white TR3, I have to agree. I have a bunch of trophies, that are nice, but I'd rather have the kids sit in the car and get their picture taken, or stand around and BS with newbies about the cars at the shows.

That's where our future is going to be and a few kind words of encouragement or a picture or two, go a long way to promote it.

 

[PeterK]

We took our 3A to a show in Owl's Head last Sunday and a father and his two sons were making the rounds and when they came upon our 3A, they were all over it, not touching but learning and listening to their dad. One kid said the 3A was "1000% the bestest car there."

I only have one trophy, and is the only trophy I ever got for anything in my 55 years. It was last year for an autocross in the 3A. Fastest Vintage TOD - so I beat the other guy! 1000% bestest trumps it I guess.

 

[CuriousGeorge]

Randy, that kid is a LIVING trophy.

 

[GBRandy]

I have quite a few trophies from car shows.... Third in Concourse at nationals, The Dennis Riley / Bill Wood award as well (which I treasure).

The best award, however, was at the golf course when three 16ish year old kids walked up and asked "what is that?!!!" ....we talked for quite some time. I had a smile for a week.

Glad you made that kid a part of the event instead of just a spectator....well done.

 

[TRDejaVu]

After the simple enjoyment of being able to drive and maintain the car, I will take the:
- "coooool" from someone of an age who would normally be looking at the latest rice rocket,
- the point, smile and wave from a pedestrian as I drive by,
- the person who rushes over to say "wow, I used to have one of those and now I really miss it"

any day over being judged in a comparison of which professionally restored car is better.

 

[TexasKnucklehead]

Randy,
I opted to work on my fence instead of going to the car show (where I got a trophy last year). When I poked a hole in the gas line, I knew it was a bad decision. After the fire department left, and I was waiting for the line repair crew to show up, a TR4 drove by and turned around in the next driveway. I flagged him down and we talked TRs in my garage for an hour or so. He has owned his 1961 TR4 since 1961. He lives in the next subdivision and used to be a club member. He liked my TR6 and thought the TR3 was "solid". ...so I guess I had a good car show after all. Unfortunately this years trophy is a section of plastic pipe with a hole in it.

I'll see you at the show next time.
Jer

 

[Don Elliott]

The nice thing about the sidescreen TRs is that any kid about 3 years old or older can stand beside the car and get a kid's eye view of the whole interior without having to stand on his tip-toes. That's what makes a kid feel tall, when he doesn't have to ask an adult to lift him in their arms so he can look inside.