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I enjoy reading Hemmings Sports and Exotic Car magazine as much as the next guy, especially the section near the back called Auction Profile. The author picks an area car auction and highlights any car that piques his interest, as well as mine. It's just when he lists an auction for a Triumph, he often has his facts wrong, dead wrong.

For instance, he recently wrote about a 1967 TR4A and stated that there were only 3,636 TR4A's built. He only missed the mark by 24,829.

And on another listing, he spoke of a stock 1972 TR6 by saying, "This car had the 124hp engine with 9.5:1 compression, which was quite high in 1972."

Then back to that 67, he commented, "Although this Triumph needed work, it was far from a rat. The seller did the right thing." Huh? The car sold for $3,200 when he stated the average selling price is $8,000. How is this the right thing?

The author is glib and entertaining. Just think he needs to spend a little more time editing his comments. It seems every issue of the magazine has glaring errors.

Just me.
 
No, not just you, Bill. I share your "pain" in this area; it's the librarian / historian / Triumph fanatic in me, I suppose! But how long does it take someone (who is being PAID to write this stuff) to do some spot research and check with reliable sources for accurate information? oh, and then write coherently so that the accurate information is PRESENTED understandably?

I'll guess that he saw somewhere (perhaps on the VTR web site, for example) that 3,636 TR4As were built in either calendar year or model year 1967 (note: production ended in July 1967, but TR4As were still price listed into calendar year 1968, and some were sold as 1968 models), and then neglected to mention the year qualifier when writing the article. But once something like that appears in print, many seem to take the information as gospel!

But this author is not alone: many of the Triumph history books have dozens and dozens of blatant errors, stemming either from a careless and/or opinionated author, or from a sloppy editor, or both! (I won't name names, but I suspect many know at least one author like this....GRrrrrr! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif )
 
It's funny, but I've always thought that car production statistics -- especially when a car is being sold -- is a bit like baseball statistics. I was watching a game the other day, and the announcers said something along the lines of "so and so bats .382 when facing left-handed pitchers at xyz stadium." Er, um, ok, I'm glad that I now know that. I often laugh to myself when I see an ad that says that a particular car is more desirable because there were only a handful produced in that color in such and such model year. How is that in *any* way related to the instrinsic value of the car? Don't get me started on golden metallic beige Austin Healeys. I love that these somehow fetch a premium. You see, it was a rare color not because it was some limited edition -- the concept did not exist with Healeys. It was rare because, ahem, it's kinda ugly and people did not want them in that color!

But in the end, puffery will always be part of the sales game. But I share your thoughts -- no excuse to get the stats *wrong* in the information age.
 
Good point Bill. To bring that thought back to Triumphs, there are very, very few people who then bought or now preserve or restore to some of the original TR2 colors, notably Olive Yellow, Ice Blue (Hi, Lou!) and Geranium. The story is oft told that Dorothy Deen of Cal Sales had many early TR2 repainted before they could sell them, and it was she who helped persuade Standard-Triumph that Sir John Black's wife's taste in colors was not necessarily the taste of most buyers. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

I'll only briefly mention the delightful early Herald colors such as Coffee and Targo Purple....
 
The best way to deal with inaccuracies in these publications is to write the editor and the columnist and make your views known. I'm friends with several people who write and edit Old Cars Weekly News...they get HATE mail evrey week about their paper...let 'em know!
 
My pet peeve is that I forgot to renew my Hemmings subscription 22 years ago and keep forgetting. I think it took 6 years before they stopped sending me reminder notices.
 
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