Well it's late Saturday night and I've no bike building progress to report. You see, being the good son that I am, I drive 200 miles to visit my Ma every second weekend. Ma turns 89 on Monday and she's still doing pretty well, she's not a redneck like me, but she's very active in our little home town, still lives at home and drives the Subaru I gave her, and has just finished another University course. (she's got a PHD in Psychology, whatever that means)
Speaking of cars, my Dad wouldn't ever have been seen dead driving a Japanese car, when I rode my shiny new CB750 home in 1978 he took one look and said "The only good thing to come out of Japan was a Mushroom Cloud", but he was a still a bit angry with the Japs, they'd killed a lot of his mates in WW2.
Dad almost bought a Toyota once. His mate Bill Websdale had the Toyota dealership, and talked Dad into test driving a new Toyota Crown in 1977. Dad loved it, and as his old 1963 Chrysler Valiant was getting a little long in the tooth, he'd been looking for a newer car, so he told bill he'd buy it. That night he couldn't sleep, and he rang Bill first thing in the morning and told Bill he just couldn't buy a Jap car. Bill said, "No worries Jim, we just traded a 1975 Triumph, it's made in England, what about that?" Dad bought it sight unseen.
Now normally I'd say what a pile-o-sh1te English cars are, and to be fair, they are rubbish, but this car is amazing. Dad drove it right up until he was too old (dangerous) to drive any more, and Ma kept right on driving it until I gave her my old Subaru in late 2015, and that old pile just kept chugging along, honestly, it always started, and never broke down! I used to take great pleasure in taking the piss out of Dad about his Pommy Sh1tbox car, but in the 40 years we've owned it, I've probably gone thru 10 cars?
Anyhoo, Ma and have been trying to give the Triumph away to a good home, but as it's nota "Stag" (Triumph's most popular car) nobody seemed much interested, until I was chatting to an engineer friend a couple of weeks ago, and mentioned that I had this car and was looking for someone to give it to, and he said "I'll take it!" Excellent. Now it hasn't been started since around November 2015, but fired up right away when I installed a fresh battery this morning, and Rob, the new owner was happy to see me driving it out of Ma's driveway as he pulled up with his trailer, so he pulled out his ramps, I drove it onto his trailer, and he was off. Operation Triumph-ant Farewell was a success!
Dad's Triumph by
terry prendergast, on Flickr
Dad's Triumph 1 by
terry prendergast, on Flickr
As it is Ma's birthday on Monday, I drove her down to the Metung Pub and bought her lunch, and enjoyed the view. Pity it's still bloody winter, but all in all, not a bad day. Cheers, Terry.
Metung Pub by
terry prendergast, on Flickr
