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A good time was had by all.

For me, the event started on Saturday night with the Triumph Club of the Carolinas’ dinner at the Wren House in Salisbury, NC. The food was good and the fellowship was great. My neighbor Malcom (back from Florida) was with me and we spent most of the trip down trying to figure out what car he wants to end up with - he is an active collector.

Malcom and I found a Jensen-Healey in Winston-Salem the morning of the dinner and spent most of the day discussing the possibilities. As it stands, I have my 7, his 7 and his Spitfire I am working on - a Jensen addition is just out of my ability to find time for. I can’t keep four British cars running and keep my day job.

We arrived first thing at the show - about 15 minutes before the gates were to open. Upon filling out my registration form, I discovered that the TR7’s had been left off. Typical. I swear it is becoming a forgotten car. So I went ahead and wrote in TR7 and went on my way only to find that they forgot to make any space for the 7’s. It took a bit to figure out where to put us. I think they carved out a bit of out of the TR3 paddock - those guys had NO room.

I finally got parked and began removing pollen off my 7’s black paint and then an 8 pulled up. A few minutes later, the SIGN for the 7’s & 8’s arrived.

There were a lot of cars at the show. Highlights were Ernest Hemingway’s Rolls Royce, a Morgan Super Sport, a very healthy dose of Jensen Healey’s and one of the nicest MG Midgets I have ever seen. We also had Jags, Lotuses, Sunbeams, Austin Healeys galore, a passel of Minis and we even had an Alvis! But the real highlight was the homemade ice cream!

All was well until the judging. I noted a few things were off. The previously mentioned TR7 registration fiasco was not the only oddity. The Lotuses had their own ballot class, but they all got stuck in Speciality Interest cars and was put up besides the Rolls and what-not.

I was chatting away with a friend of mine when I heard my name over the loudspeakers and I thought I had won for the 7s. When I got the plaque, I thought it was like Little League where all the kids get a trophy even if they are on the loosing team. My award was for Third in Class. Hell, there were only three cars in my class! Things got more confusing when some of my club members came over to congratulate me. I thought it was an attempt to make me feel better for coming in dead last.

But no. When we were half-way home, Malcom asked me if I had any idea “why they put the Spider in the TR6 class?”

“What did you say?” Then I finally got a clue. Now it made sense.

I had came in third in a field of about 15 - 15 TR6’s that is. Turns out they dumped all the TR7 and 8 votes in with the TR6 votes.

My 7 won third place in the TR6 category.

It suddenly felt like Florida.

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