The 2024 VTR Convention In Nashville, Indiana - by Bob Thomas and David Huddleson
The Vintage Triumph Register (VTR) is a North American based organization for all Triumph automobiles that was formed in 1974. With the end of Triumph sports car production in 1981, the corporate backed Triumph Sports Owners Association was absorbed by the VTR, further expanding its membership.
Every year, a national convention is held by the VTR at a different location in the United States, in cooperation with regional and/or local Triumph Clubs. The 2024 VTR National Convention was held September 8-12 in Nashville, Indiana, and was hosted by the Indiana Triumph Cars club at the Abe Martin Lodge, which is just outside Nashville within the Brown County State Park.
Because production of the Triumph TR7 began in the fall of 1974, the "wedges" were honored as the featured marque at the convention. In cooperation with the Triumph Wedge Owners Association, a goal was set to have 100 TR7s and TR8s in Nashville to celebrate "50 Years Of The Shape Of Things To Come". With this in mind, OVTC members Mike Solonynko, Glaude Gagne, David Huddleson, and Bob Thomas began making plans in late 2023 to attend.
Setting out on September 6, our plan was to travel mostly on Interstate Highways, and to cover the 850 mile journey in 2 days. Due to conflicting schedules, David and Bob drove their TR8s down together while Claude and Nicole Gagne trailered their TR8 down separately. Mike Solonynko, who planned to pick up his friend Ian from the Ottawa airport later in the morning, was to catch up along the route to Nashville.
After an overnight stop in Ohio, most of the group made it to our Nashville accommodations by late afternoon on 7 September. The exception was Mike and his friend Ian, who arrived later in the evening due to the machinations of Air Canada, and a headlight switch that chose to fail at an inopportune moment. If there was an award for perseverance to get to the convention, Mike would win hands down. Hopefully, he will detail his adventure in a separate article.
Bob had picked up a friend, Joe M., in Syracuse, New York and David's friend, Joe R., drove up from Florida, so every TR8 had a navigator for the events that took place in the next 5 days.
Nashville, Indiana is a beautiful town, and much like Merrickville, Ontario, is a tourist destination with many artisan shops and restaurants, not to mention a couple of brew pubs! Surprisingly, the surrounding terrain is quite hilly in places, and very scenic. If you're ever in the area, it's worth exploring on an extended visit.
There are many events to participate in at a VTR Convention, and because it's impossible to take part in all of them, choices have to be made. Among the possibilities were a TSD Rallye, Gimmick Rallye, Le Mans Start, Funkanna, and Autocrossing. Organized tours included a breakfast run, an ice cream run, a winery tour, and the very popular Cummins Museum Tour, which included a display of Cummins diesel powered race cars.
As well, two very popular tech sessions were held at the Abe Martin Lodge. The first, covering ignition basics, tuning and carb adjustment, was presented on Monday by Joe Pawlak and Tim Buja from the Illinois Sports Owners Association. The second was offered on Tuesday by Mike A. Clark and covered cam and engine break-in procedures. For anyone interested in more than driving and technical events, there were also the VTR photo and craft contests, as well as a silent auction.
For TWOA members, there was a challenging, scenic drive on Tuesday evening to a golf course near Bloomington, Indiana for a dinner and social event that was well attended.
Wednesday was a glorious, sunny day for the Concours d' Elegance and Participants Choice car show. Among cars that stood out on the show field were the SCCA D Production winning Huffaker TR7, and a beautifully restored Triumph 2000 Roadster. For the performance minded, there was also a twin turbo, LS powered TR7!
Reportedly, 41 Wedges were registered for the Convention, but only 37 were counted on the show field, and 35 at the group photo session after the show. A good turnout for sure, but nowhere near the 100 cars that the organizers were hoping to attract. Assuming that a total of 40 Wedges attended, OVTC members provided 10% of that number. Not bad for a small Canadian car club!
While our Triumph cars provide a reason to gather at the VTR Convention every year for friendly competition, it's the renewal of old friendships and making new ones that is the main attraction for most of us. The awards banquet always provides opportunities to make new acquaintances, and this year our group was fortunate to have Odd Hedburg, a long time TR8 owner from Sweden, seated at our table. A very interesting man to talk to, Odd came 4300 miles to attend the convention, followed by further travel in the southern and western United States, and then was going to board "The Canadian" passenger train from Vancouver to Toronto before flying home to Sweden.
Joe R. left for Florida before the banquet on Thursday night, while Mike and Ian headed out immediately afterwards in order to accommodate Ian's flight connections. Friday morning, Claude and Nicole started their drive to Oakville to attend the TTC British Car Day while David and Bob reversed their 2 day drive home including dropping off Joe M. in Syracuse.
Over the course of close to 7000 combined miles travelled by the 4 TR8s, the only "casualties" were a headlight switch and a gas cap, which is a pretty good reliability record for cars that are 44 years old! We had a good assortment of tools and spare parts with us, so perhaps it's true that the more prepared you are, the less trouble you'll encounter.
Whether you drive your Triumph or trailer it to a VTR Convention, it's a very worthwhile event to attend. The 2025 Convention is being held in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, but hopefully, it will return to New York in the near future, which would make it easier for more OVTC members to have the experience that we did.
Every year, a national convention is held by the VTR at a different location in the United States, in cooperation with regional and/or local Triumph Clubs. The 2024 VTR National Convention was held September 8-12 in Nashville, Indiana, and was hosted by the Indiana Triumph Cars club at the Abe Martin Lodge, which is just outside Nashville within the Brown County State Park.
Because production of the Triumph TR7 began in the fall of 1974, the "wedges" were honored as the featured marque at the convention. In cooperation with the Triumph Wedge Owners Association, a goal was set to have 100 TR7s and TR8s in Nashville to celebrate "50 Years Of The Shape Of Things To Come". With this in mind, OVTC members Mike Solonynko, Glaude Gagne, David Huddleson, and Bob Thomas began making plans in late 2023 to attend.
Setting out on September 6, our plan was to travel mostly on Interstate Highways, and to cover the 850 mile journey in 2 days. Due to conflicting schedules, David and Bob drove their TR8s down together while Claude and Nicole Gagne trailered their TR8 down separately. Mike Solonynko, who planned to pick up his friend Ian from the Ottawa airport later in the morning, was to catch up along the route to Nashville.
After an overnight stop in Ohio, most of the group made it to our Nashville accommodations by late afternoon on 7 September. The exception was Mike and his friend Ian, who arrived later in the evening due to the machinations of Air Canada, and a headlight switch that chose to fail at an inopportune moment. If there was an award for perseverance to get to the convention, Mike would win hands down. Hopefully, he will detail his adventure in a separate article.
Bob had picked up a friend, Joe M., in Syracuse, New York and David's friend, Joe R., drove up from Florida, so every TR8 had a navigator for the events that took place in the next 5 days.
Nashville, Indiana is a beautiful town, and much like Merrickville, Ontario, is a tourist destination with many artisan shops and restaurants, not to mention a couple of brew pubs! Surprisingly, the surrounding terrain is quite hilly in places, and very scenic. If you're ever in the area, it's worth exploring on an extended visit.
There are many events to participate in at a VTR Convention, and because it's impossible to take part in all of them, choices have to be made. Among the possibilities were a TSD Rallye, Gimmick Rallye, Le Mans Start, Funkanna, and Autocrossing. Organized tours included a breakfast run, an ice cream run, a winery tour, and the very popular Cummins Museum Tour, which included a display of Cummins diesel powered race cars.
As well, two very popular tech sessions were held at the Abe Martin Lodge. The first, covering ignition basics, tuning and carb adjustment, was presented on Monday by Joe Pawlak and Tim Buja from the Illinois Sports Owners Association. The second was offered on Tuesday by Mike A. Clark and covered cam and engine break-in procedures. For anyone interested in more than driving and technical events, there were also the VTR photo and craft contests, as well as a silent auction.
For TWOA members, there was a challenging, scenic drive on Tuesday evening to a golf course near Bloomington, Indiana for a dinner and social event that was well attended.
Wednesday was a glorious, sunny day for the Concours d' Elegance and Participants Choice car show. Among cars that stood out on the show field were the SCCA D Production winning Huffaker TR7, and a beautifully restored Triumph 2000 Roadster. For the performance minded, there was also a twin turbo, LS powered TR7!
Reportedly, 41 Wedges were registered for the Convention, but only 37 were counted on the show field, and 35 at the group photo session after the show. A good turnout for sure, but nowhere near the 100 cars that the organizers were hoping to attract. Assuming that a total of 40 Wedges attended, OVTC members provided 10% of that number. Not bad for a small Canadian car club!
While our Triumph cars provide a reason to gather at the VTR Convention every year for friendly competition, it's the renewal of old friendships and making new ones that is the main attraction for most of us. The awards banquet always provides opportunities to make new acquaintances, and this year our group was fortunate to have Odd Hedburg, a long time TR8 owner from Sweden, seated at our table. A very interesting man to talk to, Odd came 4300 miles to attend the convention, followed by further travel in the southern and western United States, and then was going to board "The Canadian" passenger train from Vancouver to Toronto before flying home to Sweden.
Joe R. left for Florida before the banquet on Thursday night, while Mike and Ian headed out immediately afterwards in order to accommodate Ian's flight connections. Friday morning, Claude and Nicole started their drive to Oakville to attend the TTC British Car Day while David and Bob reversed their 2 day drive home including dropping off Joe M. in Syracuse.
Over the course of close to 7000 combined miles travelled by the 4 TR8s, the only "casualties" were a headlight switch and a gas cap, which is a pretty good reliability record for cars that are 44 years old! We had a good assortment of tools and spare parts with us, so perhaps it's true that the more prepared you are, the less trouble you'll encounter.
Whether you drive your Triumph or trailer it to a VTR Convention, it's a very worthwhile event to attend. The 2025 Convention is being held in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, but hopefully, it will return to New York in the near future, which would make it easier for more OVTC members to have the experience that we did.