VTR 2024
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.
VTR 2024 and British Car Day at Bronte Creek Park 2024 - by Claude Gagne
Ever since I owned a Triumph, I have always wanted to go to the VTR national convention. This year, when David Huddleson and Bob Thomas mentioned that they were planning to go, and being held in Nashville IN, so within 2 days of driving, I simply jumped into the bandwagon. Mike S also joined.
Bob and David wrote and excellent report on the convention (see abovre), so I will limit myself to activities that were not covered already. For starters, I trailered my TR8. Not that it was not capable of a long distance trip, but with my wife Nicole as a passenger, it was just a more sensible choice, especially if it were to rain or be scorching hot. In addition, by coincidence, the British Car Day organized by the Toronto Triumph Club at Bronte Creek Park was right after the event, so why not kill two birds with one stone?
Like David and Bob, we cut the trip in half, staying overnight in Erie PA on the way to Indiana. The next day in Nashville IN, we were impressed with the lodge where the event took place, and understood why the price of rooms was so expensive there (we stayed in a regular motel in the nearby village). It is a huge building made of lugs, very appropriate for meetings and in the middle of a nice State Park. This is where all the convention activities took place, including the banquet and memorabilia sales, where we bought our share of hats and T-shirts. The car show was at a short distance from the lodge, near the
entrance of the park.
There were too many activities to choose from, with some overlapping each other, so we had to make choices. One that we would not miss was the Wine Tour, as we both really enjoy wine. Wine was fine, at both wineries that we visited, but the clincher was the twisty roads that led over there, and the relaxed atmosphere with the participants sipping wine. It was the perfect environment to meet new people. The downside of that wine tour choice was that I missed the technical session on ignition. Luckily, I managed to get a copy of the papers distributed during that talk. The bottom line is that the author does not like Pertronix, prone to defects, and much prefers the XR700 ignition module. Lucky me, this is what I have on my TR8!
The visit at the Cummins factory/museum was most interesting. Our guide outlined the origins of the company and showed us the evolution of diesel engines produced by Cummins. The highlight was then the showcase of Indy race cars that ran diesel engines. Outstanding. We also went to an ice cream outing, about 20 miles away, so another caravan ride in our Triumphs on a
nice road, let alone the delicious ice cream. TWOA (Triumph Wedge Owners Association) also organized an outing during the convention but outside the official schedule. So a bunch of us in TR7s and TR8s hit the road again, this time to a golf course, where we enjoyed a short visit to the bar before a nice buffet dinner in a private room. Nicole and I really enjoyed the convention. Next time it is within reasonable distance, no doubt that we will attend again, especially if it takes place in the Northeast USA.
But the trip was not over yet. After the convention, we drove to Windsor ON, where we spent the night, before a little detour on the next day to the Pelee Island Winery for a tasting stint. Did I mention that we really enjoy wine? We stayed in a motel in Burlington for 2 nights in order to have the full Saturday available for the Bronte show in nearby Oakville. We were not disappointed. About 850 British cars, mostly Triumphs and MGs of course, but also lots of Jaguars, Lotuses, Rovers etc. as well as a few TVRs, Sunbeams, DeLoreans, Rolls Royces and Bentleys among others. At one end of the park, vendors are grouped and offer used parts as well as new ones, and the usual hats and clothing for each of the various British marques.
I found it a bit disappointing that there were less than ten wedges on the field. But one was a race prepared TR8 from my racing friend Mike Deweerd. He used to race a TR4, now this TR8, and he is working on a TR3. The engine bay of the TR8 is amazing (see picture), as is the whole car actually, and the sound is out of this world. I look forward seeing it at Mosport next year. After the almost endless presentation of trophies, with so many classes, we went back to our motel and joined some friends from Montreal for a nice dinner at a nearby restaurant. That concluded that crazy week of car fun before heading home the next morning. To be done again, for sure.
Bob and David wrote and excellent report on the convention (see abovre), so I will limit myself to activities that were not covered already. For starters, I trailered my TR8. Not that it was not capable of a long distance trip, but with my wife Nicole as a passenger, it was just a more sensible choice, especially if it were to rain or be scorching hot. In addition, by coincidence, the British Car Day organized by the Toronto Triumph Club at Bronte Creek Park was right after the event, so why not kill two birds with one stone?
Like David and Bob, we cut the trip in half, staying overnight in Erie PA on the way to Indiana. The next day in Nashville IN, we were impressed with the lodge where the event took place, and understood why the price of rooms was so expensive there (we stayed in a regular motel in the nearby village). It is a huge building made of lugs, very appropriate for meetings and in the middle of a nice State Park. This is where all the convention activities took place, including the banquet and memorabilia sales, where we bought our share of hats and T-shirts. The car show was at a short distance from the lodge, near the
entrance of the park.
There were too many activities to choose from, with some overlapping each other, so we had to make choices. One that we would not miss was the Wine Tour, as we both really enjoy wine. Wine was fine, at both wineries that we visited, but the clincher was the twisty roads that led over there, and the relaxed atmosphere with the participants sipping wine. It was the perfect environment to meet new people. The downside of that wine tour choice was that I missed the technical session on ignition. Luckily, I managed to get a copy of the papers distributed during that talk. The bottom line is that the author does not like Pertronix, prone to defects, and much prefers the XR700 ignition module. Lucky me, this is what I have on my TR8!
The visit at the Cummins factory/museum was most interesting. Our guide outlined the origins of the company and showed us the evolution of diesel engines produced by Cummins. The highlight was then the showcase of Indy race cars that ran diesel engines. Outstanding. We also went to an ice cream outing, about 20 miles away, so another caravan ride in our Triumphs on a
nice road, let alone the delicious ice cream. TWOA (Triumph Wedge Owners Association) also organized an outing during the convention but outside the official schedule. So a bunch of us in TR7s and TR8s hit the road again, this time to a golf course, where we enjoyed a short visit to the bar before a nice buffet dinner in a private room. Nicole and I really enjoyed the convention. Next time it is within reasonable distance, no doubt that we will attend again, especially if it takes place in the Northeast USA.
But the trip was not over yet. After the convention, we drove to Windsor ON, where we spent the night, before a little detour on the next day to the Pelee Island Winery for a tasting stint. Did I mention that we really enjoy wine? We stayed in a motel in Burlington for 2 nights in order to have the full Saturday available for the Bronte show in nearby Oakville. We were not disappointed. About 850 British cars, mostly Triumphs and MGs of course, but also lots of Jaguars, Lotuses, Rovers etc. as well as a few TVRs, Sunbeams, DeLoreans, Rolls Royces and Bentleys among others. At one end of the park, vendors are grouped and offer used parts as well as new ones, and the usual hats and clothing for each of the various British marques.
I found it a bit disappointing that there were less than ten wedges on the field. But one was a race prepared TR8 from my racing friend Mike Deweerd. He used to race a TR4, now this TR8, and he is working on a TR3. The engine bay of the TR8 is amazing (see picture), as is the whole car actually, and the sound is out of this world. I look forward seeing it at Mosport next year. After the almost endless presentation of trophies, with so many classes, we went back to our motel and joined some friends from Montreal for a nice dinner at a nearby restaurant. That concluded that crazy week of car fun before heading home the next morning. To be done again, for sure.
