I will admit to a history of bothering DPOs. After buying my current Mercedes from a dealer we immediately took a slightly reckless decision to take it for a holiday in the South of France. So I checked the car over and off we went. We had a thoroughly enjoyable time and a very uneventful trip from a car point of view. When we got back I thought I’d start doing a bit of research and sent a letter to the previous registered owner mentioning the trip and was delighted to get a very nice letter back talking about the work he’d done on the car and how much he enjoyed it he also said it had been to the South of France so many times it could probably find it’s own way, all very reassuring. Since then I’ve met another DPO but he went through all the problems he had with the car. I already knew about those because he passed those on and I am still trying to sort most of them those out myself!

I will also admit a slight obsession with old car books and manuals and when I spotted an old but very clean hardback TR2 Manual on a dealers stall at the Brooklands Double Twelve last week I had to take look. To my delight tucked inside I found a stack of correspondence from 1955/56. It’s between the original owner of a TR2, Mr J. S. Ramsbottom B.Sc., and Standard Triumph plus a number of other suppliers; Lucas, Smiths, Richfield, Barwell Engineering, Pirelli plus others. As well as these I found some original 1950s SAH and Derrington TR2 performance catalogues (catalogue is stretching it a bit really they are just one page of typed details in those days).

Mr Ramsbottom seems to be setting his car up for competition in road rallies. There are letters about changing springs altering the rear brakes, calibrating the Speedo, installing a Halda Speedpilot and a clock etc.. I found them fascinating, and if Mr Ramsbottom was not happy with the service he got he certainly let them know about it! I know if owned this particular TR2 at the moment I’d be absolutely delighted to get my hands on these letters, so I’ve started searching. Initial enquiries with the TR Register have drawn a blank; unfortunately the commission number is not on their books at the moment. Someone did mention that he might still live in the same house so I’ve just written to Mr Ramsbottom at his original address and am awaiting a reply, fingers crossed.

The second was this monster Bentley-Napier (like a surrogate son of John Cobb’s Napier Railton). It's eccentric in a quite uniquely English sort of way. Turn the volume up loud.

The Double Twelve is a hugely enjoyable event, the enthusiastic crowd year was about the right size this year and the organisers made very good use of the venue including the the Mercedes World test track next door. It has a slightly old school and quite approach which is a great contrast to the Goodwood juggernaut. The key must be the reputation of the venue and the ability to attract some of the most sought after cars in the world. Long may it continue.

Here's a quick graph of the numbers of TRs registered over the last few years. The TR6 marches on but the TR7 drops like a stone, and the number of TR5s that have started to appear is interesting.

The spreadsheet is here

Just read the article... I'm not sure I know what I'm talking about!

I must start planning that a road trip to take in the Mille Miglia and Villa d'Este one year.

Fabulous bit of retro advertising...