Triumph Trans AmeriCan 2009 Charity Drive, January 2008 Donor Car status report
Greetings All,
2008 is either 1/12 gone, or 11/12 remaining to excite us depending on your point of view.
As a refresher, John Macartney of Standard Triumph fame is going to drive a Triumph Stag, that I locate and coordinate the restoration, 10K miles across North America starting in July in 2009, all for charity. This Stag will then be raffled at Triumphest 2009 / North American Triumph Challenge 2009 in San Luis Obispo California, the proceeds going to a PTSD charity called "A Gift From Within" in the USA. Fund raising is currently underway in the UK, and in planning for Canada.
http://www.triumphtransamerica.org.uk/This means my first critical path milestone of finding a suitable Triumph Stag for restoration is rapidly approaching the wire. My goal date to locate suitable candidates is 31 January 2008, with my absolute drop dead date to have a Stag in the process of being striped down is 31 March 2008. We are at about 16 months before this drive begins.
To date I have had a couple offers of cars to purchase Stags, but The Macartney Charitable Trust is not yet in a position to make such an outright purchase, so we go with what we got.
I have an offer of two absolutely rank restoration bases to begin 100% restorations. Since ISOA will be doing the complete strip down and body restoration, (much more IF we all LET them get away with it) the final selection of the car I locate is really up to them. Remember, John and I will be approaching Stag parts suppliers for the parts to completely restore these cars, all we need are charitable minded, willing and capable Triumph enthusiasts do do the rest. This IS all for charity folks!!!
The two free cars are located in Clayton North Carolina, but I must admit, these are kind of rough even by my standards, but they are offered free to the project. I would really appreciate a few in better starting point to pop up, or even a benefactor or two to purchase a running base unit today so we can round out our selection to the best fit to restore.
IF these two cars are selected, the first logistic is to locate enough people to leap frog relay these cars with truck/trailer, from their current resting place in North Carolina to Hampshire, Illinois, ASAP. I already have two volunteers with single car trailers along that Interstate route, but I could use two or three more to help shorten the distance each volunteer has to travel - or, someone with a two car trailer (or access to persons with these tools) to move both cars in the same drive. So all you Triumph Clubs in a general line taking interstate highways between say Raleigh NC and Chicago IL, please step up and let us know if you have such resources available to you within the next month. We could also use some muscle on either end and of course en route exchanging the cars onto trailers during the relay.
If suitable cars pop up from other areas around the country, I would still need to organize transportation to Hampshire Illinois to begin the restoration. Plus, I am looking for clubs and suppliers to volunteer for all other areas of this restoration, drive, and support.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, with the hope there are enthusiastic folks out there who are willing to step up and support this effort.
Cheers!
Glenn Merrell
Triumph Trans AmeriCan USA donor car coordinator
TSC USA Chair
StagByTriumph@tscusa.org
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