A TR7 decays in silence

Once upon a time
London, ON
May 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I’m a bit of a car fan, but not conventionally so.

I don’t have motor oil coursing through my veins. The thrum of a V8 engine doesn’t make my heart flutter. I don’t religiously quote 0-to-60 times, and I believe testosterone-driven car culture is fundamentally toxic to us all.

I view car culture through a design lens, as the entire automotive sector seems to echo the historic periods that surround it. Want a snapshot of what life was like at any given time? Take a look at cars from that era.

It’s a wonderful way to reflect on where we’ve come from, and how we got from there to here, or from then to now.

So stumbling upon this Triumph TR7 convertible decaying at the back of a quiet industrial park parking lot was quite the memory trip. I remember when this car was new, a radical design that seemed to make every other Malaise Era vehicle look even more obsolete than it already was. It was the stuff of dreams for a kid just starting to discover wonder.

Never mind that this car was a mechanical nightmare, churned out by a dysfunctional manufacturer skidding toward extinction. It was still a kick to see a tired old example barely 10 minutes from home. We all had dreams, even if some of them may have faded in the cold light of reality.

As you can see, time hasn’t done this late-1970s relic many favors, but we all have four-wheeled memories of our own, and it never hurts to have them jarred awake every once in a while.

Which explains why you may see the occasional car photo and vignette in my feed. We’ll call the series #oldparkedcars, because even old machines deserve to have their stories told.

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