Letter presented for inclusion in issue 300 TR action

Dear Ed

Well, do not think for one minute I have missed that the next issue of Traction is issue number 300: quite a milestone. I wonder who in March 1970 when issue 1 was published would have imagined the longevity of this publication. Aged 8 at the time I for one, certainly wouldn't have thought so, although I do believe that this is the age at which my interest in TR's first began. Family Bulford were living in Horley in Surrey and we had a rather exciting next door neighbour a Mr. Terry Hopkins. To put him in context he was sent out at the birth of their second child (Toby) by Mrs Hopkins to buy a family cat, he returned a few hours later with a Bull Terrier called Butch. The arrival of Toby, child number two in the Hopkins family also saw the sale of his sports car which my father had admired and I think rather lusted after. My father at the time owned a Cortina, a blue 1300 4 door super edition, a sensible family car. He had to transport himself, me, my big sister, my mum, Patsy the dog and a fully loaded caravan around. But the sports car, a racy 2 seater soft top driven by exotic Terry, which I now believe was a TR5, possibly a TR4A. He roared around in this car, regularly using it to take my Dad for a Sunday lunch time drink. He also roared up and down our street with me and my less than enthusiastic big sister, both laughing our socks off (she was 11 at the time and much more grown up & sensible than me – she still is) we all loved his TR. However of course the enlarged Hopkins family plus Butch the dog needed transportation. Sadly, the TR had to be traded in for a more family orientated vehicle, like what the Bulford's had. So, what did Terry buy? …Obviously a Ford Zephyr Mk 4 estate, absolutely enormous, complete with a bench seat up front to slide around on. Still great fun.