Triumph Cars Featured Cars
British Racing Green 1964 Triumph TR4 Auction: Barrett-Jackson Auction Company Location: March, 2007 Palm Beach, FL | Auction Results March, 2007 | $14,500 |
Green 1967 Triumph TR-4a Convertible Auction: Barrett-Jackson Auction Company Location: March, 2007 Palm Beach, FL | Auction Results March, 2007 | $8,500 |
White 1973 Triumph TR-6 Roadster Auction: Barrett-Jackson Auction Company Location: March, 2007 Palm Beach, FL | Auction Results March, 2007 | $33,000 |
Triumph Cars
Triumph cars were among the most popular sports cars of the 1950's and 1960's. The company made an important contribution to motor sports in the pre-war years with cars such as the Gloria, with which their technical directory, Donald Healey, won his class in the 1934 Monte Carlo Rally.Triumph also built cars such as the 1935 Dolomite which closely resembled the 8C2300 Alfa Romeo and was similarly turbocharged. The Triumph factory in Coventry had made its reputation building bicycles and motorcycles when it started to build cars in 1923. The company was in financial difficulties after World War II and Sir John Black bought Triumph from its former owner, Thomas Ward in 1944. That same year, Triumph designed its first post-war car, the Triumph 1800, which was launched in 1946 as both a saloon and a convertible. The car was an interesting 2-seater with a glass cover to the trunk that when pulled up formed a screen for a dickey seat for two additional passengers, similar to the old-fashioned rumble seat. The engine was a four-cylinder unit from Standard, which Sir John also owned.
A new era of sports cars begun in 1953 with the Triumph TR2. The car was continuously improved through successive models up to the TR6 which was in production up to 1976. The TR7 and TR8 bore little resemblance to the concept of their predecessors. Their designes were completely different and the TR8 had a V-8 engine.
A second line of Triumph sports cars was the Spitfire. These had to withhold the honor of Triumph against the Austin-Healey Sprite and MG Midget, and in this they were very successful. Italian designer Giovanni Michelotti more or less became the in-house designer with Spitfire and other Triumph designs. The Spitfire was produced from 1962 to 1980 including a coupe version, the GT6. The Triumph Stag 2 + 2 convertible with Targa-style roll bar appeared in 1970. The car, with its 2997 cc V-8 engine that produced 156 bhp at 5,500 rpm, was more suited for long journeys than a sporting jaunt.
The Triumph Dolomite Sprint, which looked more like a family sedan with its four doors, proved to have all the properties of a sports car. It had a sixteen valve, four-cylinder engine which at that time had only been seen if Grand Prix racing cars. In fact, the Dolomite won many production car races.
The Triumph marque came to an end on June 9, 1984 when the last Triumph left the factory.
Source: remarkablecars.com