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The Standard Motor Company
was right about the image of Triumph. They used immediatly the name for the
launching of its roadster in 1946, when in fact it was a pure Standard product.
Beside the fact that Standard was continuing its own car production with the
Vanguard range, they did start to develop a new ligne of car, the TR (Triumph
roadster) family with the TR2 presented in 1953 at the Geneva car show. It's
a car situated in the middle of the range, between the popular car anfd the
top such as the Jaguar. The TR2 is the begining of the golden age for
Triumph, and is immediatly recognised for its excellent ratio price/quality
and its interesting performances.
The TR family will grow with:
- the TR3 in 1956, being the first car in production with front disk brakes;
- the TR4 in 1961, with the same chassis and engine as the TR2-3, but with
a body designed by Michelotti;
- the TR5 in 1968, with the same body as the TR4, but with a 6 cylinders engine
and a Lucas mecanical fuel injection;
- the TR6 in 1969,
with the same chassis and engine as the TR5 but witha body redesigned by Karmann;
- the TR7, in 1976 announced a complete change of design and of conception
(new body, new 4 cylinders engine) and is produced only in the coupé
version unti 1979;
- the TR8 is a
TR7 equiped with a Rover V8 3,5 litres engine. The TR8 was produced
mainly for the US market. The last TR 8 was manufactured in 1981, date
of the closure of the Triumph factory.
Even if the TR range has
largely contributed to the sport image of Triumph from 1953 till 1981, we
should not forget the quite large production of berlines.
Let's name the Herald range, started in 1959, a small 2 doors berline, with
a separated chassis, independant suspension and a completely new design, differnet
from the TR family. The Herald was available in the berline and station
wagon version, as a coupé and also in a soft top version with 4 seats.Its
engine will pass from 948 cm3 to 1296 cm3 in 1967. Then the Herald will be
equiped with a 6 cylinders engine and will be called Vitesse.
Derived from the 2000-2500 berlines, a very nice soft top car will be produced
in 1969, the STAG, equiped with a Triumph V 8 engine (not a Rover as the TR8!).
Starting 1972 a small berline derived from the Triumph. 1300 will be produced
under the name of Dolomite and the Sprint version will get good results in
a lot of competitions.
In between , the British Leyland will acquire Triumph which will loose its
freedom. The group took the decision to stop the Triumph production in
1981, except for the Triumph Acclaim 1981-1984, which was in fact an Honda
Ballade, not aTriumph.
Today, more than 20 years
after the end of the Triumph production , we can notice that TRIUMPH is still
present in every one's mind. This souvenir is remaining very strong, due to
the fact that the Triumph is not reserved to themost fortunate, but is accessible
to a large public, young and less young.
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