(Presentation of Monsieur Claude Bossard for the 'Vemissage" of the Triumph exhibition.
at the Musée International de l'automobile - Genève november, 15 2001)
Triumph stoy is very different. If the trade mark appears in 1890, under the name Triumph Cycle Company atCoventry, the company was producing bikes.
In 1902, Triumph begun to produce motobikes with a fast and growing success; Triumph motobikes were used during the first world war, contributing largely to the reknown and the popularity of Triumph..
In 1923, the factory did start the production of cars, in particular the the Super 7, to compete with the Austin Seven, then other models had also a big success such as the Gloria and Dolomite.
In 1936, hte decision to separate the motobikes and the cars production was taken. The Trumph motobikes will continue their own life ... until today.
In 1939 Triumph (automobile) is going bankruped and will be recuperated at the end of the second world war by the Standard Motor Company also at Coventry . The Standard Triumph was born, against all expectations will take large parts of the car market .
The history of Triumph
is unclear for most of the people. For the bikers, the trade mark Triumph
is born in 1903 and is still alive; the car part of it is dead since 1936.
For the Standard amaters, the Triumph TR and Hérald are fully integrated
with the Standard history. For the Triumph journalists and writers, the
begining is fixed in 1923, and the end in 1981, the buy of Triumph by
Standard in 1945 is only a minor event.
We can accept 1923 as the birth date of the Triumph car industry. that
date is largely agreed by everyone as the 75th anniversary has been celebrated
in 1998.
Beside these considerations, we will remmebr that TRIUMPH, until 1939,
had a very good reputation, even a sport reputationfor its bikes, motobikes
and cars..
