Triumph Motor Company
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Triumph Logo (1978 version) |
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1934 Triumph Gloria Six |
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1937 Triumph Dolomite Roadster |
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1974 Triumph GT6 Coupé |
The
Triumph Motor Company had its origins in 1885 when
Siegfried Bettmann (1863-1951) and
Moritz (Maurice) Schulte founded Bettmann & Co and started selling Triumph
bicycles, from premises in London and from 1889 started making his own machines in
Coventry,
England.
The Triumph Cycle Company
From bicycles, the Triumph Cycle Company as the company was named in 1897, branched out in 1902 into making
Triumph motor cycles at their works in Much Park Street. At first these used bought-in engines but the business took off and they soon started making their own and in 1907 expanded into a new factory in Priory Street taking over the premises of a spinning mill. Major orders for the 550 cc Model H came from the British Army during World War 1 and by 1918 they were Britain's largest motor cycle maker.
In 1921, Bettmann was persuaded by his general manager
Claude Holbrook (1886-1979), who had joined the company in 1919, to acquire the assets and Clay Lane premises of the
Dawson Car Company and start producing a 1.4 litre model called the
Triumph 10/20 which was actually designed for them by
Lea-Francis to whom they paid a royalty for every car sold. Production of this car and its immediate successors was on a moderate scale but this changed with the introduction in 1927 of the
Triumph Super 7 which sold in large numbers through to 1934.
The Triumph Motor Company
In 1930 the company changed its name to the Triumph Motor Company. It was clear to Holbrook that there was no future in pursuing the mass manufacturers and so decided to take the company upmarket with the Southern Cross and Gloria ranges. At first these used engines made by Triumph but designed by
Coventry Climax but from 1937 they started to make them to their own designs by
Donald Healey who had become the company's Experimental Manager in 1934.
The company hit financial problems however and in 1936 the Triumph bicycle and motorcycle businesses were sold, the latter to to
Jack Sangster of
Ariel to become
Triumph Engineering Co. Ltd.. Healey purchased an
Alfa 2.3 and developed an ambitious new car with an Alfa inspired
Straight-8 engine called the Triumph Dolomite.
In July 1939, the Triumph Motor Company went into receivership and the factory, equipment and goodwill were offered for sale.
T.W. Ward purchased the company and placed Healey in charge as general manager, but the effects of
World War II again stopped the production of cars and the Priory Street works was completely destroyed by bombing in 1940.
Standard Triumph
After the war, in 1945 what was left of the Triumph Motor Company and the Triumph brand name was bought by
Standard Motor Company and a subsidiary "Triumph Motor Company (1945) Limited" was formed with production transferred to Standard's factory. The pre-war models were not revived and in 1946 a new range of Triumphs starting with the 1800 was announced. Because of steel shortages these were bodied in aluminium which was plentiful because of its use in aircraft production.
In the early 1950's it was decided to use the Triumph name on sporting cars and the Standard name on saloons and in 1953 the
Triumph TR2 was launched, the first of a series that would run through to 1981. Standard had been making a range of small saloons called the
Standard Eight and Ten and had been working on a replacement for these. When this was launched in 1959 as the
Herald it carried the Standard-Triumph badge and slowly the Standard name was dropped disappearing in 1963.
Leyland
In December 1960 the company was bought by
Leyland Motors Ltd with
Donald Stokes becoming chairman of the Standard Triumph division in 1963. Further mergers led to the formation of British Leyland Motor Corporation in 1968.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Triumph sold a succession of
Michelotti-styled saloons and sports cars, including the advanced
Dolomite Sprint, which, in 1973, already had a 16-valve four cylinder engine. But many Triumphs of this era were unreliable, including the
2.5 PI with its fuel injection problems.
The last Triumph model was the
Acclaim which was launched in 1981 in a joint venture with
Japanese company
Honda. The Triumph name disappeared in 1984, when the Acclaim was replaced by the
Rover 200, which was a rebadged version of Honda's
Civic/Ballade model.
The
trademark is currently owned by
BMW, acquired when it bought the
Rover Group in 1994. When it sold Rover, it kept the Triumph marque. The
Phoenix Consortium, which bought Rover, tried to buy the Triumph brand, but BMW refused, saying that if Phoenix insisted, it would break the deal.
Pre-war
Post war
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Triumph directory page at dmoz.org
*
Vintage Triumph Register - North American Triumph owners club
*
Pre-1940-Triumph Owners' Club* http://www.classic-cars-online.co.uk
