By Graham Robson A twin-cam Le Mans engine, independent rear suspension for the Spitfire, modular body shells for the Herald, Spitfires which raced at Le Mans, front-wheel-drive for the Triumph 1300, fuel injection for the TR5, and an all-new overhead-cam engine for the Dolomite—all were innovations, and all were completed between 1956 and 1968, while…
A Drive Through the Desert It started out as many driving adventures have – subject to precious little deliberation but with an ambitious goal to use a British sports car as regular transportation to get from one point to another just like occurred on a regular basis ‘back in the day.’ In this case, the…
Most automotive enthusiasts appreciate the innate differences between sports cars from America, France, Italy, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom even if they are unable to articulate what makes them unique. Even the casual car guy can tell you that American muscle cars have large displacement engines; Italian engines make their power with lots of…
Upon converting to LED tail lights on my 1959 TR 3 A I found that the backside of the tail light lens reflector was blocking proper light emission by more than half of the lumens. To offset this I removed the glued-in reflective lens (with a Dremel tool) and now the light is even in…
Back in 1970 I passed up a chance at an MGB GT, and I had wanted one ever since. In my most recent years of retirement I pressed my wife for permission to buy a driver, or to find a fixer-upper that I could work on. I am not without some hands-on experience—in 1963 I…
It never fails to surprise me how much real life is like high school. Back then we were typically identified with a group and that appellation likely stayed with us throughout our entire four years. Jock. Nerd. Slacker. Freak. Sometimes you were lucky enough to cut across such crass distinctions by creating a niche for…
When the era of sports cars launched after World War II with the success of the Jaguar XK120 and MG TC, Standard-Triumph wanted in on the market. But the company needed a model that would hold its own in terms of design and performance. The TR2, which debuted in 1953, possessed not only the formula…
While the Triumph name and competition reputation predate WWII, Americans are most familiar with the robust roadsters and Triumph-badged Standard saloons (sedans) built after the war by the newly formed Standard Triumph Motor Company. Director Sir John Black combined the solid and dependable Standard with the sporty, almost hand-crafted, Triumph sportsters into his own vision…
By Paul Richardson The first Triumph TR2 was born in January 1953, designed and engineered to thrive in the flourishing American sports car market. The production run totaled 8,636 cars between summer 1953 and fall 1955. Many of these TR2s were shipped to the U.S., where they promptly made Triumph an exciting presence on the…
By Paul Richardson Touring the warmer climes of Europe while avoiding the English winter is full of surprises. When we arrived in the Marbella area on the southeastern coast of Spain, the nicest surprise was to cast an eye over a beautiful 1954 long-door Triumph TR2. Francois Van Hoof, a Belgian who now lives in…
