Heaven Called…by Robert Goldman As I sit down to write, the news reaches me, Robert “Kas” Kastner has passed. While it may be that no single individual wrote the book on Triumph performance, it was Kas who finished it. As a racer with no funds, he had no choice. It was either make stock parts…
By Graham Robson Before 1953, the most popular British sports cars sold in the States were MG’s classic TD, and Jaguar’s sensational XK120. Nothing else came close. Then suddenly the Austin-Healey 100 and the Triumph TR2 arrived to change all that. But Triumph? Who had ever heard of them, and what was a TR2? All…
By Charles Frick Daydreaming back to 2002… my son Chas, then nine, and I decided to attend the All British Field Meet in Portland, Oregon with my 1963 Sports 6/Vitesse. Although my car was missing its convertible top, we decided to risk it, given Oregon’s reputation for sunny summers. Accompanied by friend Andy Dunning in…
By Peter Brock In the late 1960s, RW “Kas” Kastner was British Leyland’s visionary Director of Motorsports for the entire United States in the final days of the SCCA’s rather blurred concept of “amateur” road racing in America. From their small office in Westport, Connecticut, the elitist officers of the SCCA were trying to maintain…
By Sid Bridge I recently bought my first British Roadster—a 1980 Triumph Spitfire. I wanted an MG or a Triumph ever since I was 12, but I never had the guts to buy one given all the warnings I would get from responsible adults. I’m an adult now. Responsible? That would depend on your definition….
By Stephen England In the summer of 2006, George England took his last checkered flag. Mom’s car was mentioned prominently in his will: “The toss of a coin will determine which of my children shall take title to and become owner of my 1960 Triumph TR3A.” The toss landed tails, and after a lengthy estate…
By Mike Downs In my early teens I got a job at a foreign car parts store in Falls Church, Virginia. A couple years later I became a mechanic in a foreign car garage that was once a horse stable and still had a dirt floor. The attic above the tin plate ceiling was a…
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…
By Charles Frick I met Andy Dunning in high school in 1970. We hit it off immediately, and we were both car obsessed. I was driving my folks’ Beetle to school and he was sporting an AMC Sportabout. We desperately needed something cool to drive. One afternoon he said he was going to look at…
By Joe Gliemmo British cars have been part of my life for as long as I can remember. My Dad had an Austin-Healey 100 from the time I was 6-7 until I was 16. It was some time before I figured out why he’d sold it. He had a ‘54 model, then a ‘59 during…
