With it's classic lines there's no
doubt the Triumph TR2 and TR 3 owe a lot to car designs of the mid
1930s.
The teardrop style sweeping front and rear mudguards and cut
away door give the cars a classic appearance and hints of the first
attempts at streamlining mainstream cars, particularly by the French.
To our eye there is a lot of Delage in the aesthetics of these
British built Triumph sports cars.
Like many other car manufacturers
Triumph started as a manufacturer of bicycles in the bike boom times
of the 1890s and soon advanced to making motorcycles in the early
1900s. In this move the company was different to most which went
straight from bicycle to automobile manufacture. By 1923 the company
had branched out into cars including sports tourers.
Also, like many manufacturers, Triumph
did not survive the Great Depression. It went into receivership in
1939. It was only after WW2 hostilities ended the Triumph name was
revived under the auspices of the Standard Motor Company of Britain,
best known as the maker of Vanguard cars. Standard paid $150,000 for
the name and a few assets in 1945.
Standard were a manufacturer of fairly
staid family cars, so the Triumph name, with its sporty heritage, was
a good fit for Standard, which also built the small Ferguson
tractors. And the link between Ferguson and the famous Triumph TR
cars is fascinating.
Standard's first inroad into sports
cars was the 1800 and 2000 roadster. These were classic in design,
but handsome more than sporty. Naturally, most of the running gear
was provided from Standard's adequate store room. But the car's
relatively staid appearance – combined with opposition from MG TC
and not to forget Jaguar's XK 120 – left the Triumph 2000 on the
starting blocks. It was back to the drawing board.
Standard's boss, Sir John Black tried,
unsuccessfully, to purchase Morgan to fill the gap. It was then
decided to develop a Triumph sports car. The 1952 prototype was known
as the 20TS, but in reality was the TR 1. It was good, but not good
enough either mechanically or in the body shape. A new chassis was
developed plus an improved variant of the Standard Vanguard engine.
The body styling was redefined and the car was given a longer rear
end to complement the racy front. This is the car that became the TR2
and was put on sale in 1953,but sales were slow due to just 250 or so
cars rolling off the production line.
By now the era of fast roadsters was
well underway with Jaguar XK series, MG's T series and Austin
Healey's 100 Series all vying for sales. It was a magnificent era for
British automobile manufacturers. The TR2 was followed by the TR3 which
gave way in 1957 to our featured cars the TR3A.
These sports cars and the Standard
Vanguard and Ferguson tractor all have one thing in common: they used
the same 1670cc wet-liner engine that was adapted with differing
capacities. This explains why Vanguard cars sold well in Australia in
farming communities. The engine parts were interchangeable with the
farm's tractor.
It was a remarkable engine in that it
had the torque needed for farm work and the revs required to power
the little TR2 to more than 100 miles per hour (160 km/h). While the
TR2 re-launched the Triumph name to a willing buying public, it was
the upgraded model that followed in 1955 that cemented the TR name
into legend. The first TR3s had a number of head cylinder changes and
in 1956 the TR3 was the first British-built series car to get front
disc brakes. It is worth noting that these early TR cars did not have
distinguishing badges between the TR3 and TR3A models. The TR2 and
TR3 differed obviously by the grille which is set into the body on
the TR2 while the grille is flush on the TR3.
The TR3A was launched in 1957. It is
distinguishable from the TR3 by its much wider grille, different
headlamps, a boot that locks and heavier bumpers. Power was also
slightly up. More than 58,000 TR3s were built, with most exported to
the US. By the early 1960s the TR2s and TR3s
had done their job, establishing Triumph as a credible, affordable
brand of sports cars. It is interesting to note one similarity
between the TR2/TR3 and one of the opposition, the Austin Healey
Sprite (Bug Eye Sprite) that was launched in 1958, five years after
the TR2. That similarity is the head lights that suited the TR cars,
but look like after-thoughts on the Bug Eye Sprite.
There's no doubt the TR2 and TR3 had a
1930s elegance not seen on any other affordable sports cars of this
period. They outclassed the MG T series which were more 1920s, but
not as slick as the Austin Healey 1000, and they were well under the
pricing of the similarly elegant XK series Jaguars. But, by the early
1960s elegance was no longer suitable for sports cars. Like the
change from Jaguar XK 150 to XKE, the transition from MG TF to MGA
in 1955, and the already modern Austin Healeys, Triumph needed to
update, and that all-new look came in 1961 in the form of the TR4.
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