On This Day

Wednesday 22nd January 1936

84 years ago

Triumph cars and motorcycles became separate entities as the motorcycle company was sold to J.Y. "Jack" Sangster for £5000, who owned the rival Ariel motorcycle company. Triumph had found it difficult to make money from its cars, successful though they were. Jack Sangster began exporting Triumph motorcycles to the United States under the name of the Triumph Engineering Company Ltd. where the bikes became hugely popular. In 1939 the Triumph Motor Company, as in the car manufacturer, went into receivership and the company, including its assets, were offered for sale. The new owners placed Donald Healey in charge as general manager, but after World War Two broke out, and the Triumph factory was destroyed by German bombing, it seemed as though it was all over. In 1944 the Triumph brand name was bought by the Standard Motor Company and used to set up a subsidiary company called, Standard–Triumph, based at Standard’s factory at Canley, near Coventry. In 1946, Triumph launched the all new Triumph Roadster. The body of this car was constructed completely from aluminium on account of the post–war steel shortage and it remained in production until 1949. Shortly after the Triumph Roadster there followed the Triumph Renown and the The Triumph Roadster was the first all new car that Triumph launched after the war and had a body made from aluminium due to the post war steel shortage Triumph Mayflower saloons, but when Sir John Black retired in 1953, due to injuries sustained in a road collision, the two Triumph saloon cars were discontinued. That same year the successor to the Triumph Roadster was launched, albeit after a gap of some 4–years, and was simply called the Triumph TR2. This car had Standard–Triumph badges, but with the famous Triumph globe emblem on its wheel hubs. The TR2 was the first in a succession of Triumph TR’s, the last of which became discontinued in 1981.The first of the Triumph saloon cars was the Triumph Herald, launched in 1959. The car was designed by the famous Italian designer, Giovanni Michelotti, and marked the beginning of his long–lasting and close relationship between Giovanni Michelotti and the Triumph badge. Triumph became part of BMC and subsequently BL. The last Triumph model to be sold was the Acclaim, but this was no more than a rebadged Honda Ballade and built under license at the former Morris works at Cowley in Oxfordshire. The Triumph trademark is currently owned by German car maker, BMW, which it acquired in 1994 when BMW bought out the Rover Group. Triumph as a manufacturer of motorcycles, on the other hand, is still going strong today. Since being sold off by Triumph the car manufacturer in 1936, Triumph as a motorcycle manufacturer has changed ownership several times and limped from one financial crisis through another.However, the company has now grown into a successful business and trades under the name of Triumph Motorcycles (Hinckley) Ltd.

Triumph Speed Twin 1938