The Illustrated History of Triumph Sports and Racing Cars. G. William Krause
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Название: The Illustrated History of Triumph Sports and Racing Cars
Автор: G. William Krause
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Автомобили и ПДД
isbn: 9781613254417
isbn:
The underpinnings for the Roadster were all scavenged from Standard’s pre-war parts bin. Independent front suspension was achieved via a transverse leaf spring, upper wishbones, and lever-arm shocks. Semi-elliptic leaf springs and lever-arm shocks controlled the rear with 10-inch (25.4 cm) drum brakes fitted to all four corners.
Autocar magazine tested the 1800 Roadster in 1947 and declared it to be just adequate. High marks were given to the stability and visibility, but it received very low marks for performance, particularly the vague 4-speed shifter.
The price of the Roadster was listed at £695. Not likely considered a bargain at the time, but not at the high end of the spectrum either. Unfortunately, in the immediate post-war era, raw materials were hard to come by and customers could end up waiting literally years for their new car.
The saloon that was to share the scalable tubular frame did not resemble the Roadster in any way. Looking a little like a three-quarter Bentley of the same era, it featured elegant razor-edge styling. Designed by coachbuilder Mulliners with input from Callaby, the final polish came from Walter Belgrove, who was freshly released from wartime duties. The four-door car originally debuted as the 1800 Town and Country Saloon and saw several iterations before being renamed the Renown Saloon in 1950. It had a longer and more successful life than the Roadster.
The Mayflower was another project driven by Sir John Black’s personal oversight. The goal was to create a small saloon with razor-edge styling expressly for the U.S. market. Designed by Mulliners with stamped steel bodies built by Fisher and Ludlow, Americans found the shape to be controversial and the 38-hp side-valve engine to be underwhelming. (Photo Courtesy Simon Goldsworthy/Triumph World)
The 1800 Roadster remained unchanged from 1946 through 1948. For 1949 the 2-liter (2,088 cc) wet-sleeve engine from the Vanguard sedan replaced the 1,776-cc unit, which boosted horsepower to 68 and gave the top speed an additional 10-mph. This was a pivotal change because the 2,088-cc “Vanguard engine” became the heart of Triumph’s future sports cars.
Rewind, for a moment, back to the arrival of Harry Ferguson and his tractors. It is commonly thought that the Vanguard engine was plucked from the tractor assembly line and dropped into the Triumph. It is actually the other way around.
Ted Grinham was Standard’s Technical Director at the time and in many interviews has stated that the removable, water-surrounded cylinder sleeve concept was based on a Citroën design. The engine received its name from the immensely popular Triumph Vanguard sedans. It also happened to deliver loads of torque that made it desirable for use in tractors, as Ferguson did.
From 1948 to 1950, 4,500 2000 Roadsters were produced before production was halted. Long before the last car rolled down the line, Black had abandoned his desire to build a Jaguar beater. A few years earlier, Lyons had upped the ante significantly when he unveiled the magnificent and gorgeous Jaguar XK120.
The side view of the Mayflower better illustrates the awkward lines of the car. To achieve the razor-edge styling, the Renown was used as the base, but the wheelbase was reduced by 24 inches. Although it was not a success in its intended market, the Mayflower model went on to sell more than 35,000 units in Britain and Australia. (Photo Courtesy Simon Goldsworthy/Triumph World)
The Renown Saloon, which shared a platform with the Roadster, bore no resemblance to the sporting version whatsoever. This elegant four-door is also a prime example of razor-edge styling. The same 2-liter engine was shared across both body types; however, the Saloon’s version had a longer production run than the Roadster. (Photo Courtesy British Motor Industry Heritage Trust)
Officially called the TR-X (for “TRiumph eXperimental”) Triumph’s new prototype debuted at the 1950 Paris Auto Show. The futuristic coupe was later nicknamed the “Silver Bullet” because of its double-wall aluminum envelope body and metallic-gray exterior. (Photo Courtesy Plain English)
The astute Black had refocused his sights on the U.S. sports car market with the goal of filling the gap between the rudimentary MGs and the sophisticated Jaguars.
At the same time, Black was also personally overseeing the development of the Mayflower sedans. The two- and four-door cars also featured the razor-edge styling but with high-end features in a low-priced car. In his eyes, this car was going to be a big hit when it arrived in U.S. showrooms, hence the name Mayflower. Despite Black’s best efforts (a lot of effort and money was spent), the new cars landed in 1950 with a resounding thud.
By all accounts the Mayflower was not a bad car. Fit and finish were very good and it represented a great value. Unfortunately, the love-it-or-hate-it styling was seen as quirky and the 38-hp 1,247-cc engine failed to get any attention. Consider the Mayflower alongside a 1950 Ford Crestliner with a flathead V-8. No contest.
The Experimental Sports Car
Triumph’s all-new sports car, the TR-X, first appeared at the 1950 Paris auto show. Named for TRiumph eXperimental, the car was the brain-child of Walter Belgrove. A few years earlier, as the Roadster was foundering, Black launched a new sports car initiative. Belgrove was given free rein to design a sports car that would take the world by storm. The final concept was unlike anything that had been seen before and caused great controversy in the automotive press.
The TR-X, later nicknamed “Silver Bullet,” was a double-wall aluminum envelope-bodied two-seater wrapped around a too-short Vanguard sedan chassis. The short wheelbase, small cockpit, and narrow track gave it a high beltline and tiny folding top. The 2,088-cc engine from the Roadster, bumped to 71 bhp, powered it with the help of larger SU carburetors. Futuristic designs were just becoming all the rage, and Belgrove’s car was no exception. It looked like a 1950s concept of George Jetson’s sports car from the TV cartoon show The Jetsons.
It was later dubbed the “push-button roadster” because it was packed with every conceivable modern luxury option, obviously aimed at Americans. It included electro-hydraulically powered seats, windows, and top, as well as hideaway headlights, inboard hydraulic jacks, a power hood that could be opened from either side, and overdrive transmission.
The two-seater later became known as the “push-button roadster” because it was loaded with every conceivable modern luxury option. Clearly aimed at the U.S. market, the car featured power seats, power windows and top, a power hood that could open from either side, and even inboard power jacks. (Photo Courtesy Plain English)
The motoring press either loved or deplored the car and debated about it for a year in response to Triumph’s continuing publicity. It was a moot point because the TR-X never reached production. One year after its debut Black, in an attempt to save face, announced that only a limited number of TR-Xs were to be built despite the “thousands of orders” that were received. The real reasons for the delays were Standard’s lack of production capacity and capital to produce the complicated body and over-the-top options. In the end, only two examples СКАЧАТЬ