The Triumph Car Company

A car company I really liked was Triumph. It started life in the 1920s as an offshoot of the motorbike firm of the same name. It went into receivership and was bought by Standard Motor Company in 1944. From 1953, Triumph made some great sports cars. And in 1959, the Triumph Herald car came out. It was a lightweight car with independent suspension, good for going over speed bumps I recall. Leyland became the owner at the end of 1960. The last of the marque was the Acclaim from 1981, basically a Honda but a good car nevertheless. In 1984 it was replaced by the Rover 200.

Below are models, years made and production of Triumph cars of the Leyland era, including those that overlapped from Standard ownership:


TR3/3a 56-63 71,600
Herald/Vitesse 59-71 570,000
TR4/5 61-69 71,700
Spitfire 62-80 309,600
2000/2500 63-77 267,300
1300/1500/Toledo/Dolomite 65-81 501,400

GT6 66-73 40,900
TR6 68-76 91,900
Stag 70-77 25,900
TR7/8 75-81 115,000
Acclaim 81-84 133,600

List Total 56-84 2,200,000

The name is today owned by BMW, who surely could do something with it, maybe a range of British built sporty cars, but somehow I doubt it. The marque will probably stay in its moribund state. Shame.

My personal favorite: So many to choose from, but the Dolomite Sprint for me.

To read about UK sales for Triumph, please click here.