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.

Honda North American Production 1982-2009

Honda started making cars in North America in 1982, when 1,000 units were manufactured in Marysville, Ohio. The following year was the first full year and 55,000 Accord cars rolled off the production line. The Civic joined it in 1986 and by the end of that year, Accords started to be made in Ontario, Canada. All up, 240,000 cars were made in North America for that year. From there other notable dates:

1989: Ontario switched to Civic production, and the East Liberty Plant, Ohio was opened in the US for mainly Civic manufacture.
1990: The 500,000 mark was passed in production with 330,000 Accords and 210,000 Civics.
1996: Acura production commenced in East Liberty and Canada. Modest manufacturing volume of the Accord also started in El Salto, Mexico.
1998: Acura manufacture starts to switch from East Liberty to Maysville, Ohio and the Oddessy production is up and running in Ontario.
2000: One million cars are produced in North America for the first time.
2007: More models are added in the 21st century, as are new factories and production reaches a peak of 1,430,000 units.
2009: The year finished just over the million mark with the recession biting hard.

It’s amazing how things moved so quickly with production volumes for Honda Nth America. All Japanese brands have gone down the same road to avoid a consumer backlash against too many imported cars. Most of the 21 million cars that have been made up to now by Honda North America have been for their domestic markets, with exports amounting to only a few percent of that total.

What it means to me: The Japanese car manufacturing invasion was only possible due to the complacency of the ‘Big Three’ US car makers.

Ariel Ltd

The Ariel car company was originally started in 1991 and called Solocrest Limited. It became Ariel Ltd in 2001 and can be found in the English county of Somerset. It is a very small car firm and makes less than 100 cars per year.

The vehicle it makes is the Ariel Atom, lightweight with blistering performance. The one sold in the UK uses a Honda Civic Type-R engine/gearbox for propulsion, while the US version is powered by a supercharged GM Ecotec engine. The Atom is a road car with no body panelling at all, not even a roof to keep you dry. In England's wet weather, a real problem at times I would imagine. The body therefore simply consists of tubular framing, the obvious advantage being lightness. This is a car that works within Lotus' founder Colin Chapman's mantra of speed achieved through light weight. It tips the scales at less than 500 kg (1,100 lb), so its power-to-weight ratio is impressive. The Ariel website describes it as: "Uniquely designed, beautifully made, astonishing performance. The essence of the Atom is no compromise, total driver involvement."

Ariel is about to embark on a V8 car, the Atom 500, to be made in a limited run of 25 units. I cannot see the point, but for some enough is never enough.

What it means to me: I would love to drive one, either on a race track or down a twisting back road. Oh well, dreams are free.