Triumph was actually founded by an ex-pat German as a bicycle
company in the 1890s. The company like many others migrated to
motorcycles and then to autos in the early 20s. The bike
portion was split off in 1936. Traditional Triumph MCs were
built in Meriden. The people building the current bikes really
have no connection to the old company other than the name. The
new bikes are very nice but I still prefer the old iron. I
believe in the old adage "never trust a motorcycle youy can't
see through". The fastest I've had a TR was about 100 but I
can't be sure because the speedo in my TR7 stops at 80 mph.
Another really moronic government safety ploy that thankfully
was short lived. Fastest I've been in a car on a public road
was 165+ in a Ferrari Daytona Coupe on the way to the Monterey
Historics in 1977, I was the passenger.
Another irrevelant anecdotal observation I can add comes from
a recent wine tour in the Ca. central coast. We were grouped
into mobs of about 10 cars apiece and routed along wonderful
back roads around Paso Robles. On one stretch of winding two
lane (2nd & 3rd gear stuff) I was behind a nicely restored TR3A
in our newly acquired commuter car, a 1990 BMW M3. On little
spurts out of 2nd gear corners, the TR3 accelerated on par
with the M3 up to about 50. Asd most of us know, the TR2/3 is
a torquey little devil and can hold its own with a lot of cars
up to about 60.
Cheers
Kurt Oblinger (Also an International Racing Photographer, see
"British Car" Monterey Historics issue)
Redondo Beach, Ca.
c394829@is6.mdc.com
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