Subject: [Fot] Special strictly for the Tirumph History buffs...

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2013 12:40:24 -0500 (EST)

Amici...

I probably should have also mentioned the monthly one page Parting Shot 
article in my recent email about the April/May issue of Triumph World.  It 
deals with the early history of the Triumph name our cars carry.

While there is little historical documentation to suggest any formal 
engineering trail from bicycles to motorcycles to sports cars, there definitely 
was a formal path the Triumph name itself followed to get on our cars.  But it 
is not crystal clear.  It provides another item we can argue about.  You 
know, like is your car really a TR3B.

What we do know is that in about 1884 a German named Siegfried Bettmann 
came to England as a language translator.  Based in Coventry, to make ends meet 
he began selling high end bicycles under the name Triumph.  As a 
translator, the name had been chosen because it had numerous meanings in several 
languages.  Early on he was not really building anything new, but rather buying 
bicycles manufactured by others, and using after market products to make them 
fancy.  The Triumph Cycle Company, Ltd., was cashing in on the Victorian 
bicycle boom.  Eventually with some funding from Dunlop, they did manufacture 
their own bikes, all of which were fancy, catering to the wealthy, and 
offering up grade options like 'soft tyres'.  Then, at the turn of the twentieth 
century, motorized bicycles were developed and the Triumph company was 
quickly involved in building them, and also quite successful in competition 
events.

Before and after WWII is were the history of the Triumph name gets foggy.  
There is more than one story told.  We seem to know what happened, as well 
as why it happened, but not exactly how.  There is evidence that Raleigh 
bought out the bicycle arm of the company before the war.  At least a part of 
the motorcycle arm went to Jack Sangster in Ariel during that same period, but 
there is also evidence that Bettmann had a deal going with Coventry Cycles. 
 The fact that all of these factories were then bombed out during WWII 
(along with most of their records) is where the confusion comes up.  And thus it 
is not clear as to exactly what, why, and how the name Triumph evolved on 
British bicycles, motorcycles and then sports cars.

But for sure, there are bicycles and motorcycles in our history, 40 and 16 
years respectively, before there were any Triumph sports cars.

Bill Dentinger
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[email-masked]

http://www.fot-racing.com

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