[TR] Rover - back to Triumphs

[John Macartney]

Andy Mace wrote:
> That makes little to no sense to me. The 2000/2500/2.5PI are related to  what
> ultimately became the Dolomite mostly in that they share similar styling.
> What ultimately became the Dolomite started in the mid-1960s as the Triumph
> 1300, at that time a front-wheel-drive car. The FWD continued into the 1970s,
> but the car was also redesigned for rear-wheel-drive as the Toledo, still with
> the 1296cc engine. Evolutions of that RWD chassis ended up with the
> slant-4-engined Dolimite.

The 2000/2500/2.5PI range was initially seen as a replacement for the Standard Vanguard which has 
sold so successfully for many years in the world's developing countries. The Vanguard was tough and 
could take abuse in its stride - therefore its successor needed to continue the tradition. The 2000 
(Barb) which apppeared in the early 60's entirely met the requirement. With a body made by Pressed 
Steel Fisher, the 2000 had exceptional torsional rigidity, needing 6,500lbs/ft of torque to twist 
the body one degree. While Michelotti had had the actual styling concepts, it was the engineers at 
ST and PSF who translated GV's inspirations into the Vanguards successor. PSF was an outstanding 
mass producer of bodies for different UK manufacturers and while it was [obviously] contractually 
banned from copying other designs (e.g. the alleged Jaguar X / S types and Lincoln 
"look/smellalikes") it could certainly take ideas and make recommendations based on its other 
manufacturing activities.

In truth, this period of the whole of the Triumph Big Six range of cars, together with the utterly 
delightful little 1300 front wheel drive, was carving out the path that future Triumph models would 
take - until the British government forced the creation of British Leyland and all the chaos that 
followed. The model range was planned to offer substantial value-added in terms of offering a 
product that had significant technological features and improvements, would echo the Triumphs of 
pre-WW2 having sporting and performance characteristics and all packaged into a car that was very 
competitively priced. In the large sedans of the 60's/70's/80's, the little FWD and the later 
Toledo/Dolomite range (to replace Herald and derivatives) you can clearly see where Triumph would be 
going in the marketplace - and it did. These saloons were making money - but then national 
politicians and inter-company 'politics' got in the way and it all went down the tube.

Jonmac