Car of the Week: 1954 Triumph TR2

dodgechargerfan

dodgechargerfan

In a 55 gallon drum, floating down river, and
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I missed posing this last weekend.

First-TR-7.jpg


In 1954, Motor Trend magazine test drove the first Triumph TR2 on the West Coast. It was a Pearl White roadster with Geranium upholstery, a Geranium top and matching side curtains. That must have been a favorite color combination of some some Triumph executive, because the first TR2 models seen in North America and Europe were the same. This is the story of one of those cars.

The subject car has commission number TS1/LO. The “TS1” indicates that it was the very first car in a long line of TR models from the TR2 through the TR6. The “L” indicates that it was a “left-hand-drive” car and the “O” indicates that it has overdrive. This car was built specifically for display at the Toronto Motor Show in Toronto, Canada. When Mark Macy of Macy’s Garage in Tipp City, Ohio restored TS1/LO he found the word “Canadian” written in pencil underneath the door cappings. Number TS2 was a nearly identical car sent to the Dublin Auto Show.

The Triumph was connected with sporty cars from the 1920s onward. Cars like the Gloria and the supercharged Triumph Super Seven reinforced that image. Then, in 1945, Triumph Motor Car Co., Ltd. was acquired by the Standard Motor Co. and Triumph became a subsidiary of that firm.

In the early postwar years, Triumph offered conservative-looking, fancy versions of the Standard saloon.

- See more at: http://www.oldcarsweekly.com/car-of-the-week/car-of-the-week-1954-triumph-tr2#sthash.c6GAwJPF.dpuf
 
These things are great fun. Sliding sideways at ten-fifteen miles an hour around a corner, and feeling like that questionably hand fit door is just gonna pop open and turn you into road pizza. Or the feeling that you'll fall over it, (I'm pretty tall). It's all so waffling and British...
 
TheIronSausage said:
These things are great fun. Sliding sideways at ten-fifteen miles an hour around a corner, and feeling like that questionably hand fit door is just gonna pop open and turn you into road pizza. Or the feeling that you'll fall over it, (I'm pretty tall). It's all so waffling and British...
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:D:clap:
 
I don't have any personal experience with the earlier TR's, but I did own a TR7, which didn't leave me with a desire to own another. :(

It takes a certain kind of weirdness to desire these cars. :Fresh Meds:
 
Yeah, TR7s were rough.. Best thing you can do to them is drop in the 215 Buick V8, or the 3.8 Buick V6. If I remember correctly, in order to change a head gasket on a 7, you have to work the head up off the studs about an eighth inch, then slide a sawzall in and cut them at the block (If they don't unscrew, and they likely won't). The reason being, Triumph designed the head studs to screw in at an angle not perpendicular to the block. This, plus the galvanic corrosion of steel studs in an aluminum motor create problems.. More so for the Stag guys, as their v8s are basically two fours joined at the crank. But hey, questionable wedge styling, plaid interiors, and the shittiest manufacturing tolerances and assembly practices outside of Soviet Russia more than made up for it right? Right?.. Just ask Triumph! Oh, wait..
 
Certain Fiats were no prize.. Their downfall here was the Russian steel they got in trade for the plans and tooling to the 124 sedan, which became the Lada 1200. Or 2107, or something.. I've driven them, they're awesome to thrash on. At any rate, the Russian steel had a tendency to rust faster when combined with lackadaisical Italian paint treatments.. The cars were rusty when they got off the boat. Fiat, in an attempt to make amends with its customers offered to buy the cars back. Then they put those cars back on dealership lots at cut rate pricing. Some owners even bought their own trade in back at seriously reduced prices. Needless to say, that wasn't a great business practice, and they didn't make it here for much longer after that.

British Leyland on the other hand, was riddled with union problems and strikes all through the Seventies. They owned Jag, MG, Triumph, Austin, Austin Healey, Mini, Riley, BSA, Rover and others.. British Leyland was owned by the government. They owned too much, got too big, mismanaged all of it, and the workers intentionally sabotaged the product because they didn't like their jobs or salaries, and couldn't really get fired. If one of their cars broke down in the factory, chances are nobody would know how to fix it. Customers complained of finding rotting lunch remains stuffed into door panels, body panels popping loose, and engine failures at very low mileages to name a few. There's an excellent documentary about it that I can't remember the name of that stars many former Leyland executives coming clean about the whole mess. If you see a little blue swirl with a capital L in it on the right fender of a car where Mopar put the Pentastar, think twice about buying it unless you know the owner was fastidious about correcting its problems and maintaining or modifying it.
 
TheIronSausage said:
Yeah, TR7s were rough.. Best thing you can do to them is drop in the 215 Buick V8, or the 3.8 Buick V6.
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The V8 installed in the TR* was based on the Buford 215. British Leyland bought the molds from GM back in the late 70's, re-designed the heads and used it in the Rover.

With the one I had I went one step further. I built a 4-bolt main (350 truck block) 327. I fabbed my own adapter to bolt the chevy bell to the T-5 trans. That was only the beginning of the headaches. 13" wheels with a 4 on 3-3/4" bolt pattern left NO options for wheels or tires. I hogged out the lug holes 1/4" to the outside increasing the bolt circle to 4". That allowed me to run fwd mopar 14" rims. But first I had the rims widened 2" to the outside, placing the bolt flange dead center. :cool:

After all this I did extensive body work to make room for the engine & wheels. And lastly, a rear wing to keep the rear of the car from using both sides of the road above 70mph.

engine.jpeg

right.jpeg

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For wheel flares I went to the local boneyard and got 4 front feders from 4-door Omni/Horizons and grafted the wheel openings to the Trumpet. The biggest nightmare was probably finding springs for the front. I ended up using rear springs from a chevy citation.
 
Holy Hell, the scoop on that thing is nuts! I didn't know the Brits changed the head design, I (edit) thought they bought the same version of the one they found (in a boatyard) from GM and started cranking them out..
 
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State law dictates that nothing can protrude more than 3" above the hood line. But it doesn't say anything about raising the hood line. :toot:
 
I gotta say, I've never seen a more heavily modified TR7.. Mostly I see them used as.. Well, scrap metal. How old were you when you did all of that work? Pictures look like early nineties? I see what looks to be a first gen Ram with a flatbed or stakebody in the background in one shot, and who knows what the white truck with a cap on it is in the other, but there appears to be a malaise Landau roof on what I'm sure is an early eighties Chrysler behind it.. Given the Wisconsin plates, and building architecture, these cars would have rusted into the ground by... 1994 at the latest. I'll guess this was taken in '89. Still, fabulous job on that wedge. Raising the hood line to get around scoop laws? That's a page out of Roger Penske's book. Hat's off to you, sir.
 
I've torn down a TR3 for paint, it should be out of the booth in the next month or so. It's not modified at all, but I've done silly amounts of work to it.. The owner drops it off with the keys and his carte blanche more than he needs to. I'll dump some photos here when I get it back together
 
TheIronSausage said:
How old were you when you did all of that work? Pictures look like early nineties?
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I think the pics were taken in '92. The one showing my daughter peering across the open hood puts her about 8 years old and I was in my mid-40's. I did all the work myself, from engine build to the body work & paint....by hand, no power tools. :(
 
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