Triumph

When you think back and imagine what it must have been like when motor vehicles were first appearing in their earliest stages, you might think that those who made old school forms of transportation like bicycles and carriages would be left out in the cold. In fact, many of companies that had previously been making bikes and carriages put engine in them and became the first beneficiaries of the new technology. Triumph is one of these companies. They were founded in 1885 and became the Triumph Cycle Company in 1897, still making bicycles. By 1902 Triumph was producing motorcycles.

In 1921 Triumph started offering a car, the Triumph 10/20, and in 1927 they stepped it up a notch with the introduction of the Triumph Super 7. The company started to struggle financially during the middle of the 1930s, and they fell into receivership late in the decade. A fellow named T.W. Ward acquired the battered concern, but they produced no cars through the war years that followed.  After the war , Triumph re-emerged with the Triumph Roadster, and the advent of the 1950s saw the debut of the Triumph TR2, the first of the TR series that progressed all the way up to the TR8 that was in production from 1979 through 1981. Triumph had a nice run, but the company ceased production after the 1984 model year, though BMW holds rights to the name and rumors of a revival of the brand are frequently heard.