1955 Triumph TR2

When Triumph was absorbed by the Standard Motor Company in 1944, a decision was made to re-establish the marque as a sports car manufacturer. Following a failed takeover bid for Morgan, a prototype Triumph sports car called the 20TS (subsequently known as the TR1) was displayed at the 1952 Motor Show. The next evolution, the TR2, came about as a complete redesign of the 20TS in 1952/1953 and now benefited from a new chassis frame, a more powerful engine and lengthened tail style. The first batch of production cars were all hand-assembled, with only 248 examples delivered before the end of 1953, most going overseas. Production-proper, with sales now focused more on the home-market, commenced out of the old Assembly Halls at Canley, with the cars utilising the 90bhp 1,991cc engine. Until October 1954, the first 4,000 cars were produced with 'long door' body shells and thereafter the TR2 changed to 'short doors' with body sills under them.

The car presented here is a 1955 TR2, a UK-supplied example first registered on 6th May 1955, and originally supplied in black paintwork. Our vendor’s late husband, as a young man (and with some extra funds from a family inheritance) in 1968, set about buying the car for the princely sum of £120. Interestingly, being a late-production 1955 TR2, it meant this car came factory-fitted with front brake discs, master cylinder and front suspension from the soon-to-be-launched TR3 (confirmed by ex-Standard Triumph engineer, Dave Gleed).

As was the way with older TRs at the time, you could add later-model additions, so this car wore a TR3A front end for much of its life. The car was used enthusiastically between 1968 and the summer of 1973, being much enjoyed on spirited drive-outs. Meanwhile, other cars and priorities took precedence over expenditure on RFD 700, including the restoration of a Morgan Plus 4 (Lot: 280), so work on the TR was put on hold until 2010. At that point, the decision was taken to fully restore (‘body off’) the car and no area was left untouched by marque experts, including the bodywork (mostly renewed, apart from bonnet, tonneau panel and bulkhead), the original chassis reconditioned, fully rebuilt steering column, fuel pump, brakes, differential and gearbox, a new crank, a repaint and trim. In July 2015, the transformation was complete, in standard factory-spec apart from some stainless-steel bolts in the engine bay, poly-bushes, an unleaded cylinder head and period style trumpets adorning the SU carburettors. This journey is fully captured in many photographs/invoices and in Issue 284 of the TR Register magazine, Traction (see images attached). Indeed, the great majority of the car’s history is documented in the huge history file which accompanies it, a real asset to any future owner.

The condition of this TR2 is simply fantastic and we believe it to be one of the finest examples currently available and a wonderful opportunity for the TR aficionado or prospective Mille Miglia entrant.