>As I understand it "Triumph" was already a dead donkey when
the "War"
>began... Standard Motors acquired the marque to spruce up
it's rather stodgy
>image and, without looking at my copy of Robson's book, was
producing
>Triumph badged cars in either 1948 or 1949.
Not too far off the truth. TTBOMK Triumph had been in feast
and famine mode for quite a long time with more of the
famine than the feast. As for Standard buying the company to
improve 'a stodgy image' that sounds a bit like Mr Robson's
usual dig at Standard. Given that the Standard name didn't
enjoy any popularity in North America (that's why the
majority of its products were always badged as Triumphs),
it's worth mentioning that its cars pre-war were far from
stodgy by the norms of the day. As an aside, the Jaguar XK
engine (not in twin cam form) was essentially a Standard
unit. It's also worth mentioning that had it not been for
Standard's (and later Triumph's) CEO John Black, Triumph
would have stayed 'vapourised' as of Nov 14 1940. You won't
find any accolades passed in John Black's direction in any
of Robson's books for the simple fact that GR is clearly not
well-disposed towards him - and I don't think he ever has
been. FWIW, there are a number of former key company people
who do not agree with everything that Robson claims to be
the gospel truth. To my certain knowledge, at least three of
them are on this list and there are a number of other
sympathisers with similar dispositions.
Jonmac
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