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TRIUMPH TR2 ROADSTER—1954
WHAT A PROVOCATIVE headline: “Tiny, Rapid 2.” The Triumph TR2 Roadster was the cover car for R&T, April 1954. Here are a few tidbits from that road test.
“The Triumph sports roadster, now tagged the TR2, was first shown to the public at the London Show late in 1952…. A silhouette sketch of the Triumph would include its 88 inch wheelbase, 90 bhp engine and curb weight of just over 2000 pounds.”
“Combination of these three factors,” R&T continued, “gives it acceleration which is going to make many of the home-grown product owners quite unhappy—for the TR2 will out-drag any stock American car, from a standstill.”
The magazine was in a transition period, going from “AND” to “&.” (Its cover read “Road and Track” in January 1954.) Road test nomenclature F-5-54 identifies this is the fifth foreign car tested that year.
“Most sports cars require a special skill born of practice to obtain the best possible acceleration times—but the TR2 will ‘peel rubber’ for the first time driver.”
Its four-speed manual gearbox was supplemented by a Laycock de Normanville overdrive, “a unit much superior to the American semi-automatic device,” said R&T. “The TR2 overdrive is controlled manually with a push-pull button on the dash some three inches from the left hand steering wheel position.”
“The TR2 is one of these rare cars that the novice sports car driver can slide into and feel comfortable and confident. The bucket seats offer a good shoulder and back grip, there is adequate leg and pedal room, there is an optional adjustable steering wheel, and the seat is adjustable and the shift control is well-placed and easy to hand.”
Sort of a Mazda Miata, four decades earlier but with a fiddly top and side curtains. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2021
Simanaitis Says 