1939 Triumph T100 1939 TRIUMPH T100 – THE LAST PRE-WAR TIGER The Tiger T100 was launched in 1938. Performance was...
1946 Triumph Speed Twin 1946 TRIUMPH SPEED TWIN – IN WAR & PEACE World War II had been hard on...
1947 Triumph Speed Twin 1947 TRIUMPH SPEED TWIN LEADS THE WAY At the end of World War II, civilian production of motorcycles ramped up quickly to tap into the tremendous pent up demand for transportation. 1946 was Triumph’s first postwar model year. The 5T Speed Twin was its best seller...
1947 Triumph T100 Tiger 1947 TRIUMPH T100 TIGER LEADS THE PACK At the end of World War II, civilian production...
1948 Triumph T100 Tiger 1948 TRIUMPH T100 TIGER BACKGROUND Immediately after the end of World War II, Triumph quickly reverted...
1949 Triumph T100 Tiger 1949 TRIUMPH T100 TIGER LEADS THE PACK At the end of World War II, civilian production of motorcycles ramped up quickly to tap into the tremendous pent up demand for transportation. 1946 was Triumph’s first postwar model year. The 5T Speed Twin, its best seller prior...
1950 Triumph T100 1950 TRIUMPH T100 TIGER LEADS THE PACK At the end of World War II, civilian production of...
1950 Triumph Thunderbird 1950 TRIUMPH THUNDERBIRD – BIRTH OF THE THUNDERBIRD The 1950 Triumph Thunderbird was not only the first...
1951 Norton Model 7 Dominator 1951 NORTON MODEL 7 BACKGROUND Following Triumph’s lead, Norton, along with nearly every other British motorcycle manufacturer, entered the parallel twin race with its own new 500 twin in 1949. Known as the Model 7, its basic layout followed the established norm of a 2-main...
1952 BSA A7 Pre-Unit 500 Twin 1952 BSA A7 BACKGROUND Like everyone else in the British motorcycle industry, BSA was...
1952 Norton Model 7 1952 NORTON MODEL 7 BACKGROUND Following Triumph’s lead, Norton, along with nearly every other British motorcycle...
1952 Triumph T100 Tiger 1952 TRIUMPH T100 TIGER LEADS THE PACK At the end of World War II, civilian production of motorcycles ramped up quickly to tap into the tremendous pent up demand for transportation. 1946 was Triumph’s first postwar model year. The 5T Speed Twin, its best seller prior...
1952 Triumph Thunderbird This 1952 Triumph Thunderbird is similar to the 1950 T-Bird ridden by Marlon ABOVE: This lovely 1952...
1952 Triumph TR5 Trophy ABOVE: This 1952 Triumph TR5 has a chrome tank with a silver panel and blue pinstriping....
1953 Matchless G9 500 Twin 1953 MATCHLESS G9 BACKGROUND Like everyone else in the British motorcycle industry at the time, when Triumph rocked the world with their 1938 Speed Twin, the world’s first modern 500cc vertical twin, AMC (Associated Motor Cycles), parent company of Matchless, and AJS, developed a new...
1953 Triumph T100 Tiger 1953 TRIUMPH T100 TIGER LEADS THE PACK At the end of World War II, civilian production...
1953 Triumph Thunderbird Sitting in for the 1953 Triumph Thunderbird is this lovely 1951 T-Bird. Very similar to the 1953...
1954 BSA A10 Pre-Unit 650 Twin 1954 BSA A10 Golden Flash 1954 BSA A10 BACKGROUND Like every other British motorcycle manufacturer at the time, BSA was following Triumph’s lead in the parallel twin race. Triumph introduced the first parallel twin, the 500 Speed Twin in 1938, but World War II...
1954 Triumph Speed Twin 1954 TRIUMPH SPEED TWIN BACKGROUND In a few short years, the 5T Speed Twin went from...
1955 Matchless G9B 1955 MATCHLESS G9B BACK STORY The 1955 Matchless G9B has an interesting history, that is also very...
1955 Triumph T110 Tiger 1955 TRIUMPH T110 TIGER CONTINUALLY IMPROVES True to the British style at the time, steady, continuous improvements were applied to all their bikes. The 650cc T110 Tiger was their hottest bike in 1955 (the TR6 wouldn’t topple its top spot until 1956), so much attention was...
1956 Matchless G9 500 Twin 1956 MATCHLESS G9 BACKGROUND Matchless Motorcycles cut their teeth on the depressed British home market,...
1956 Triumph Blackbird ABOVE: The 1956 Triumph Blackbird was essentially a 6T Thunderbird painted black. This earned it the name...
1956 Triumph Thunderbird ABOVE: This 1956 Triumph Thunderbird wearing black livery was nicknamed “Blackbird” by the public and it stuck. STUCK WITH THE IRON HEAD The 1956 Triumph Thunderbird retained its old cast iron head and all its overheating problems, while the new alloy “Delta head” debuted on the Triumph...
1956 Triumph TR5R 1956 TRIUMPH TR5R BACKGROUND Triumph offered the TR5/R in limited numbers in 1956 as a top-of-the-line 500...
1957 Norton Dominator Dominator 88 – 500cc 1957 NORTON DOMINATOR BACKGROUND Norton designed the legendary “Featherbed Frame” for the single-cylinder...
1957 Triumph Thunderbird 1957 TRIUMPH THUNDERBIRD IS THE COOKING VERSION The 1957 Triumph Thunderbird was fast becoming the ‘ugly sister’ to the hot new Triumph TR6 and the already red-hot Triumph Tiger T110. With its full fenders, headlight nacelle and milder tuning, the 6T was really the basic commuter of...
1958 Ariel Cyclone 650 OHV Vertical Twin 1958 ARIEL CYCLONE A VERY RARE BIRD Ariel was early to the vertical...
1958 Ariel Huntmaster 1958 ARIEL HUNTMASTER BACKGROUND Ariel was owned by the Sangster family, failed a few times, then ended...
1958 BSA A10 Pre-Unit 650 Twin 1958 BSA A10 BACKGROUND BSA’s A10 was the 650 version in it’s twin cylinder heavyweight line. The 500cc version was called the A7. Following Triumph‘s success with its seminal 500 Speed Twin, after the war, BSA and most of the rest of the British...
1958 Triumph T110 Tiger 1958 TRIUMPH T110 TIGER – WHAT’S IN A NAME? Triumph’s naming convention followed a couple paths....
1959 Norton Dominator 1959 NORTON DOMINATOR BACKGROUND Norton designed the legendary “Featherbed Frame” for the single-cylinder Manx racer in 1950....
1959 Triumph TR6 1959 TRIUMPH TR6 NOMENCLATURE 1959 was the last year that the TR6 did not carry a letter designation after it. Starting with model-year 1960, the TR6 model line split in two, with the TR6/A being the low-piped street version and the TR6/B the high-piped dirt bike. But...
1960 BSA A10 Pre-Unit 650 Twin 1960 BSA A10 Spitfire Scrambler 1960 BSA A10 SPITFIRE SCRAMBLER The Spitfire was indeed...
1960 Matchless G12 650 Twin 1960 MATCHLESS G12 BACKGROUND Just prior to World War II, Triumph rocked the world with...
1960 Triumph T100 Tiger “Bathtub” 1960 TRIUMPH T100 TIGER BATHTUB STYLING Bathtub styling was part of a brief flirtation with enclosed bike that infected England from the mid-50s to the mid-60s. After WWII, Brits were in dire need of basic transportation, and most couldn’t afford cars, so they commuted on...
1960 Triumph Thunderbird The 1960 Triumph Thunderbird was similar in appearance to this 1960 Triumph T110 Tiger. Both had ‘bathtub’...
1961 Matchless G12 650 Twin 1961 MATCHLESS G12 BACKGROUND Just prior to World War II, Triumph rocked the world with...
1961 Triumph Speed Twin 1961 TRIUMPH SPEED TWIN HAS A “BATHTUB” The British home market had been hungry for cheap transportation after WWII, and commuter motorcycles helped fill that role. But England being…well, England, was wet and rainy and to prevent rust an owner needed to wipe his bike down...
1962 BSA A10 Pre-Unit 650 Twin 1962 BSA A10 – NEARING END OF NON-UNIT CONSTRUCTION In 1962 BSA was in...