Triumph 2000
Encyclopedia
The Triumph 2000 is a mid-sized, rear wheel drive automobile
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
which was produced in Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
by the Triumph Motor Company
Triumph Motor Company
The Triumph Motor Company was a British car and motor manufacturing company. The Triumph marque is owned currently by BMW. The marque had its origins in 1885 when Siegfried Bettmann of Nuremberg initiated S. Bettmann & Co and started importing bicycles from Europe and selling them with his own...
between 1963 and 1977. Larger-engined models, known as the Triumph 2.5 PI and Triumph 2500 were also produced.
Engine
The car used the six-cylinder engine first seen in the Standard Vanguard at the end of 1960. However, the last of the six cylinder Vanguards had applied a compression ratio of 8.0:1 which the increasing availability of higher octane fuels enabled the manufacturers to increase to 8.5:1 for the Triumph. This and the fitting of twin Stromberg 150 CD carburettors made for a claimed power output increased to 90 bhp from the Vanguard's 80 bhp.Running gear
Standard transmission on the original car was a 4-speed manual gearbox. (overdriveOverdrive (mechanics)
Overdrive is a term used to describe a mechanism that allows an automobile to cruise at sustained speed with reduced engine RPM, leading to better fuel economy, lower noise and lower wear...
and Borg-Warner Type 35
Borg-Warner 35 transmission
The Borg-Warner 35 transmission is an automatic transmission produced by the BorgWarner company.It has three forward and one reverse gears. The selector lever follows a quadrant which has six stations...
3-speed automatic transmission were options.) The monocoque
Monocoque
Monocoque is a construction technique that supports structural load by using an object's external skin, as opposed to using an internal frame or truss that is then covered with a non-load-bearing skin or coachwork...
body had independent suspension all-round using coil springs. The servo-assisted brakes were disc at the front and drums at the rear.
Market place
Triumph's 2000 competed with the contemporary Rover P6Rover P6
The first P6 used a 2.0 L engine designed specifically for the P6. Although it was announced towards the end of 1963, the car had been in "pilot production" since the beginning of the year, therefore deliveries were able to begin immediately. Original output was in the order of . At the...
2000, which initially was offered only with a four-cylinder engine. The Rover was also released in October 1963, just one week before the Triumph. Together the cars defined a new market sector in the UK, promising levels of comfort and luxury hitherto associated with larger Rover and Jaguar models, but with usefully lower running costs and purchase prices, all in a modern package.
Triumph 2000 Mark I; "Project Barb"
Although the "Mark I" was presented to the public at the London Motor Show in October 1963, volume sales began only in January 1964. Continuing in production until 1969, this version came in saloon and, from 1965, estateStation wagon
A station wagon is a body style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door , instead of a trunk lid...
forms. The estate, its body shell partly built by Carbodies
Carbodies
Carbodies LImited is a British company based at Holyhead Road, Coventry. It started business as a coachbuilder, and now, as The London Taxi Company is best known for its production of London taxicabs.-History:...
, was in the Mark I version the same length as the saloon. Various minor improvements were made during the period of which the most noteworthy, probably, was a significant upgrade in October 1966 to the "previously rather ineffective" ventilation, with eyeball vents added in the centre of the facia and the heater controls repositioned beneath them.
In 1968 the 2.5 PI (petrol injection) Mark I was launched, fitted with a Lucas Automotive mechanical fuel injection
Fuel injection
Fuel injection is a system for admitting fuel into an internal combustion engine. It has become the primary fuel delivery system used in automotive petrol engines, having almost completely replaced carburetors in the late 1980s....
system. Performance was very good, but the PI models (along with the TR6 models) gained a reputation for unreliability and poor fuel economy
Fuel economy in automobiles
Fuel usage in automobiles refers to the fuel efficiency relationship between distance traveled by an automobile and the amount of fuel consumed....
.
In Australia these models suffered badly because of the summer heat. The electric fuel pump commonly overheated causing fuel to vaporise and render the engine inoperable until the pump cooled down. The overheating of the pump was caused by a combination of very high pressure fuel loads (over 110 psi (7.6 bar)) and a pump that was adapted from what was originally a windscreen wiper motor. As such, it did not cope well with sustained pressures in moderate to high ambient temperatures. Because of the launch late in the Mark I's life, there are relatively few PIs in the original shape.
Triumph 2000 Mark II; "Project Innsbruck"
In October 1969, the Mark II range was launched, againstyled by Michelotti, updating the car for the 1970s. The front of the car now followed the lines of the then-upcoming Triumph Stag
Triumph Stag
The Triumph Stag is a British car that was sold between 1970 and 1978 by the Triumph Motor Company, styled by the Italian designer Giovanni Michelotti.-Design and styling:...
grand tourer. There were entry-level 2000 models, which were the most plentiful, but the remainder of the range consisted of 2500, 2500 TC and 2500 PI models. Apart from the PI (petrol injection) models, all Triumph 2000 and 2500s had twin Stromberg
Zenith Carburetters
Zenith Carburetters was a British company making carburettors. In 1955 they joined with their major pre-war rival Solex Carburettors and over time the Zenith brand name fell into disuse...
or SU carburettors, the "TC" prefix on some models can seem misleading in this respect as it stood for a higher equipment level. In June 1975 the 2500S model, with 14 inch (356 mm) wheels and anti-roll bar, was added: it replaced the 2.5PI which had quietly disappeared from the show rooms two months earlier. This marked the end of fuel injected engines for the car, but improved acceleration was claimed for the twin carburettor 2500S and its slightly less expensive 2500TC sibling. These new versions featured an extensive list of other, mostly minor, improvements, of which the most significant were probably those affecting the ride and handling: these resulted from suspension changes and the associated fitting of an "anti-sway" bar.
The Estate in the Mark II version was 5 inches (125 mm) shorter than the MkII saloon, because the rear bodywork of the car was carried over unchanged from the MkI version.
The Mark II, the last big Triumph car, ceased production in 1977, supplanted by BL's corporate executive car, the Rover SD1
Rover SD1
Rover SD1 is both the code name and eventual production name given to a series of large executive cars made by British Leyland or BL through its Specialist, Rover Triumph and Austin Rover divisions from 1976 until 1986....
: Six-cylinder 2300 and 2600 versions of the new Rover would nonetheless be powered by engines derived from the Triumph 2000. The last production car, a 2500S estate (BOL87V) is kept at the Heritage Motor Centre
Heritage Motor Centre
The Heritage Motor Centre is a British motor museum and research centre, located adjacent to the Jaguar Land Rover Gaydon Centre near Gaydon in Warwickshire, England. The centre is open to the public, and houses a collection of important vehicles, celebrating Britain's motoring heritage...
.
In New Zealand CKD production of the Triumph 2000 continued at New Zealand Motor Corporation's Nelson plant, with 2500S models until March 1979. Sir Robert Muldoon
Robert Muldoon
Sir Robert David "Rob" Muldoon, GCMG, CH served as the 31st Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1975 to 1984, as leader of the governing National Party. Muldoon had been a prominent member of the National party and MP for the Tamaki electorate for some years prior to becoming leader of the party...
, New Zealand's then Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
, privately owned a 2500S and had been known to drive to work in it.
Availability after four decades
Many of these cars are still on the road, supported by owners clubs and specialist parts suppliers. Prices vary depending on year and model with the mk1 2.5PI estate being the most valuable. A roadworthy 2000 will cost around £700–£800; mint examples fetch upwards of £3500. A mk1 PI recently sold for £11,000. The 2000 and derivatives are also popular with modifiers owing to their common parts and engines shared between other Triumph models such as the TR6, GT6, and Vitesse.Motor sport
Examples of the 2.5 PI version of the car finished 2nd and 4th in the 1970 London to Mexico World Cup Rally1970 London to Mexico World Cup Rally
The 1970 London-Mexico World Cup Rally was the first of two World Cup Rallies to be held and the second of four marathon rallies to be held in a nine-year period beginning with the 1968 London-Sydney Marathon...
.