READERS’ WRITES
Your Motorman feature in the April issue [No. 328] on TRS reminded me of my TR2.
Soon after leaving school I worked in a Standard Triumph car agency in Te Aroha. As a driver of a 1930 Austin 7 you can imagine how impressed I was when the English firm’s magazine arrived and often had, as the front cover, a photo of a TR2 with beautiful women talking to the driver, and inside more details about the car and its sporting successes, etc. A local post office worker had recently upgraded from a Renault 4CV to a new white TR2, allowing me to see one in the flesh.
Fast forward to 1962 when I was now in Auckland and working within the construction industry. One day driving through Newmarket, two white sports cars caught my attention at John Massam’s car yard — one was a Jaguar XK120 and the other a Triumph TR2. Very shortly after, the TR2 was mine and the next two years became a motoring pleasure! As the recently published The Car Book by DK [Dorling Kindersley] says of the TR2, “A fast and entertaining sports car … [which has] probably won more rallies than any other car”.
The car had a convenient tonneau cover, a new light beige draught- and waterproof hood. The overdrive switch was handy to the right hand when steering, and operated on the top three gears. When travelling at road legal speed, the rev counter showed how slow revving the motor was, as it sat near 3000 revs, and helped the car to be very economical.
I will never forget the effective short gear lever and the help of the knock-off handbrake when waiting at lights at steep intersections in Auckland. The Michelin X tyres gave outstanding roadholding that thrilled me (although at times concerned my passengers!). There was nothing better than after a busy day at work to have tea, then, with the tonneau cover on and the driver side open, drive from Sandringham around the upper harbour and back over the Harbour Bridge to home (or some such similar trip). The car gave very little backdraught buffeting, and even in light rain or showers, as long as you did not drive too slow, the rain went over the top.
The fine roadholding and the solidness of the car with no scuttle shake or vibration, even when I drove it up to 90mph (145kph), and oh, the sound of the exhaust when the hood was down (such as when driving through the Mount Victoria motor tunnel in Wellington)!
It was a car that was reasonably cheap to maintain and run, as the average mechanic could service it. The local garage person who worked on my car had previously been at the main agents, Northern Automobiles, in the central city. He mentioned that when they were racing a team of TR2S, there was a selection of them on the showroom floor, but none of them were drivable as they had taken parts from their engines to service the racing ones (I think it was the bearing shells).
The car to me was like a fine instrument in a surgeon’s hand; it did exceedingly well in all it was asked — pure joy!
Extras. My car did have the overdrive working on the top three gears, even though some say it was not until the TR3. Another advantage with the tonneau cover was that when the hood was down and the car was parked, [it] protected the passenger compartment from the elements and also prying hands. I enjoy your magazine. Stan Bowen, Cambridge Sounds like you had the perfect car, Stan — bet you wish you still had it. AFW