Triumph Herald

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I saw a Triumph Herald the other day. It looked just like this:

Triumph_Herald.jpg


It brought back memories of my own Herald. When I bought mine, I didn't really know what I was getting into. It was really pretty worn-out, with intermittent brakes, an oil-burning engine, and no seat belts. After I had had it for a few months, I was toodling down a back road at about 50 mph, when a lady pulled out in front of me. I hit the brakes, the car pulled hard to the left, and I shot across a drainage ditch on the left side of the road. The front of the car hit a guy wire attached to a telephone pole, the back hit the pole, and I went shooting out the door (door latches didn't work too well, either). I tumbled across the ground, and somehow ended up landing on my feet, hurling imprecations at the driver who had pulled out in front of me. Only later did I realize how fortunate I was to be alive.

It was nice to see such a beautifully restored Herald, but I don't miss mine.
 
Neat little cars. Reminds me of some of the older Morris and Vauxhall models in the UK. I had a Triumph Herald Matchbox car as a kid.

I guess they have the typical problems of other Triumphs. I bet the Wheeler Dealers on Velocity TV would do a nice fix up job on one of these.
 
My first car was a 63 Triumph Herald that I bought for 80 pounds.
I had a lot of fun with it, and also spent a great deal of time working on it.

It was proberbly the easiest car for Home maintenance ever made.

The car also had an increadable turning circle of (if I remember correctly) 23'.

After about 18 months, the car had to be scrapped due to rust, and the last straw was a collision with a motorcycle (the cycle hit me!) but I had so much invested in it in the was of parts that it only made sense to buy another one.

But this time it was a 70 Bond Equipe 4S, which was a GRP bodied Herald with Triumph Spitfire running gear. Only about 1500 were ever made, and it now seems the one I owned was the very last produced.
 
Originally Posted By: NHGUY
British cars were and are terrible.


That's a little like saying "All Americans are Fat and Stupid"

Yes there were some bad ones, and some were more suited for the UK (of their era) than North America.
But they did export quite a few at a time when an ecconomicle car in North America was just not available.

Technically, many British cars were FAR ahead of anything mass produced in North America.
Even the lowly Herald had Disc brakes and front and rear independent suspension as far back as 1959.
 
I had a 59 herald in the mid sixties - my dads old commuter car.
White rubber baby buggy bumpers.

Men still wore hats then.

Nice exhaust tone.
IIrc the bonnet hinged at the front and the car was basically a spitfire in sedan form. The rear 3rd member was a weak link my brother told me.
 
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Many decades ago, they had Standard Herald in India which looks very similar to this but it had hard top. It could never compete with Fiats/Ambassadors of those era and was short lived.
 
I also learned about swing axles from this car, in another near-death experience. No rear sway bar, so once when I overcooked it going into a turn, the inside tire folded under like nothing I've ever experienced before or since. After a couple of nearly 180 degree back-and-forth skids, I finally got going in the right direction again.

I guess whatever doesn't kill you teaches you not to drive like an idiot.
 
Originally Posted By: Stelth
I also learned about swing axles from this car, in another near-death experience. No rear sway bar, so once when I overcooked it going into a turn, the inside tire folded under like nothing I've ever experienced before or since. After a couple of nearly 180 degree back-and-forth skids, I finally got going in the right direction again.

I guess whatever doesn't kill you teaches you not to drive like an idiot.


Same on the early Spitfires.
 
Originally Posted By: expat
Originally Posted By: NHGUY
British cars were and are terrible.


That's a little like saying "All Americans are Fat and Stupid"

Yes there were some bad ones, and some were more suited for the UK (of their era) than North America.
But they did export quite a few at a time when an ecconomicle car in North America was just not available.

Technically, many British cars were FAR ahead of anything mass produced in North America.
Even the lowly Herald had Disc brakes and front and rear independent suspension as far back as 1959.


I have had some old Brit stuff over the years and they were good cars. An early 50's Austin A135 MKII Princess, 65 Lotus Cortina, 1960 Vauxhall Cresta, 64 Hillman Minx III and a 65 Singer Chamois and a few Sunbeams, Mini's and Jags that passed through my hands short term (a year or less).
These were old cars when i bought them but clean and in good original condition, no bondo buggies.

I got the Princess in England, it was one owner. Flew over with repair plates, changed the oil and gave it the once over and drove it back to Germany without a bit of trouble!
It was loaded, even had the partition glass and central greasing with the original grease gun that screwed into the system. Central jacking and shortwave radio too.
It was a pretty silver and black car that i enjoyed for many years (parts were becoming a serious issue to drive it much) and turned a profit when i sold her.

I came across anther 50's Princess years later and couldn't resist buying that one either, i didn't keep long. It was tired and needed a ring job.
The guy selling the parts made me an offer and i sold it.

I got into the British stuff because early post war German cars didn't have many decent looking offerings unless you want to spend the long dollar.
 
Imagine the time and money that must have gone into that car.
Incorrect body colored wing window frames, though.
Some folks up the street had a white ragtop Herald when I was growing up.
Our next door neighbor's daughter drove an MGB, and their son brought a TC back from the UK when he was discharged from the Air Force, which he sold to finance an E-type coupe, any of which made the Herald seem pretty pedestrian.
There were many neat and desirable Brit cars back in the day.
If you had blood running in your veins, you might have bought one.
If not, you bought a six cylinder Falcon, Chevy II or Valiant.
Those with blood flowing also sometimes bought Corvairs, although Chevy never did figure out whether the Corvair was a sporty car or just another grocery getter of unsual design.
You could buy them optioned out either way.
A ragtop Corsa or Monza Spyder would be pretty cool to drive.
 
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
Imagine the time and money that must have gone into that car.


Probably not too bad, unless some restorer ripped them off.
All parts are available, many ridiculously cheap. including repair patch panels.
The entire car can be completely disassembled with just common hand tools.

Many people in NA may not know how many versions there were of the Herald, such as:

Two Door saloon.
Convertible.
Station wagon.
Coupe.
Delivery van.
There were also Six cyl versions called the Vitesse* (Speed 6 in America)
and a 4 door version 'Standard Herald' sold in India.
Many Kit cars were based on the herald frame and power train, due to is ease to dissemble.

*used the same engine as the Triumph GT6

The Herald engine was also used in a Jeep type vehicle for the Israeli military and the German built Amphicar amphibious car. In it's day it was considered very light weight and cool running for it's power out-put.

To understand why British cars get such a Bad Rap in NA, you only have to watch the average American Auto mechanic "work" on an SU carburetor!
 
I owned a hillman and a triumph tr4. the triumph was 30 years behind us designs and possibly 100 years behind Japanese, had it existed then.
oil bath air filters, fiendish electrical systems water leaks, etc
 
I owned a hillman and a triumph tr4. the triumph was 30 years behind us designs and possibly 100 years behind Japanese, had it existed then.
oil bath air filters, fiendish electrical systems water leaks, etc
 
It would depend upon how you define "not too bad".
If the paint is anything like as good as it looks in the photo (okay, it's probably an incorrect modern two part system), the prep labor hours alone would have been huge.
Like I said, a lot of time and money.
 
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