In a world that was increasingly concerned with the Spanish, Italian and German interests in all things fascist, and after having struggled through years of depression, Britain was desperate for something to help lift the gloom and roll out a carpet to a better, cleaner, brighter and faster future. Enter the Speed Twin; designed by Ed Turner and released to the market in 1937, this small and very distinct gem twinkled in a world of despair, a world that would become more despairing in the years that followed. The smooth and powerful design was an instant success and marked the British industry's fruitful obsession with the parallel twin configuration. A sports version of the Speed Twin was soon launched and baptised the Tiger 100, as shown here. Offering a higher compression ratio of 8:1, slipper pistons, polished internals, quickly detachable silencer end-caps (thereby converting the silencers to megaphones) and optional alloy bronze head (as offered here), the T100 was a true 100mph machine capable of giving the best of the competition something to worry about. Soon after T100's successful launch the Triumph factory was destroyed by German bombers bringing the production of the T100 to an abrupt end until after the war. Fewer than 300 bronze head T100's are believed to have been produced. However, not all was lost. As the sirens screamed their hideous warning, a young Triumph employee rushed towards the factory to grab as many of the drawings and blueprints that he could get his hands on before the Luftwaffe dropped its bombs. That heroic man was none other than Mr Wickles, the young art designer responsible for giving life to Ed Turner's engineering vision. Refer also Lot 31