SPEED BALL
If the Tiger (refer Lot 12) was responsible for Triumph’s pre-war survival, it was the Speed Twin 5T that ensured Triumph’s post-war success. Launched in 1937 under the ever-present guidance of then managing director and chief designer Edward Turner, the Speed Twin, with its 500cc overhead-valve vertical twin configuration nested within a stiff(ish) lightweight frame, was the first truly successful British twin. It set the standard towards which an entire industry soon strove and, within a very short time, every major British marque offered a 500cc twin designed along similar lines. After the war, the Speed Twin was inherently responsible for the continued survival and success of Triumph. The 1950s proved to be golden years for Triumph and the Speed Twin was the forerunner of many of Triumph’s vertical-twin overhead cam models, including the Bonneville, the Tiger 100 and the Thunderbird. The Triumph Speed Twin offered here holds matching engine and frame numbers 52247(5TA). This dates the machine to 1954 and it is therefore a transition model as the sprung hub model was officially stopped in late 1953, with the swing arm models starting in 1954. It was common for marquees to dispatch transitional stock models at this time. The year of 1954 was also the first in which Triumph used the built-in alternator, which again indicates that this example is a rare transitional model as it has the sprung hub frame but the newly added alternator, which presumably gave the salesman the ability to present the machine as an upgraded model. This machine is also in good running order.