TriumphTR5

Triumph TR5 Images

Pictures of the TR5 PI and the TR250 taken long after they were new: the cockpit, the cars outside, the badges that tell them apart, the injected engine, the hardtop, and the two one-offs of 1968.

The cockpit of an open sports car seen over its folded hood cover: a wooden dashboard with round gauges and a wood-rimmed wheel.
The cockpit of a left-hand-drive TR5 at Menthon-Saint-Bernard, Haute-Savoie, on 18 June 2017, with the hazard-warning switch the factory gave its left-hand-drive cars; the wood-rimmed wheel and the seat covers are later.Hugh Llewelyn, CC BY-SA 2.0

The TR5s and TR250s here appear as they were when photographed, some with later wheels, lamps or steering wheels, which the captions point out. The date in a caption is the photograph's. Colours are as the camera saw them; the specifications list the paints by name.⁠1​2

The interior

In the cockpit the dashboard was wood with a matt finish, and the speedometer and rev counter were 12½ cm across, by the factory's brochure. A knob on the console worked the injection's cold start, and the switches were revised for the American safety rules of 1968; the brochure gives the three-spoke wheel a leather rim.⁠3​4​1​5

The cockpit of a teal open car seen from behind: a wooden dashboard, a wood-rimmed wheel and tan seats behind a cream hood cover.
A right-hand-drive TR5's cockpit, its gauges set in wood, at the Hungriger Wolf airfield, Hohenlockstedt, Germany, on 28 May 2016; the wheel and the rugs are later.Nightflyer, CC BY 4.0

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The TR5 PI outside

The TR5 PI looks like a TR4A until you know where to look. Its grille was revised and lost the starting-handle hole, though the notch in the valance stayed; indicator repeaters stand out from the side flashes; and at the back there are reversing lamps below the tail lamps and both exhaust pipes leave on the left. The bonnet (hood) kept the TR4A's bulge, which, Aaron Severson writes, the injected engine did not need.⁠4​5​6

TR5 PI 8

  • A red sports car with its black hood up on grass at a show, a yellow Beetle and other classic cars behind. Opens a larger view

    1 Eared spinners on the wire wheels of a red TR5 PI, its black hood (soft top) raised, at Pau, France, on 23 May 2015.

  • A dark blue sports car with wire wheels and its hood folded, parked in a sunny car park beside a hedge. Opens a larger view

    2 A left-hand-drive TR5 PI on wire wheels, its hood folded, at Menthon-Saint-Bernard, Haute-Savoie, on 18 June 2017.

  • A white sports car with its hood folded and square lamps under the bumper, on tarmac in low evening sun. Opens a larger view

    3 White, on steel wheels without their trims, and with left-hand drive: a TR5 PI at the Nationaal Oldtimer Festival, Zandvoort, the Netherlands, on 27 September 2009.

  • A dark blue sports car with its hood folded, front three-quarter on tarmac in low evening sun beside a white roadster. Opens a larger view

    4 Another left-hand-drive TR5 PI, its hood folded, in the evening sun at the same Zandvoort festival on 27 September 2009.

  • A red sports car with wire wheels and two spot lamps on its bumper, parked on grass in front of modern cars. Opens a larger view

    5 Wire wheels and two added spot lamps on a red TR5 PI, at a Rotary Club rally in the grounds of Culford School, Suffolk, in the summer of 2024.

  • A dark green open sports car seen from behind on dry grass, with TR5 PI and 2500 badges, other sports cars parked beyond. Opens a larger view

    6 Twin tailpipes on the left of a dark green TR5 PI with alloy wheels of a later pattern, seen from behind at the Silverstone Classic on 26 July 2014.

  • A black sports car with its hood up, beaded with rain, parked head-on on grass beneath the wing of a large airliner. Opens a larger view

    7 A TR5 PI with its hood up, beaded with rain, parked beneath the wing of an airliner at a museum, on 2 May 2010.

  • A red sports car with its black hood up and wire wheels, parked on dry grass among modern sports cars. Opens a larger view

    8 A TR5 PI on wire wheels among modern cars at Salon Privé, Blenheim Palace, on 4 September 2022.

Picture credits (8)
  1. 1 Handelsgeselschaft, CC BY-SA 4.0
  2. 2 Hugh Llewelyn, CC BY-SA 2.0
  3. 3 AlfvanBeem, CC0
  4. 4 AlfvanBeem, CC0
  5. 5 Steve Knight, CC BY 2.0
  6. 6 Draco2008, CC BY 2.0
  7. 7 pyntofmyld, CC BY 2.0
  8. 8 Calreyn88, CC BY-SA 4.0

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The badges

The badges are the quickest check. On a TR5 PI the bonnet badge is a stacked TR5, the boot (trunk) lid's badge reads TR5 PI, and each rear wing (fender) has a 2500 badge. Identification explains why badges alone prove nothing.⁠7​4​5

Badges 3

  • Close-up of a dark car's nose after rain: a small stacked TR 5 badge above a chrome grille and a headlamp. Opens a larger view

    9 The stacked TR 5 badge on the nose, its chrome worn, after rain on 2 May 2010.

  • Close-up of a dark green boot with chrome TRIUMPH, OVERDRIVE and TR5 PI badges beside a tail lamp and reversing lamp. Opens a larger view

    10 TRIUMPH, OVERDRIVE and TR5 PI on a boot lid, beside the tail and reversing lamps, at the Silverstone Classic on 26 July 2014.

  • A pale blue sports car seen head-on from above, showing its bonnet bulge and the small badge above the grille. Opens a larger view

    11 The nose badge from above: a small TR 5 over the grille, below the bonnet's bulge, at the Clásica de Tenerife on 19 November 2021.

Picture credits (3)
  1. 9 pyntofmyld, CC BY 2.0
  2. 10 Draco2008, CC BY 2.0
  3. 11 Mike Peel, CC BY-SA 4.0

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The engine bay

Open the bonnet and the injection is plain: there are no carburettors, and the plenum runs the length of the engine. The metering unit sits low on the left of the engine, out of this picture.⁠4

The engine bay of a white car with the bonnet raised: a six-cylinder engine with a long black inlet plenum and six short intake pipes.
A TR5 PI's injected six under a raised bonnet, with six short hoses and three twin throttle bodies; when it was photographed is not known, and its chromed rocker cover is not original.Jbattersby, Public domain

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The hardtop

The hardtop came in two parts, a fixed rear section with a glass window and a roof panel that lifted out, and the factory sold a folding canopy, the Surrey top, to fill the roof when the panel was off. Not every roof panel in a photograph is the canopy.⁠3​2

Hardtops 4

  • A pale blue sports car with a matching hardtop seen from behind on a show stand, its badges and twin exhausts in view. Opens a larger view

    12 A TR5 PI's hardtop from behind, the glass window in its fixed rear section, at the Classic Motor Show, NEC Birmingham, on 9 November 2018.

  • A dark blue sports car with a hardtop frame, a black fabric roof panel, wire wheels and spot lamps, on grass at a show. Opens a larger view

    13 A black fabric roof panel in a TR5 PI's hardtop, perhaps the Surrey canopy, at Culford School, Suffolk, in the summer of 2024.

  • A light blue sports car seen from behind, its hardtop's rear section in place and the roof open above the seats. Opens a larger view

    14 Roof panel out, only the fixed rear section with its wrap-round window left, on a car badged TR250 and converted to right-hand drive, at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on 14 July 2024.

  • A cream sports car with a matching hardtop, alloy wheels and spot lamps, parked on grass beside a dark blue sister car. Opens a larger view

    15 A hardtop in place on a car badged TR 250, with right-hand drive and no stripe, at Culford School in the summer of 2024; its wheels and lamps are later.

Picture credits (4)
  1. 12 andreboeni, CC BY 2.0
  2. 13 Steve Knight, CC BY 2.0
  3. 14 Calreyn88, CC BY-SA 4.0
  4. 15 Steve Knight, CC BY 2.0

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The TR250

A TR250 shows itself by its badges and by its stripe. The stripe was the idea, by Severson's account, of Bruce McWilliams, who ran Leyland's marketing in America; the Vintage Triumph Register describes it as silver, pointed in the middle of the bonnet and angled back across the wings, though not every car shows it in silver. Every TR250 was built with left-hand drive, so one with the wheel on the right has been converted.⁠1​5​8

TR250 4

  • The nose of a black sports car on a show stand, a silver stripe across the bonnet above a TR 250 badge and the grille. Opens a larger view

    16 Black paint, a silver stripe with black pinstripes and a TR 250 badge: a TR250's nose at the Classic Motor Show, NEC Birmingham, on 10 November 2017.

  • A green Triumph TR250 with a white stripe across its nose and its black hood up, seen from the front three-quarter in a sunny yard. Opens a larger view

    17 A left-hand-drive TR250 with wire wheels and its hood up, photographed on 21 July 2012; its stripe is white with a fine green line.

  • A green open sports car with its black hood up, seen from behind, with TR250 badges on the boot and rear wing. Opens a larger view

    18 A TR250's tail: TRIUMPH, OVERDRIVE and TR 250 on the boot lid and TR 250 on the rear wing, on 21 July 2012.

  • A dark teal open sports car with a white stripe across the nose, its boot open with a luggage rack, on grass at a show. Opens a larger view

    19 The boot lid up, luggage rack and all, on a dark teal TR250 converted to right-hand drive, at Trentham Gardens, Staffordshire, on 21 June 2015; the alloy wheels are later.

Picture credits (4)
  1. 16 andreboeni, CC BY 2.0
  2. 17 Mr.choppers, CC BY-SA 3.0
  3. 18 Mr.choppers, CC BY-SA 3.0
  4. 19 SG2012, CC BY 2.0

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The one-offs

Two cars of 1968 had bodies of their own: Giovanni Michelotti's TR5 Ginevra, built for the Geneva show on a TR5 chassis, and the TR250K, built by Kas Kastner and Peter Brock for the Sebring 12 Hours. Both survive, and each picture here shows the car itself.⁠2​9​10

One-offs 2

  • A red wedge-nosed roadster with four headlamps behind a clear cover and wire wheels, on gravel beside a pond at a concours. Opens a larger view

    20 The TR5 Ginevra, the one-off Michelotti built for Geneva in 1968, with its wire wheels and its black hood folded, at a concours in Switzerland on 17 June 2023.

  • A low blue racing car with a long tail and number 47 in a white roundel, at speed on a circuit. Opens a larger view

    21 The TR250K, Kastner and Brock's Sebring car of 1968, at speed on 8 September 2013.

Picture credits (2)
  1. 20 Arnaud 25, CC BY-SA 4.0
  2. 21 Lodahln, CC BY-SA 2.0

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The factory's brochure

Standard-Triumph's Italian brochure of October 1967 has a beach photograph of a TR5 PI, drawings of the hardtop and its Surrey canopy, and a diagram of the injection.⁠3

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Sources

Sources are given as plain text; their addresses are on the sources page.

  • Primarymade at the time, by the maker or by people who were there
  • Referenceserious later work: clubs, specialists, magazines, books
  1. Drew Holliday, "Triumph TR250 Production Information" (8 pp. PDF), Vintage Triumph Register, pp. 5–6, colours; p. 5, the dash; pp. 2–4, the stripe, lamps and badges. Reference
  2. Frédéric Reydellet (racing history), tr5passion.com (group): "En bref / Summary", "Identification", "Lucas injection", "Options", "Technical spec", "Colours", "TR5 Ginevra", "Racing history", TR5 Passion, Colours page (_r59); Options page (_r64); TR5 Ginevra page (_r60). Reference
  3. Standard-Triumph, Nuova Triumph TR5 PI (fold-out sales brochure), Italy, Oct 1967, ref. 387/1067/IT, data panel, instruments and steering wheel; page image, "Tetto rigido unico"; the archive.org record. Primary
  4. Doug Nye ("D. C. N."), "Road Test Report on a Sports Car: The Fuel-Injection Triumph TR5 PI", Motor Sport, Aug 1968, p. 26, p. 26, the dash and the cold-start control; p. 26, the changes from the TR4A; p. 26, the badges; p. 26, the specification paragraph. Primary
  5. Aaron Severson, "Grandfather's Ax: The Many Evolutions of the Triumph TR4, Part 2: TR5, TR250, and TR6", Ate Up With Motor, 7 Nov 2012, "Triumph TR5 PI and TR250", the switchgear; "Triumph TR5 PI and TR250"; "Triumph TR5 PI and TR250", the bonnet; "Triumph TR5 PI and TR250", McWilliams. Reference
  6. Bruno Dwinger, "Geschichte, Typenkunde und Kaufberatung: Standard-Triumph TR4, TR5/TR250 – 'die Michelotti Autos'", TR-Register Deutschland, 2009, 13 pp. (PDF), pp. 5–6, the differences. Reference
  7. Michael Richards, Triumph TR4, 5, 6, Haynes, 1990, full-text passage on the badges. Reference
  8. TR Register, "Buyer Beware: TR6" (2 pp. PDF leaflet), p. 2, US cars. Reference
  9. Leon Mandel, "TR-250K: Salvation of an Empire", Car and Driver, Apr 1968 (vol. 13 no. 10), pp. 2–4. Primary
  10. Peter Brock, "The Triumph That Could Have Been", Moss Motoring, 17 Jan 2020, the car today. Reference

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