We have a major dilemma on his hands,
having to decide between Triumph’s finely crafted but Standard-based
‘Razoredge’ and the quality engineering of a Rover P3
Forget Standard chief Sir John Black’s
delusions about turning his newly acquired Triumph marque into a rival for
Jaguar. In price, size, power-to-weight ratio and position in the market, the
1800cc Triumph saloon and its later 2-litre variants were much more in
competition with the Rovers of the time.
It was the styling that marked the Triumph
out from its contemporaries. The inspiration was an SS-Jaguar with Mulliner of
Birmingham bodywork that had been built in 1939 for Black, and the sharp-edged
lines were evolved from a Mulliner proposal. The man responsible was Walter
Belgrove, Triumph’s pre-war body designer, who had returned to the newly
constituted Standard Triumph organization.
Rover
P3 - Midlands Masterclass
Black’s idea was simple. He would take
Standard Flying Fourteen components and wrap them in a smart, fresh body, to
create a new premium priced product. The mechanicals were thus 14hp Standard,
meaning a transverse-leaf independent front end, an under slung leaf-sprung
live back axle and a 1776cc pushrod version of the Fourteen’s side valve engine
mated to a four-speed gearbox. This was the same power unit as still supplied
to Jaguar for its 1½-litre models. Other details included Marles cam-and-roller
steering and a move to hydraulic brakes.
The cleverness was in mounting this
hardware in a cheap-to-build tubular chassis, shared with the Triumph Roadster.
This circumvented the shortage of sheet steel and tapped into Standard’s
wartime experience with aircraft frames, plus it avoided costly jigging and
press-tooling. As for the body, Black subcontracted its manufacture to
Mulliner. Built on an ash frame and with a center section devoid of curves, it
could again be made with few set-up costs, while using aluminum for the doors,
bonnet and boot astutely limited use of then-rationed steel.
The
cleverness was in mounting this hardware in a cheap-to-build tubular chassis,
shared with the Triumph Roadster
Such was the car announced in March 1946 as
the Triumph ‘Town and Country’ saloon or just the Triumph 1800. But what was
logical when Standard was still churning out the prewar ‘Flying’ range was less
so once the company had launched the new Vanguard. The Triumph was thus
re-engineered in 1949, in two stages.
First, in February, the car was given the
new 2088cc Standard Vanguard unit plus its three-speed gearbox and back axle.
Renamed the 2000 – factory code TDA – this was very much an interim model. For
Earls Court in 1949, the car was rejigged to take a longer-wheelbase box
section pressed-steel Vanguard chassis – plus its coil-and-wishbone front end.
Detail changes were made to the trim, and there was a new dashboard
incorporating rectangular instruments rather than two round dials.
Additionally, the column gear change – a ‘Razoredge’ constant was now on the
left rather than on the right
Rover
is a smooth and relaxed cruiser
Swiftly renamed the Renown, the Triumph
thereafter continued largely unchanged. Other than an optional overdrive from
June 1950, the only significant evolution was a 3in extension in the wheelbase
– introduced on a limousine at the 1951 Motor Show and standardized in early
’52.
Manufacture lasted until October 1954, but
latterly, despite a price reduction, sales were hard to find. Even with the
traumas then affecting British industry, a respectable 4000 of the 1800 had
been made, and an equally decent 2000 of the short-lived Vanguard-engine
tube-chassis TDA. In all, 9490 Renowns left Standard’s Canley works, but of
these 6501 were regular wheelbase (TDB) cars, meaning that a few short of 3000
of the long-wheelbase TDCs were made, over 2½ years. Indeed, there were more
than 400 cars in stock at the beginning of 1953, and production was down to two
cars a week.
The Rover P3 had a much shorter history: it
was introduced in February 1948 and deleted in August ’49. Despite this brief
life, an impressive 9111 were made, 1274 of the four-cylinder 60s and 7837 of
the 75 ‘sixes’. The P3 retained the previous generation of Pressed Steel body
shells, dating back to 1936; their width was increased by 2½in but, more
crucially, the alternative four light and six-light bodies sat 5in further
forward on revised mechanicals. Originally planned for a 1947 model-year
launch, the P3 was in effect a stopgap while Rover prepared the radical all
enveloping P4. As such, it proved a useful test-bed for the new car’s
independent front suspension and the inlet-over-exhaust engines that had
entered development before the war.
bucket
seats in front
The former was an evolution of the Girling
system found on pre-war Daimlers and Lanchesters, but it still gave trouble in
service thanks to the inadequacies of the lever-arm dampers that formed the
upper links. Comprising broad-based lower arms triangulated by long radius rods
angled inwards to anchor on the chassis side-members, the arrangement benefited
from a rapid move to a proper top arm and telescopic dampers – as already used
at the back.
Fitting the independent front end demanded
a chassis redesign, and engineer Gordon Bashford used the occasion to ditch the
P2’s under slung rear axle. This he did by the simple expedient of cutting off
the chassis at three-quarters length, and attaching the rear spring shackles to
a new structure built into the rear of the body. Unfortunately, early examples
proved unable to stand up to the rigors of the Belgian pavé test.
