Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

, been overs hadowed by th e Thunderbird and its derivative the T iger 110. In th e sa me year, 1956, there were two more events which were to have an importa n t impact on Meriden. First, Sangster replaced Docker as boss of th e ent ire BSA Group of co m panies which had a wide sp read of factories ma king gu ns, machine tools, stee l and motorcycles. T he future of the Group was in good hands and mad e excelle nt progress from the u nsatisfactory position it was in wh en h e took co nt ro l. The ot her event took pl ace far away from En gl and o n the sa lt fla ts at Bon nevill e, Uta h where three T exans with th eir Thunderbi rdpowered stream line r br ok e the wo rld speed record which had just been establish ed by a G erman tea m wit h a superch ar ged NSU. Veteran ai rli ne pil ot Stormy Mangham th ought up th e idea of puttin g th e machine into a Mu stang fighter dr optank , ace tuner jack Wi lson prepared it with more power output th an even E.T. would have thought possib le, and j ohnny Allen was th e driver o f th e T exan ' Cigar as it was later known. The NSU team left th e sa lt to th e T exans and departed for Germany whe re , at th e Cologne internati on al exh ibi tio n, their world record publ icity had been pre-planned. T he p la ns were prem ature, for in the early morn in g of Sep tember 6 j ohnn y Alle n did a two-way run through the Bonnevill e m ile a t an aver age of 214.40 mph to esta blis h six world a n d two Ame rica n records. H aving earlie r been ap pointed internation al sales manager , I was closely invo lved with th e Texans an d th eir spo nsors j ohnson Mo tors, an d I treasu re the cert ifica te o f appreciation given to me by the crew. The machine was flown to Engl and for exh ibitio n at the London Sh ow in November, and Allen came a lso with Wilson. It seemed to me th at the com pany should 'co m memora te th e record w it h a ne w model to replace th e T ig er 110, which had been designed more as a fast to ur er th an a sports machine. I took the well-known risk o f approaching E.T. with su ch an idea and suggested a two-carburetor 40 cubic-inch motor ins ta lled in a sporting-styled chassis with a two' tone co lor scheme of sa lt white an d U ta h sky blue, the n ame to be th e Bonneville. E.T. did not like two ca rbureto rs beca use o f a ir filt er problems, but I to ld him th at each of my Triumphs had done 50,000 miles without filters. I wa s ca refu l to add that I was sure he had a lready thought up th e idea of a new model ca lled th e Bon n eville. It went into production in September 1957and rapidly became th e top seller in the industry. In 1960. less than four years aft er Sangster took over as h ead of the BSA Group, record profits were an nou nced and he chose th is time to step down one p lace and bring in a n ew chie f. His initials were a lso E.T., an accountant named Eri c Turner, an d th e change proved to be the com me nce ment o f the decline in the G rou p bu sin ess. I receiv ed Sangster an d the ne w man a t a racetrack near Co ven ty where all th e Triumph. BSA a nd Ar iel models were paraded for in sp ection and Group execu tives introduced. Eric, who had come from the aircraft industry, cou ld not understa nd why the range o f machi nes should not be rationalized wi th the o n ly differences being the mar que bad ges o n the tanks. H e was fra n k enough to say that he did not like mo torcycles, a nd my own co nversation with h im was somewhat u nfri endl y. Wh en th e new appointment was a n nou nce d , th e othe r E.T. was a way in Au str al ia an d whe n h e ca me back he was g iven th e posit ion o f Automotive Division bos s, n ot a respons ib ility h e welcomed. H e had made T riumph a highl y successfu l co m pa ny a n d d id not like the prospect o f sta rt in g o ver again to reshape not o n ly th e BSA and Ari el o u tfits , bu t th e Da iml er p la nt with its lossm akin g ca r a nd bu s ma n ufac ture. H owever , he enjoyed working on th e design of a new ran ge of Daimler engines with V-8 co n fig uration. T he first was a 2.5-liter motor with cylinde r geometry very sim ila r to th e Bo nneville a nd th e proto type was tested with eigh t motorcycle carbu re tors . The new ca r was a sports model wit h a fiberglass bod y designed by E.T. a n d it went into p roduction very q uick ly. Next came th e 4.5-li ter delu xe sa loon ca lled th e Maj estic which was in th e Rolls-R o vce class. Wi thin two years th e Daimier co mpa ny wa s in th e p rof it league an d wa s p romptl y so ld to j agu ar. T he Ari el factory closed down and ope rations were moved to th e BSA pl ant in Birmingham wh ere th ey did not su rvive for very long . Meanwhil e, E.T. visit ed j apan to look at th e progre ss o f th e m otorcycle industry there, and was shown arou nd th e Honda , Suzu ki a nd Yamaha factories. This wa s in 1960 an d the co m pr ehensive report which h e p resented to th e BSA Group directors was more th an ade q ua te warning o f th e japan ese domination to come . H onda alone was producing double th e British total. E.T. acc u ra tely fore cast th e si tuation wh ich in fact happened later and he m ade stro n g recommendations aimed a t preser ving th e British industry. They were ign ored , but in fact it is unlikel y th at anything could be done to save Triumph a nd Neale Shilton. now retired . on a well-preserved 1938 Tiger 90 in De nmark. 1982. Shi lton now lives in Denmark and writes. o Author Neale Sh ilto n riding the prototype po lice-version Thu nderbird out of the f act ory gates in 1963. BSA unl ess th ey h ad been taken o u t of th e G ro up an d prod uctio n co nce n tra ted a t Merid en under E.T. H e desig ne d a new 21 cu bic -inch tw in wi th o ver hea d ca ms ha ft mo to r for m anufacture a t Meriden and I ro de th e p ro tot ype . It was E.T . a t hi s best and was as fas t as th e Bonnevill e, but he would n ot accep t the ult imatum th at ' it had to be mad e part ly a t Birmingham, partl y a t the Group factory so me mil es a wa y a nd the rest a t Meriden . That was th e end of th e final effort by th e one man ca p able o f m ak in g a machine wh ich wo u ld hav e survived in to th e era o f th e '70s. H e resigned from h is di visional di rectorsh ip in 1964, and a lt houg h h e co n tinued as a Group director, he was lost to Triumph a nd co u ld tak e n o part in preventing th e pol ici es which were ultimatel y to lead to di saste r. T he momentum which he had creat ed at Meriden continued for several yea rs, but th e factory came under th e co n tro l of managem ent which had n o previous experience o f th e industry and which was conce rn ed onl y with increasing output a t th e cos t of lower quality. Pride in th e product deteriorated and a pol icy of rationalization with BSA twins accelerated th e downward trend of Triumph identity. Production o f th e T iger Cub wa s m oved to th e BSA factory wh ere it soon died. The Group h eaded for financial trouble with it s loss-making guns and machine tool pl ants and Triumph in come wa s raided weekl y. Sangster and E.T. tried un success fu lly to change th e poli cies w h ich th ey had consistently opposed, but th ey were o u tn u m bere d by th ose members o f th e board who were co ntent to go a lo ng with th e man wh om Sangster had a p po inted in th e recordp rofit year o f 1960. T he rem arkabl e San gst er /Turner partnership which had ta ken the British motorcycle in dustry through so many successfu l yea rs, did not want to be around for its decline and fin al collapse. The two men resig ned in 1967 a nd three yea rs lat er th e BSA Gro up hurri ed down th e road to bankruptcy with a trading loss o f .$30 m ill ion. This sign all ed th e end o f th e BSA a nd T riu mph factories a nd th e death of a o nce- pro ud ind us try. At th e age o f 66, E.T. ret ired to hi s home in the Surrey wood s to th e so u th o f London a nd co nt in ued to ap p ly hi s inve nt ive brain to mot orcycle design, but regr ett a bly hi s a dva nced crea tio ns went n o furth er. They co u ld h ave sa ved Meriden from th e de mo lition ga n g had th ey been welcomed by Dennis Poore, th e ch ief o f th e No rton gro up o f co m panies, who took ove r th e wrecked BSA organizatio n wi th th e help of G overnm ent money in 1973. H e ch ose instead to close Merid en a n d start a war with th e em ployees wh ich ende d in defeat for both sides. The factory has now go ne a nd in its place ar e ugly houses. By a cu ri o us ly sad co in cide n ce, th e press an nounce me nt o f th e Meriden cl osure was made a s E.T. died in th e a ut u m n of 1973. On m y desk. as I write th is tribute to him, I look a t a letter which he wrot e in August of that yea r to our friends in Denmark who h e had just visited . With him wa shis so n Edward jr., wh o inh erited hi s father's affection for Am eri ca a nd has lived th ere for so me years. The lett er ended by say ing that he wou ld write aga in soo n after a bu siness trip to Switzerland. H e did not live lon g enoug h to mak e it and died sudde n ly a t his home while en terta in ing friends, and with many o f hi s old Triumph staff, I went to hi s fun eral a t th e invitation o f jack Sangster. We reca lled th e happy days a t Meriden with E.T. a nd I quoted th e wo rds he said to me o ne even ing wh en he was giving his views on life's expec ta tions . " It is m y intention to live until I am 92 years o ld and then be shot by a jealous husand. " The onl y a m bition h e never achi eved . • 19

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