TriumphTR2

Triumph TR2 Parts

TR2 parts and spares: what can still be had, what the TR2 shares with the TR3 and what only a TR2 has, how the cars were supplied in the 1950s, and the specialists and clubs the sources name.

The front of a green race-prepared TR2 close up: a shield badge reading TR 2, headlamps taped with black crosses, a white surround to the open air intake and the engine under the raised bonnet.
The front of a TR2 prepared for historic racing, its bonnet (hood) raised in a garage at the Silverstone Classic in July 2011; the taped lamps and white intake surround are race fittings.David Merrett, CC BY 2.0

By a specialist's account of 2010, a TR2 could be kept on the road largely from new parts. Neil Revington, whose firm specialises in TRs, told Richard Heseltine of Motor Sport that it could supply most of the parts needed to build a complete car, and he named some of them:

That's everything from bodyshells to new cylinders, rods, pistons, chain gears and so on.

Neil Revington, as quoted by Richard Heseltine, Motor Sport, January 2010

Not everything is so easy. TR-Register Deutschland's buying guide of 2008 found some original instruments no longer to be had, the fuel gauge with its hanging needle above all, and no new frames, though reproduction carpets and trim were good; whether frames are made now is not covered by the sources read. The parts Impéria produced itself for the Belgian cars and the coupé were not being made, by the accounts of 2014 and 2016: for one restoration a missing piece of Impéria's overdrive had to be made specially. What to check on a car for sale is in the Triumph TR2 buyers guide.⁠1​2​3​4

What interchanges with the TR3

Much of the TR2 carried over into the TR3 of October 1955: the short-door body, the frame, the engine, the gear ratios and the overdrive, and TR-Register Deutschland gives the TR3's data as generally the TR2's. Parts therefore swap widely between the two, and between the later TR2s and the TR3 most of all.

PartTR2TR3, from October 1955Do they swap?
Frame and suspensionAs builtGenerally the TR2's, by TR-Register DeutschlandYes
EngineThe TR2'sLarger carburettors and more powerThe block family, yes; carburettors and heads differ
Gearbox (transmission) and overdriveOverdrive on top only, then on second, third and top from TS6157The same ratios, overdrive optionalYes, with the later TR2s
BodyLong doors to TS4001, short doors afterShort doorsThe short-door panels, yes
Front of the bodyThe open air intakeA grille across itNo
BrakesDrums; larger rear drums after TS5481Drums, then front discs from TS13046, in 1956Drums, yes; front discs are not original on a TR2
Fuel tankThe TR2'sSmaller, to make room for the occasional seatNo

Some parts belong to the TR2 alone. The long doors and the body without an outer sill (rocker panel), TS1 to TS4001; the aluminium bonnet, boot (trunk) lid and spare-wheel door of the cars to about TS550; the narrower early wheels, to TS1868; the bonnet with four slots, to TS6156; the smaller rear drums, to TS5481; and the open air intake with its mesh set well back, which the TR3 filled with its grille.⁠2​5​6​7​8

A yellow TR2 on grey alloy wheels, with a blue-lensed spot lamp in its air intake, on a dry show field, a red Triumph with a chrome grille behind it.
A short-door TR2 in front of a TR3 at the Aldham Old Time Rally, Essex, in June 2026: the TR3's grille sits across its air intake, and the TR2's alloy wheels are later.kitmasterbloke, CC BY 4.0

Supply in period

In 1954 Triumph's owners' association in Britain gave its members handbooks with the car's specification and power curve. In America the cars were sold through two distributors, Cal Sales in the west and South Eastern Motors in the east, and one of them wrote to the owners' club in April 1955:

We realize that parts service has been inadequate in the East and we are intensifying every effort to immediately correct this situation.

South Eastern Motors, Inc., quoted in the TSOA Newsletter, April 1955

By the summer of 1955 the American owners' club's newsletter listed accessories from Cal Specialities in California and Beck Distributing in New York, from a hardtop kit and wind wings to a canvas tonneau and fitted luggage, and in August it offered members a service manual in English. The factory's workshop manual has been reprinted since, among others by Bentley as The Complete Official Triumph TR2 & TR3.⁠9​10​11​12​13​7

Specialists and clubs

The sources name a few specialists. Revington TR, in Somerset, compiled the fullest dated list of change points among the sources read, and Neil Revington raced TR2s himself, Heseltine wrote in 2010. Rimmer Bros, of Lincoln, publish a parts catalogue for the TR2 to the TR5 whose first part prints a history by Graham Robson and tables of production and commission numbers. Moss Motors, in America and Britain, publish Moss Motoring.

The clubs that appear in the sources are the TR Register in Britain, whose registrars keep records by model; TR-Register Deutschland, which published the buying guide mentioned above; TR Register Belgium, founded in 1977; the Triumph Club de France; and the Vintage Triumph Register in America, which keeps the archive of the 1950s owners' club newsletter.⁠8​1​14​15​16​2​3​17

Sources

Every source the site cites is 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. Richard Heseltine, "Triumph TR2/3", Motor Sport, Jan 2010, p. 122, p. 122, Neil Revington. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/january-2010/122/by-richard-heseltine Reference
  2. Bruno Dwinger, "TR 2 bis TR 3 B: Geschichte, Typen und Kaufberatung", TR-Register Deutschland, Nov 2008, 10 pp. (PDF), instruments; frames; trim; p. 3, the TR3's data "generell wie beim TR2"; p. 4, TS13046. tr-register.de/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Kaufberatung_Geschichte_TR2_TR3.pdf Reference
  3. Bernard Stibling (interviewer), "Triumph du mois: TR2 Francorchamps", Triumph Club de France, Nov 2014, parts made for the restoration. triumph-club-de-france.fr/actualites/triumph-du-mois/1740-2014-11-triumph-tr2-francorchamps Reference
  4. Dirk De Jager, "Through the Roof: The Hardtop Triumph TR2 That Held Promises of the Belgian Auto Industry", Classic Motorsports, Jul 2016, Impéria's own parts. classicmotorsports.com/articles/through-roof-hardtop-triumph-tr2-held-promises-bel Reference
  5. Motor Sport, "Sports and high-performance cars at Earls Court", with the list "Sports Cars Costing Under £1,000 Inclusive of P.T.", Nov 1955, p. 16, p. 16, the TR3. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/november-1955/16/sports-and-high-performance-cars-at-earls-court Primary
  6. Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, December 1955, Dec 1955 (vol. I no. 9), the TR3's grille. vintagetriumphregister.org/tsoa/TSOADec1955.pdf Primary
  7. Standard-Triumph, Triumph TR2 Workshop Manual, with the TR3 supplement, fuel tank, TR2 and TR3; the Bentley reprint. Primary
  8. Revington TR, "Technical Specification Change Points" (TR2), about TS550; TS1869; TS4002; TS5481; TS6157. revingtontr.com/the-tr-series/tr2/technical-specification-change-points Reference
  9. Motor Sport, "Rumblings", Sep 1954, p. 22, p. 22, the owners' association. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/september-1954/22/rumblings-september-1954 Primary
  10. Motor Trend, Triumph advertisements (group): Standard-Triumph Motor Company Inc. (Apr 1954); Cal Sales Inc. (Aug and Sep 1954), Apr, Aug and Sep 1954, Cal Sales advertisements, August and September 1954. Primary
  11. Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, April 1955, Apr 1955 (vol. I no. 1), South Eastern Motors on parts. vintagetriumphregister.org/tsoa/TSOAApril1955.pdf Primary
  12. Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, July 1955, Jul 1955 (vol. I), accessories: Cal Specialities and Beck Distributing. vintagetriumphregister.org/tsoa/TSOAJuly1955.pdf Primary
  13. Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, August 1955, Aug 1955 (vol. I), the service manual. vintagetriumphregister.org/tsoa/TSOAAugust1955.pdf Primary
  14. Graham Robson (essay "15 Years of Evolution"), Triumph TR2 – TR3/3A, TR4/4A – TR5, TR250 1953–1968 Parts & Accessories Catalogue, Rimmer Bros, edn 2.1 (source code TR2512), Part 1, Part 1. rimmerbros.com/images/PDFs/TR2-5_Part1.pdf Reference
  15. Paul Richardson, "Belgian Spaniard", Moss Motoring, 1 Jun 2002, TR Register Belgium. mossmotoring.com/belgian-spaniard Reference
  16. TR Register, "Triumph TR2 Buyers Guide" (the TR2 data sheet). tr-register.co.uk/resources/buyers-guide/triumph-tr2 Reference
  17. Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, September 1955, Sep 1955 (vol. I), the Vintage Triumph Register's archive of the newsletter. vintagetriumphregister.org/tsoa/TSOASept1955.pdf Primary