When Triumph celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1973, at a point when it was already submerged in the morass of British Leyland’s product range, somehow I persuaded British Leyland’s chairman, Lord Stokes, to talk about his thoughts on Triumph, its place in the market, and what British Leyland (which really meant him personally) had in mind for its future.
Although this was a time when TR7 design and development was forging ahead, I knew little about that still-secret project, nor could I have known that British Leyland’s finances were already crumbling. The result of that chat, which was carried out in his office in Berkeley Square, London, was published in Autocar in July 1973.
All in all, he was tremendously bullish about Triumph’s future, and the future of the worldwide…
