Description
National Motorcycle Museum | Solihull, West Midlands
Viewing: Tues 24th March from 1pm
Auction: Wed 25th March from 9am
Location: National Motorcycle Museum, Coventry Road, Bickenhill, Solihull B92 0EJ
1949 Triumph TR5 Trophy
No Reserve - The first Trophy, frame 001, and Bob Manns's successful 1949-50 works trials bike
Registration No: HUE 258
Frame No: TC11001T
MOT: Exempt
Frame 001 – confirmed to be the first production TR5 Trophy
Supplied new to Triumph's Competitions Department and prepared for scrambles and one-day trials
Successfully campaigned by Bob Manns through 1949 and 1950
Fully restored in the late 1990s and supplied with a wealth of historic paperwork
The Road and Race Collection
Using the popular 498cc Speed Twin as a starting point, Triumph developed the TR5 Trophy trials model off the back of its success in the 1948 International Six Days’ Trial (ISDT), where it won three gold medals and the Manufacturers’ Trophy. Features included a rigid frame, high-level exhausts, and Triumph’s first aluminium barrels and heads—taken from a generator motor Triumph had made for the War Department.
TR5 Trophy production started in 1949 with this very bike. ‘HUE 258’, frame number 001, was the first Trophy ever produced. It was originally licensed in January, 1949, to the Triumph Engineering Co. and allocated to the Competitions Department, which rider Bob Manns fondly recalled was “a small room with a corrugated iron roof and a small work bench for Harry Vale.” Of the first four Trophys, 002 was despatched to the Brussels Motorcycle Show, while 001, 003 and 004 were prepared for one-day trials. Number 001 was allocated to Bob Manns, while 003 (‘HUE 259’) and 004 (‘HUE 260’) went to Bert Gaymer and Jim Alves respectively.
Manns’ engine was given to the Triumph Experimental Shop, where Henry Tyrell-Smith and Ernie Nott built it to scrambler specification in preparation for the International Motor Cross at Brands Hatch in 1949. Manns and Trophy were part of the winning English team; he recalled how, running on a half-petrol, half-benzole mixture, the Triumph produced almost 40bhp. It was a tremendous year for Triumph, and its greatest success came in the September, 1949, ISDT when a team of three other Trophys—‘JAC 565’ (Manns), ‘566’ (Alves) and ‘567’ (Gaymer)—again claimed three gold medals and the Manufacturers’ Award.
‘HUE 258’ remained busy. Manns powered it through various one-day events, including the 1949 Mitchell Trial (first open win for the Trophy model); the 1949 Bayswater Grand Prix (first in the Unlimited Experts’ Race); and the 1950 Victory Cup Trial (winner of the Frank Hallam Cup).
Bob Manns left Triumph in November, 1950, following a dispute about employment terms with Edward Turner, and we come to a fork in the road of our TR5’s history. One road leads to Meare in Somerset, where a 498cc Triumph was registered ‘NYA 136’ to A. H. Payne, storeman to Jim Alves, who lived in nearby Street, on May 10th, 1951. Meanwhile, ‘HUE’ continued to appear in events such as the Red Rose Trial and the 1952 Alan Jefferies Trophy Trial with Keith William Alcock, who worked under Jack Wicken in Triumph’s drawing office from 1948 to 1957; he was allowed to borrow the works machine for his private competitions. It was last photographed with the other works bikes at the 1953 Scottish Six Days’ Trial, with Wicken on the saddle. That, however, cannot have been our bike. It seems Jim Alves was able to procure the original ‘HUE’ while Triumph kept the actual registration number, forcing Payne to apply for a new Somerset registration. Despite that, the two different ‘HUEs’ appear 99 per cent. identical in photographs.
Coming to 1959, our TR5 ‘NYA 136’ was sold through the Furzehill Garage in Chard for £25 to a Dorset man, Kenneth Comben. By that stage, it had been converted for road use with a headlamp and a tank-top rack, which it did not have originally, and Comben knew nothing of its exciting past. With his felt cap ever on his head, he rode it regularly until the mid-1970s. Then, after it had been laid up for twenty years or so, he decided it deserved a restoration, and as he took it apart, he realised it was something out of the ordinary. Among the various frame modifications were a reduced fork yoke, a reinforced headstock, a 21in front wheel, and more; while the engine revealed lipped roller main bearings, a non-standard inlet manifold, a lightened clutch, 10. 5:1 pistons, thicker con-rods and enlarged valves. Some parts were stamped “TS”—the mark of Tyrell-Smith.
This set Comben off on a trail of research, which brought everything to light. Records held Triumph specialist Harry Woolridge and the Science Museum confirmed that 001 was the first Trophy and had been Bob Manns’ works machine. Somerset Council records connected ‘NYA 136’ with A. H. Payne and, because Payne and Manns were then still alive and contactable, they filled in the rest. Manns confirmed that all the apparent modifications had been made in the Experimental Shop during the course of 001’s competition career, and said: “The engine even at its highest tune was always 100 per cent. reliable. In fact, I never had any problems with any of the works Triumph machines I rode.”
As for the restoration, it was completed to an exemplary standard, and the crowning touch was that, on the strength of all the evidence, the D. V. L. A. reissued the ‘HUE 258’ registration. After Comben died, the Triumph was sold at auction in 2003 to our vendor, who bought it for his collection of rare, important and well-provenanced historic bikes. Undoubtedly one of the jewels, it is a bike of unparalleled historic importance which deserves a new home where it will be cherished just as it has been over the past thirty years. The history file is tremendous, and includes the current V5C, the 1960 buff logbook, copies of factory and registration records, a dating certificate from Harry Woolridge, written correspondence from Bob Manns, period photographs of Manns on the bike, and invoices and photographs from the 1990s restoration. Recommissioning will be required before use.
** Bidding will take place live at the venue, online via our H&H website, by telephone and commission - T&Cs apply**
Parking and entry into the auction is free for auction attendees with a catalogue, available at the door.
Catalogues can be purchased for £20 (admits 2 people).
