![]() It rode the same wheelbase as the first-generation Corvette - 102 inches - but was far more luxurious and practical. Barely a month later, Ford was hard at work on the car that would ultimately be named for the god worshiped by America's Southwest Native Americans as the bringer of rain and prosperity.First displayed as a wood mock-up at the Detroit show in early 1954, the Thunderbird was a "personal" car, not a pure sports car. Even today this movie is a classic film that helped cement the legend of the Thunderbird and made Triumph a challenger to the great classic American cruisers for king of the road.But in January 1953, GM threw down a gauntlet Ford couldn't ignore: the Chevrolet Corvette. With the handsome Brando as the leading man with huge star power and critical acclaim behind his performances along with motorcycles made this a hit with the youthful beatnik crowd. The Wild One was a perfect storm, capturing the edgy rebel persona clad in leather that would become iconic during the 50s and early 60s. It wasn’t just a prop for the movie, the Thunderbird portrayed in the film was Brando’s personal bike, and he was a motorcycle enthusiast. ![]() US Triumph importers actually complained about Triumph bikes being featured so prominently in a movie about motorcycle street gangs and was banned altogether in the UK for several years. ![]() The movie features a rivalry between two biker gangs one led by Lee Marvin on his Harley and the other by Marlon Brando, the protagonist on his Thunderbird. Triumph the Thunderbird 6T received a lot of free publicity due to a hit 1953 movie, The Wild One. The 6T could produce 34 horsepower rpm with a top speed of over 100 miles per hour. Not only was the engine displacement size a first for Triumph being pushed by US customers but having better refined fuel meant the American export model had a higher compression ratio of 8.5:1 compared to its British counterpart of only 7:1. Speaking of the engine, this air-cooled vertical twin 650cc (649cc) engine, a first for Triumph, was supped up for the American market. The engine even has a simpler look with its parallel twin engine compared to the more typical (and huge) American V-twin. As the years went on Triumph adapted to brighter candy-colored hues, but this early 1950 Thunderbird was very British, coming in simpler and duller colors, black, gray, gray-blues, muted turquoises, navy blue, the kind of more conservative color schemes one would expect out of Europe at the time not yet having caught up to flamboyant American tastes. While Harley was going after the big sleek look in line with American cars of that period the Thunderbird has a more essential look, with many parts of the frame having less volume, simple welding joints, and visible spring suspension on the seat, giving it a much more minimalistic look adding to its unique cruiser charm. All of this contributed to giving the Thunderbird slightly more of an early twentieth-century industrial look compared to the flashy, chromed Harleys of the day. The bike had a rigid brazed-lug frame with sprung hub suspension. Related: Here Are The Best Triumph Motorcycles Ever Made ![]() were all enclosed in nacelle housing to make cleanup simple after a damp ride in the British rain. The 6T has decent fenders for bikes of its time and most of the top part, headlight, center section of handlebar, gauges, top yoke, etc. This was the very first vehicle to have the moniker Thunderbird and Triumph Engineering later licensed the name out to Ford Motor Company for a very famous car model, the Ford Thunderbird. So finally in 1949 the company responded and upgraded the previous twin engine and the new model was born and dubbed it the Thunderbird.įinally, in 1950 one of the most important and historical motorcycles of all time is released, the Thunderbird 6T. The American market started demanding engines with more power and heft for long journeys down Route 66 and all the rest winding through the country. Triumph for a while had been cruising by on 500cc sized engines, well 498cc to be exact, but Americans who had a nice large country with long interstate-state highways wanted more in terms of engine displacement. ![]() Triumph’s Coventry factory was destroyed during WWII in the Coventry Blitz but, tooling and machinery were eventually salvaged from the remains of the Coventry factory and Triumph opened a new factory in 1942 in Meriden. The following year in 1937 Triumph released the 5T Triumph Speed Twin which was a benchmark for the following Twins Triumph Engineering would release for the next few decades thereafter. A turning point came in 1936 when the company began exporting motorcycles to the United States which would become the company’s biggest market. ![]()
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