Over the years, Triumph has bandied around the name ‘Trophy’ willy-nilly. Sometimes it’s attached to a trail bike but more often to a tourer – as recently as 2017 – but ‘Trophy’ comes from a very worthy background.
In 1948 Triumph entered its then new TR5 off-road capable 500cc twin in the prestigious (and very tough, on riders and bikes) International Six Days Trial, known as the ISDT. These days, the name has changed to ‘Enduro’ rather than trial.
Triumph came away with three gold medals at the 1948 event, held in San Remo, Italy, and promptly added ‘Trophy’ to the TR5’s nomenclature – and have doggedly held onto the name ever since.
The TR5 was based on Triumph’s 5T Speed Twin and modified for off-road use. Not that modified mind. There was a swept-up exhaust but it still had fixed footpegs (modern off-roaders have folding footpegs), mudguards close to the tyres and not a huge amount of suspension travel.
However, the looks, the performance and the pedigree sold the TR5 Trophy and it became a winner in the USA too, where there was plenty of land to ride off-road and race.
This TR5 Trophy from 1952 is thought to have been restored ten years ago, and has barely been used since. There’s no paperwork other than a modern V5 logbook, which will affect its eventual value. But it looks in superb condition with lots of period touches and, importantly, has matching numbers.
At the time of writing it’s on a Car & Classic auction at a very good price: just £4,500 with six hours to go.
UPDATE: As of 7 November 2023, the Triumph TR5 Trophy is on ‘Make an Offer’.
