It's A Triumph

IT’S A TRIUMPH

BOOK REVIEW

It’s A Triumph by Ivor Davies Haynes Publishing Co. Motorsports 6115 Gravois St. Louis, Mo. 63116 $19.95 plus $1.00 postage

Too bad all these lovely books don’t come in the fall so that we could have a good read in front of the fire with cat in the lap, glass of Williamine alongside, and Boreas doing his worst around the eaves. Still, as Geoff says, we must accept good fortune when it comes and so it is with Haynes’ latest offering, another tome on Triumph by Ivor Davies who actually used to work there. Unlike many other British bike books, this one doesn’t submerge the reader in waves of numbers about models never ever seen on these shores but instead is a rather chatty wander through Triumph’s reign, Ivor Davies becoming more expansive occasionally on what points he

found interesting. There is quite a bit on the formidable Edward Turner, designerstylist-marketer par excellence, discussion ' on Ernie Lyons’ GP Tri and the whole tribe that descended from it, including racers and ISDT, a great deal on Bill Johnson on the American market and much much more including some unusual sidelights on material that have been hidden until now. For instance the quote to the effect that if “we hadn’t gone in with BSA the British motorcycle industry might have survived’’ is worth thinking about. Full value is given to the remarkable Speed Twin that was in production longer than the VW Beetle aaaand . . . well this is a book that is hard to review because the fun is in reading it. In effect, It’s a Triumph is the story of how Triumph worked^ really. Fair enough.

Handsome big book (7x10 in.) 237 pp, lots of nice clear photos including racing models and prototypes, no index, a good value.

Henry N. Manney III