1962 Triumph Twenty One/3TA

[Guest]

Previous project to GS.

Bought as a pile of rusty parts after it was dismantled after catching fire!


2013_0103triumph21b40002 by nitram2010, on Flickr


2013_0103triumph21b40001 by nitram2010, on Flickr



And after


2013_0103triumph21b40005 by nitram2010, on Flickr


2013_0812alfold0032 by nitram2010, on Flickr

2013_0812alfold0016 by nitram2010, on Flickr

2013_0812alfold0005 by nitram2010, on Flickr

[GSX1000E]

Great work! I have NEVER seen such a Triumph model.

[srsupertrap]

Styling appears to be based on the Triumph Bluebird model. Excellent restoration, thanks for sharing.

[steve murdoch]

Outstanding resto, Martin.
A 350cc twin.
Only seen one other "Bathtub" Triumph and it was not near as nice as yours.

[tatu]

A Triumph "Bathtub" A stunning rebuild job and a credit to you.

[850 Combat]

That's great. In the USA, all the sheet metal generally was discarded in the machine's early life. (Same as the fiberglass boat tails on some early seventies Superglides and Sportsters) Cool to see one with it all there.

[Good Times]

Wow .........

[tkent02]

+ 1!

[martin_uk]

The 'bath tub' as it was nick named, was an attempt to compete with the rising popularity of the scooter market, which had better weather protection.

Also note the large 'pigeon catcher' front mudguard.

As mentioned, it wasnt very popular and many riders junked the exta metal work.

I did not previously like style, but was offered bike by work colleague.

The bathtub and nacelle headlamp increases restoration costs and I was tempted to omit, but you cant change history and it was a product of its time. Its starting to grow on me :-)

I like to think I have saved it from being broken for spares and barring any major incident should now survive.

[GSX1000E]

You have done a fantastic job at saving a piece of history. Well done!

[GregT]

Nicely done - a complete bathtub model is rare in NZ, like the US the metalwork quickly got lost...

I did a tiger 90 a couple of years back. slightly different,pretty similar though. i sold it part finished as i was getting frustrated with parts availability. Swingarm pivot pins backordered for 2 years.....I'd had enough in the end. New owner finished it off about 2 months ago.

The one i found was in poor condition too, not as bad as yours though...I was told it had beach racing history - see the Burt Munro movie, it came from Invercargill - when i stripped it, it looked like it had been left on the beach and dug up later....sand inside the frame tubes.

[Ghostgs1]

Thanks for putting that up here. I've never seen one like that before, yours is a fantastic job of restoring a piece of history. Ray

[nvr2old]

Hard to add anything that hasn't already been said, but that's a beauty of a restoration. A lot of people would've just thrown it away thinking it was beyond repair. Nicely done!

[megatwin]

Nice!! Good on you for saving a rare Bird!

[martin_uk]

Thanks for all the positive comments.

It would have made more economic sense to break for spares, but quite satisfying to bring back to life :-)

I am sure there are some more expensive hobbies!