TRIUMPHANT RETURN!

On the 30th anniversary of the launch of the first Hinckley Triumphs, we look at how John Bloor single-handedly revived the British motorcycle industry.

- STUART BARKER

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the rebirth of Triumph Motorcycles – an amazing success story that came about almost by accident. When property magnate John Bloor first visited the closed-up Triumph factory in Coventry in 1983, shortly after the British firm had gone into receivership, it was purely with a view to buying and developing the property, not to resurrect the once-proud name of Triumph.

Bloor is a remarkable man. Having left school at 15, he took up an apprenticeship as a plasterer and had built his first house before he was 20. Bloor Homes would eventually become one of the biggest property companies in the UK and would contribute to Bloor’s current estimated fortune of £1.4 billion.

While he wasn’t nearly as rich in 1983, he certainly had the money to buy the old Triumph factory, but chose not to. What he did buy was the Triumph brand name and all the firm’s drawings, designs and tooling. It was an odd move, given that the man who had made millions in property knew nothing about manufacturing and very little about motorcycles (although he had owned a Triumph Tiger Cub as a teenager).