Triumph, Torrington Avenue, photo mystery

Photo poser - not a difficult one, but would like to know the history Thanks

With a name like that, it could be motorcars, motorbikes or even underwear. I am sure that I know where it is, but I have no idea regards the history.

Torrington ave?

Quite correct ! But doesn't anybody know anything about it ? I've Googled it and the question's been asked before, but no answers have come to light

I should think that's a shadow factory, if it's in Torrington Ave; wasn't the town centre Triumph factory bombed? I think in the 60s or early 70s it was where Triumph had its spares and service, prior to the move to the A45 along with Rover and Jaguar, to form JRT Service.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/coventry/discuss/72157606165885252/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/pikerslanefarm/2669086206/ So far this is all I can find for you on it.

Yes its on the site now occupied by The Tenable Screw Company in Torrington Ave. There is reference to a shadow factory here used for Standard Flying 8 bodies.

I've been wringing out the little grey cells, and I think the Torrington Avenue factory was used in the 50s, for building the TR3A, since it was a stop-gap model prior to the TR4 coming out. However, it was a shadow factory - see this link. You'll need to look near the top of the right hand column, near the top of page 1.

A bit more information: Fisher and Ludlow, Tile Hill Purpose built by Fisher and Ludlow in 1938 to build the Flying 8 bodyshells for delivery to Canley. Also used to build Vanguard and 8/10 bodies in the post war period. Standard purchased Fisher and Ludlow in 1958 with the proceeds of the Ferguson sale and the Site was used to build Herald body parts. At one point Standard planned to construct a moving conveyor along the railway that connects the site to Canley two miles away, but planning permission was never achieved. The site is now the spares department for Peugeot. This doesn't explain why it has Triumph over the door; but does appear to refer to the same plant. And this is also informative. Now, this may be wrong, but looking at Warwick Uni's archives, it looks as though the shadow factory was originally intended for making carburettors for the Bristol Blenheim. It doesn't appear to have become "Triumph" until 1945, after Triumph was absorbed into Standard Motor Co. (in 1944)

It's definitely NOT the shadow factory or Fisher & Ludlow, which were at the Tile Hill village end of Torrington Avenue Nor is it the Sandvik site This building is just west of Wolfe Road - it may be (or have been) a Severn Trent building [does that ring any bells ?]

M'mm, I wasn't at all sure, but couldn't find anything more definitive. I have recollections, as I said earlier, that it was used for some of the TR range for a time. It looks as though it was built in the 30s or 40s, don't you think? I know there were several shadow factories built around 1938, and in that general area. Since Triumph were comprehensively bombed out in 1940, I would have thought it built then. Severn Trent doesn't ring any bells at all for me for that site, yet it's obviously part of STL now. As a teenager, I used to cycle around that area a lot, and I can recall many of the buildings, but that one doesn't stick in the mind. But I do remember that Triumph (initially as STI) had a number of sites around the Torrington Ave area, and I can remember TRs stored in that area - and Triumph Spitfires at a later date. There was a wire-fenced off compound where what looked like finished, or semi-finished ones were stored, and that was close to the traffic island at Templar Avenue, on the corner where Edgwick Tyres are now. the fact that this factory building has Triumph chiselled in the door lintel suggests pre-war, because post-war the tendency was for much 'flashier' signs. With one possible exception - it could have been used for experimental work,or as a machine shop (they had a separate gearbox shop, as I remember).

The factory on the corner Wolfe Road and Torrington Ave, now the Tenable Screw Co, was previously Draftex Ltd where I worked for 10 years. Draftex manufactured door/window seals for cars but with the decline of the car industry in the UK it closed. The site was then taken over by the screw company. Les

During the 1950s the factory at corner Wolfe Road/Torrington Avenue made Triumph bicycles. After WWII Triumph was split up, the car division became part of the Standard Motor Company, the cycle division became part of Raleigh Industries, and the motor-cycle portion opened its factory at Meriden. As LesMac suggests the Triumph cycle factory was taken over by Draftex - a supplier of car door and window seals with its head office in Germany. My late brother, Brian, worked there in the maintenance section for some time in the 1980s. On the other corner of Wolfe Road was the Remploy factory which stretched along almost to the roundabout at Templar Avenue. As the need for Remploy diminished the Post Office took over some of the buildings as a postal delivery office (CV4 postcodes).

The Triumph motorcycle plant (Triumph Engineering) was moved from Priory Street to Meriden in 1941, so well before the end of the war (and had actually been sold-off from the Triumph car brand some years earlier).

This is my brother Brian (right) when he worked at Draftex in 70s/80s. No idea who others are. All Brian's photo albums were passed to me when he died in December 2012.