20 Jun 01
Triumph liked to see itself as the manufacturer of saloons that were a 'cut above', but the now almost forgotten 1300 is perhaps the only one that was. Beneath the neat Michelotti-designed bodyshell was a transversely-mounted Herald engine driving the front wheels: it was Triumph's only front-driver unless you count the Honda-based Acclaim. The interior had all the attributes of the bigger 2000, with a veneer dashboard, plush grown-up seats and thick carpets. It appealed as a posh second car, or as a genteel saloon for pensioners who had traded down from a big Wolseley or some such barge. Harold Radford, incidentally, offered his own version of the 1300 with basketweave-effect paintwork and the inevitable electric windows.
Unfortunately, the 1300's steering wasn't very nice and only in TC form did it have any pretensions to performance. From 1970 it was renamed 1500 and then, in 1973, it became the 1500TC and front drive was abandoned for rear. The shell lived on in the Toledo/Dolomite range.
