1982 Triumph 750 Bonneville T140ES
British to the last
September/October 2008
Story and photos by Robert Smith
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1982 Triumph 750 Bonneville T140ES
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In 1975, the British motorcycle industry was pronounced officially deceased when Norton Villiers Triumph, the UK’s sole-surviving mass-producer, pulled the plug on its Commando and Trident range at the end of the model year. And that should have been that.
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The huge BSA-Triumph conglomerate had foundered over the failed introduction of its 1971 model range and from increasingly intense competition in the U.S. — its biggest market by far. In 1972, Norton Villiers owner Dennis Poore bought the failed company and its two main manufacturing facilities (the BSA plant at Small Heath and the Triumph Meriden factory), naming the new company Norton Villiers Triumph (NVT). Poore planned to move all Triumph production to Small Heath and close Meriden, and announced his intentions in 1973.
The Meriden workforce had other ideas. They closed the factory gates, locking themselves in. Supported by other trade unions, the workers’ cooperative was determined to keep building Bonnevilles and produced a small number of bikes from their parts inventory. But no new supplies were forthcoming, and it was surely just a matter of time before the cooperative failed, too. When NVT shut down in 1975, it appeared the coffin was nailed shut.
But a change of national government ushered in a Labor administration, which decided the Meriden cooperative could become a bold, new experiment in socialist “enterprise.” Industry Minister Tony Benn persuaded his government to fund the workers’ cooperative. Suppliers were also encouraged to support the “venture,” and Bonnevilles were soon once again rolling out of Meriden, albeit in smaller numbers. The cooperative actually struggled on for another nine years, the last Meriden Bonnie being built in 1984. By that time, Margaret Thatcher was prime minister, and there was emphatically no more government money.
In that year, a young property developer named John Bloor bought the Meriden site and flattened the factory to build a housing subdivision. At the same time, he acquired rights to the Triumph brand and licensed Les Harris’ Racing Spares Co. in Devon to continue building Bonnevilles until 1988.
It’s not widely known that new Triumph motorcycles were available in every peacetime model year from 1902 to the present — except for two: 1989 and 1990.
The Co-op Bonnie
As well as dealing with restarting production, the newly-formed Meriden Workers’ Cooperative had to design a crossover gear linkage for 1975 to meet U.S. Department of Transportation requirements for a left side shift and right side rear brake pedal. A rear disc brake arrived in 1976. 1977 saw the production of 2,400 limited-edition Silver Jubilee models (celebrating Queen Elizabeth’s 25-year reign) with special paint and trim but otherwise essentially to 1976 specifications. But real change came in 1978, which heralded a new cylinder head with parallel intake ports and Mk2 Amal carburetors. Electronic ignition was introduced in 1979, the same year the T140D Bonneville Special with Lester cast alloy wheels and a siamesed exhaust was introduced.
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