Ian:
I cut my driving teeth on a TR2, on the early Michelin Xs. There was no upper speed limit in those far off happy days before the world and his wife started cluttering up the roads with their plastic bumpered monstrosities!
It taught me how to drive! In particular, how to go sideways under full power in the wet without coming off the island. Those early Xs were totally unforgiving: they clung like limpets and suddenly let go. Exciting.
Hence the sobriquet...............................
Yes, it was agricultural, with a girder type chassis and a ponderous 4 pot long stroke lump.
The TR3 and TR3A were better; classic English sports cars IMHO and with a signficant record in rallying and even circuit racing, which included Le Mans in the days where the great race was for standard (tweaked!) production sports cars rather than prototypes and then heavily engineered racers like Porsche.
Interestingly, my wife's cousin served his craft apprenticeship at Standard Triumph and had quite a bit to do with the early TR range: He's now 67.
I bought wife had a MK II Spitfire: ugly, clunky, quirky, yet she loved it.
Probably, the TR6 was the best of the bunch with the then ubiquitous to Triumph Lucas PI six cylinder 2.5 engine, as also used in the 2.5 PI saloon, a notable car of its era.
Personally, I rather liked the final iterration of the Vitesse which had the six cylinder lump, GT6 rear end - far superior to the frightening swing axle Herald! - and with overdrive on 3rd and top one had six gears, aided by the gear lever top thumb switch. Same as the early Saloon. I fantasized about dropping in a TR6 PI lump..............................
If one goes back further, the earlier Triumph Mayflower and Razor Edged saloons sat nicely alongside the wonderfully curvy tourer option, the roadster, originally 1800 c.c. later 2.2 L, last seen on TV as the chosen transport of John Nettles as the Jersey dick,
Back in the late 1920s and 30s sporting successes of Triumph were good: this was the era when names like Dolomite, Vitesse et al were coined.
Probably, Triumph enjoyed more rally success than race wins.
After the BL takeover (1960) of what had become Standard- Triumph in 1944 Lord Stokes waved his magic wand and ruined yet another great British motor company and its products.
The appallingly ugly and rust-ridden TR7 was a typical BL cobbled together attempt at a sports car.
No wonder BL vanished!
Worth recalling that most FJ and early F3 single seaters including Lotus and Brabham used Herald front suspension components, particularly the bottom trunnions. Awful parts!
For me, the TR2 and 3 stand amongst MGA and the early Healey (which of course was also 4 cylinder) as a great British sports car.