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Origins
Launched within weeks of Rover's P6 in 1963, the Triumph 2000 helped define what Britain would call the executive car: compact, six-cylinder, aimed at the professional who found a Jaguar flash and a Ford dull. Michelotti's styling was restrained, the smooth two-litre six came from the Standard Vanguard, and all-independent suspension gave it manners the class had not expected. The 2.5 PI of 1968 added Lucas fuel injection — early, brave, and troublesome in service — while estate versions carried antique dealers across the Home Counties for a decade. Against the P6 it traded refinement for a fractionally softer, more traditional character, and the rivalry sold cars for both sides until British Leyland ended up owning the pair. Over 300,000 were built before the Rover SD1 replaced them both in 1977.
Triumph 2500 S first registered May 1976 2498cc · Charles01 · CC BY-SA 3.0
