Triumph 21 3TA

Nowt more than an old snap of a Triumph 3TA, or Twenty One as they were also known, standing outside the (presumably) proud owner's garage. A couple of explanations exist for the 21 nomenclature: it could be the 21st anniversary of the Triumph Engineering Company formed after the Triumph Car and Motorcycle divisions split or it could also be 21 cubic inches as the engine capacity in a nod to the transatlantic market.

I owned one for a while which I bought when I was 17. I thought I was the Fonz, Marlon Brando and James Dean all rolled in to one though the opposite sex just didn't quite get it. The 21 was a sweet enough bike even though mine was frankly a bit of a pup - buy cheap and you get what you pay for! The rear enclosure was nicknamed the 'bathtub' and quite honestly for a Turner design it was rather ungainly. The bathtub didn't prove to be hugely popular and was soon revised in to the 'semi-bathtub' or 'bikini' as Triumph preferred to call it. Eventually it was dropped altogether and the bike got a more conventional appearance as it lost the bulbous front mudguard at the same time.

Early Triumph Twenty One / 3TA complete with bathtub.