Gaps in one's Education

[mickthemaverick]

Have you ever come across something you know you should have known but didn't?

Such a thing happened to me this morning when a new listing appeared and showed me that a Triumph TR6 doesn't always have a steering wheel!!

Spoiler: show

Triumph TR6. Model name previously unknown to me!

Details here

[myglaren]

My knowledge is so full of gaps there isn't much room left for knowledge.
But surely that thing uses

Spoiler: show

the front wheel to steer with

?

[CitroJim]

Have you ever come across something you know you should have known but didn't?

99% of the time Mick, it's my default condition

[Michel]

Have you ever come across something you know you should have known but didn't?

Such a thing happened to me this morning when a new listing appeared and showed me that a Triumph TR6 doesn't always have a steering wheel!!

Spoiler: show

Details here

That's also a new one on me!

I bet that disappointed a few ladies in the 60s.. "Hey, I've got a TR6...."

[bobins]

Now here's a thing.....
Triumph motorbikes nicked the name Thunderbird from the American Ford company and their car ? Yep.... ? Errrr.... nope !
Ford licensed the name 'Thunderbird' from Triumph.
Didn't know that !

And, of course, Steve McQueen didn't jump the fence in The Great Escape on a wartime BMW. Bud Ekin did it on a Triumph Trophy.

[Rp0thejester]

CGI was so bad then that they got away with that white lie, I'm just impressed someone actually did it! If HSE saw that now...omg...never gunna happen

[bobins]

Guy Martian did it a few years ago

[Michel]

And, of course, Steve McQueen didn't jump the fence in The Great Escape on a wartime BMW. Bud Ekin did it on a Triumph Trophy.

I'm surprised it got enough speed up before it pissed all its oil out to be frank.

[mickthemaverick]

Interesting things ro be found about the Great Escape jump! This is from the listing I linked to earlier:

Made from 1956-1973 in the Triumph factory in Meriden, the TR6 went through several development changes and model reincarnations throughout it’s lifespan and was a big hit with desert racers and trials competitors in the U.S. As we know, Steve McQueen famously rode a TR6 in the 1963 film, The Great Escape.

It bodes the question was TR6 the US model name for our Trophy?

[NewcastleFalcon]

Internet wisdom from commenters on the Great Escape movie and the iconic motorbike, on the Internet Movie Car Database tell many different stories.

https://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_39540-Tri ... rophy.html

One contributor included what was apparently a bit of spiel from Corgi...and there is a bike on display at the Triumph Factory Visitor Experience with the backdrop of images of Steve McQueen and shots from the movie. Whether the bike on display is the original original may be debateable.

SX According to Corgi it's a Triumph Trophy TR6

"To mark the 60th Anniversary of The Great Escape movie, we will produce a 1/12th scale die-cast of the Triumph Trophy TR6 ridden by Captain Virgil Hilts 'The Cooler King'. During production planning for the movie, one of the stars convinced producers to include a motorcycle chase as part of the main prisoner escape story. The actor recommended the services of a stuntman and US motorcycling legend, who just happened to be a Triumph devotee and the biggest Triumph dealer in the world at that time. A standard production road bike was modified and made to look like a wartime German BMW motorcycle.

Initially wearing German uniform, Hilts was challenged by German troops and unable to reply in German, escaped at high speed and reached the Swiss border with the tantalising view of the Alps in the background highlighting how close he was to freedom. With German troops now closing in, Hilts used the motorcycle to jump the first of two tall barbed wire fences between him and his escape, but as he attempted the second, higher fence, his bike was hit by machine gun fire and he slid into the barbed wire, so it was captivity and back to the cooler for Hilts. As for the actual filming, the US stunt rider was engaged for just two days in planning and setting up this sequence and the fence jump scene itself was completed in a single take.

After filming, the TR6 was sold to a Norfolk farmer, who apparently used it for cattle herding. After his death many years later, his family discovered the bike languishing in a barn in rather a sorry state and didn't give the matter another thought. Initially considered to be lost forever, a Triumph expert and collector later decided he was going to try and find this famous motorcycle and following extensive research, turned up at the farm. A deal was struck and it was taken away to undergo a 15-year restoration to its Great Escape configuration. It is now exhibited at the Triumph Motorcycles Factory Visitor Experience facility."

Regards Neil

[Michel]

Interesting things ro be found about the Great Escape jump! This is from the listing I linked to earlier:

Made from 1956-1973 in the Triumph factory in Meriden, the TR6 went through several development changes and model reincarnations throughout it’s lifespan and was a big hit with desert racers and trials competitors in the U.S. As we know, Steve McQueen famously rode a TR6 in the 1963 film, The Great Escape.

It bodes the question was TR6 the US model name for our Trophy?

I think so Mick, I always knew them as a Trophy. I'd never heard of a TR6 motorcycle before your post.

[NewcastleFalcon]

...and from the Corgi's mouth the story of their 1/12 scale special edition great escape Triumph Motorcycle.

https://uk.corgi.co.uk/community/blog-a ... -now-metal

Neil

[Rp0thejester]

Well if Corgi is saying that then it must be true. They have teams of researchers and wouldn't make a mistake like that surely. Are Corgi part of the Hornby brand like Airfix?

[mickthemaverick]

It seems the previous posted gap has a cousin! :

Triumph TR7

Details here

[Gibbo2286]

Here's a proper Corgi bike.