Triumph Acclaim

Triumph Acclaim side profile

The Triumph Acclaim wis a front wheel drive medium-sized faimlie caur makkit bi British Leyland (BL) frae 1981 tae 1984. It wis based on the Honda Ballade an uised a Honda-designed ingine, but met Unitit Kinrick component-content requirements. It wis the final model o the Triumph marque.

The development process began in 1978 whan delegates o British Leyland entered talks wi owerheids at Honda wi a view tae developin a new smaw faimlie saloon. On 26 December 1979, Michael Edwardes offeecially signed a collaboration atween British Leyland an Honda. Echtteen months later, the new caur went intae production, badged as the Triumph Acclaim an based on the Honda Ballade. The end o Dolomite an TR7 production meant that the Acclaim wis the anerlie caur tae wear the Triumph badge efter 1981.

The Acclaim wis significant as the first essentially Japanese caur tae be biggit athin the European Economic Community (nou the European Union), tae bypass Japan's voluntary leemit o 11% mercat o the tot nummer o European sales. The Acclaim wis an aa a major turnaround pynt for BL itself, wi the caur sportin guid reliability an big quality frae the ootset. It paved the wey for the Honda-based, Rover-badged range o caurs whilk BL (an successor organisations Austin Rover an Rover Group) wad develop throughout the 1980s an 1990s.

The maist notable ootward chynge frae the Honda wis the appearance o a central badge on the grille. At the time, the Japanese model haed "Honda" tae the right-haund side o the grille. Ither chynges includit twin Keihin carburettors (the Ballade anerlie haed a single carburettor), the mirrors wur situate on the doors, the independent front an rear MacPherson strut suspension wis tweaked for the UK mercat an the seats wur based on Ford Cortina frames. The Acclaim wis providit in a mair luxurious interior trim nor its Honda equivalent, even in its base models. The brakes wur disc at the front an drum at the rear.

Aw Acclaims wur powered bi the transverse-mounted aw alloy an owerheid cam 1335 cc ingine foond in the Honda Civic drivin the front wheels throu a five-speed manual gearbox or a three-speed Trio-matic (whilk wis a manually selectable automatic transmission) gearbox (whilk wis the same as the Hondamatic) an the interior wis nearly identical (except for the seats). The uisual BL trim levels wur offered: L, HL, HLS an the tap o the range CD, whilk haed front an rear electric windaes, chrome bumpers, headlamp washers, 165/70 tyres (caurs up tae the HLS haed 155/80 tyres), plastic wheel trims, velour upholstery wi seat pockets on the back o the front seats an optional air conditioning. The caur remained largely the same throughout its production life. A Mark 2 version o the Acclaim came oot in 1983 (frae VI No. 180415 onwards). The main chynges wur tae the exterior door handles, the clock, a restyled steerin wheel, a restyled gear knob, the rear interior door handles (thay wur juist swapped) an the heater recirculation control, whilk wis muived. Mark 2 HL an HLS caurs wur better equipped nor the earlier anes.

Thare wis a leemitit-edition Avon Acclaim whilk haed leather seats wi pipin tae match the body colour, leather door panels, widden dashboard, widden door cappings, twa-tone metallic paint, colour-coded wheels wi chrome embellishers, chrome-plated grille, colour-coded headlamp surrounds, vinyl ruif an extra soundproofing. Thare wis an aa an Avon Turbo whilk haed Lunar alloy wheels wi 205/60 tyres, suede upholstery, front air dam, side decals an a Turbo Technics turbocharger whilk increased pouer tae 105 bhp (frae the standard 70 bhp) It is thocht that thare ar anerlie fower survivin Avon Turbos includin the press caur whilk wis an aa the first Avon Turbo.

The Acclaim replaced the Triumph Dolomite o the 1970s an wis succeeded bi the first Rover 200-series, based on the next incarnation o the Honda Ballade.

It wis the last caur tae wear the Triumph badge. The last Acclaim off the production line is nou in the Heritage Motor Centre.

In 1982 an 1983, it featurt in the tap-ten-sellin caurs in Breetain, the first Triumph tae achieve this feat syne records began in 1965.

A tot o 133,625 Acclaims wur produced, the vast majority o whilk wur selt in Breetain.

Production finisht in the simmer o 1984, whan the Rover 200 wis launched, an the Acclaim's demise saw the end o the Triumph marque, as Austin Rover's restructurin saw anerlie the Austin, Rover an MG marques bein retained.

Urban myth

An urban myth surroonds the caur in that it wis claimed it wad hae tae be re-badged for the German mercat as the name 'Triumph Acclaim' translates tae 'Sieg Heil' in German. In truth, the Acclaim wis anerlie sauld in Germany tae Breetish servicemen an -weemen based in Germany throu the NAAFI.