Speed Twins, along with the later T100s and post-World War II Thunderbirds, were familiar to motorcyclists in North America and prized for their suitability for both touring and competition. However, one bike, a 1950 Thunderbird, permanently established the Triumph marque in the United States.
 As the mount for Johnny—Marlon Brando’s mumbling, sullen, and confused outlaw character in the 1954 film The Wild One—the Thunderbird received more screen time than any motorcycle previously and perhaps more than any other bike enjoyed until Easy Rider hit the big screen years later. More important, at least from the company’s perspective, Johnny’s Thunderbird appeared with its Triumph badges clearly visible, an unusual occurrence in films of that era.
Off-screen, Hollywood was already familiar with
Triumphs. James Dean and Buddy Holly each rode one, as did more long-lived stars: Steve McQueen was a Triumph rider and used a TR6 for his fence-jumping exploits in the 1961 film The Great Escape. By historical standards, these celebrities were late-comers to the Triumph mystique: The company was celebrating four decades of motorcycle production the year that Dean left his bike at home and went for that last, ill-fated drive in his Porsche 550 Spyder.
 In fact, the company itself was even older. German immigrant Siegfried Bettmann founded the Triumph Cycle Company in 1887 and was turning out bicycles two years later. By 1902, Bettmann had expanded his line to include embryonic motorcycles, little more than bicycles with Minerva powerplants bolted to their frames. Within three years, the first real Triumph motorcycle, powered by a 363cc single-cylinder engine designed and manufactured by Triumph, was being built at the company’s Coventry factory. Annual output rose to some 3,000 motorcycles by 1909.
A mere two decades after its initial motorcycle appeared, the Triumph factory had been enlarged to more than a half-million square feet, in which a workforce of 1,000 was producing as many as 30,000 machines each year. Bicycles still made up a significant part of the company’s business, as did automobiles (after 1923).
But success had its price. Diversification was causing problems for Triumph management, which was also confronted with the worldwide economic crisis of the 1930s. As a result, it divided the company into three parts and sold off the bicycle operation in 1932 and the automotive business in 1935. The Standard Motor Company eventually acquired the latter and renamed it Standard-Triumph in 1939. Amid the changes, Triumph’s motorcycle division was sold as well. The new owner was Jack Sangster, proprietor of the Ariel Motorcycle Company.
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