Triumph Tools

No restoration project is truly complete without a set of the factory-issued tools that originally came with the car. Through the years the tools are usually the first item that gets misplaced and lost, along with the jack and the owner’s handbook. But with a full set of the original tools displayed alongside your car, it makes its restoration that much more absolute, and authentic.

Last Christmas my brother David generously gave me a tool kit for my 1955 Triumph TR2. He found it in Australia, and although not complete, it’s only missing one or two tools.  The vinyl-covered burlap is an authentic reproduction, but the tools that came with it are all Triumph originals.

Standard-Triumph provided this tool kit to all long-door TR2s up until the later part of 1954; then the tool kit was offered as an accessory option on all subsequent TR2s and TR3s. Triumph once again provided complementary tool kits with the early TR3A models, then made it an option on all later 3A models.

Commonly referred to as a tool roll in England, Triumph provided different tools through the years. They included various tools to remove a tire such as an 8-inch tommy bar (which doubles as a hubcap remover) and a pry bar; a 7-inch adjustable wrench; two pliers (6-inch and 7-inch); three open end wrenches (3/8 x 7/16, 1/2 x 9/16 and 5/8 x 3/4); a wood handle screwdriver; a feeler gauge; a grease gun; and a square-end T-bar to unlock the fasteners that hold the hood, trunk and spare tire on. Although the tools and the selection changed several times through the production of the TR2 and TR3A, they are all stamped “MADE IN ENGLAND,” and nearly all are stamped with the tool manufacturer’s logo which is a round circle with a T and a W: it stands for the T. Williams and Company.

Be it a Triumph or a Buick, having an original tool kit is a worthy addition to any collector car you own.