The Triumph 2000 is a mid-sized, rear wheel drive automobile which was produced in Coventry by the Triumph Motor Company between 1963 and 1977. It was introduced on 15 October 1963. It was styled by Giovanni Michelotti.
It competed with the contemporary Rover P6 2000, which initially was offered only with a four-cylinder engine. The Rover was also released in October 1963, just one week before the Triumph. Larger-engined models, known as the Triumph 2.5 PI and Triumph 2500 were also produced from 1968.
Engine
The 2000 used the six-cylinder engine first seen in the Standard Vanguard at the end of 1960. However, the last of the six cylinder Vanguards had applied a compression ratio of 8.0:1 which the increasing availability of higher octane fuels enabled the manufacturers to increase to 8.5:1 for the Triumph. This and the fitting of twin Stromberg 150 CD carburettors made for a claimed power output increased to from the Vanguard's .
Running gear
Standard transmission on the original car was a 4-speed manual gearbox: overdrive and Borg-Warner Type 35 3-speed automatic transmission were options. and in the Mk 1 version was the same length as the saloon. Various minor improvements were made during the period of which the most noteworthy, probably, was a significant upgrade in October 1966 to the "previously rather ineffective" ventilation, with eyeball vents added in the centre of the facia and the heater controls repositioned beneath them.
In October 1968 the 2.5 PI (petrol injection) Mk 1 was launched, fitted with a Lucas Automotive mechanical fuel injection system. Performance was very good, but the PI models (along with the TR6 models) gained a reputation for unreliability and poor fuel economy.
In Australia, these models suffered badly because of the summer heat. The electric fuel pump commonly overheated causing fuel to vaporise and render the engine inoperable until the pump cooled down. The overheating of the pump was caused by a combination of very high pressure fuel loads (over ) and a pump that was adapted from what was originally a windscreen wiper motor. As such, it did not cope well with sustained pressures in moderate to high ambient temperatures. Because of the launch late in the Mk I's life, there are relatively few PIs in the original shape.
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File:Triumph Estate (2368440169).jpg|Triumph 2000 (Mk 1) Estate
File:Triumph 2.5 PI.jpg|Triumph 2.5 PI Mk 1 Saloon
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