Alec Arthur Graham Robson 1936-2021

Graham was born in Skipton, Yorkshire, the only child of Clifford and Kathleen Robson. He was educated locally before going to Lincoln College, Oxford, where he read Engineering. His first job was as a graduate trainee at Jaguar Cars in 1957. His subsequent career became a perfect training path for someone destined to become a leading author.

In 1961 Robson became a development engineer, then competition secretary at Standard-Triumph, then a writer for The Autocar. By 1969 he was at the Rootes Group as chief engineer, product proving. He became a full-time independent motoring writer, researcher and author in 1972.

That word “independent” cannot be stressed too highly, because whatever his links with the manufacturer of a car he was writing about, his research was always thorough and he never pulled his punches. He wrote nearly 170 books and countless articles—one of most prolific motoring writers ever. Many Robson books were about motorsport, for he had been a rally co-driver in the mid-Fifties. His passion for writing was triggered by his 1950s rally reports for Motoring News.

Quantity did not affect quality. Robson books were all meticulously researched and well written. On many subjects his books are now the “standard works.” Because of his wide knowledge, Robson was also a frequent master of ceremonies or commentator for national club events. He was president, vice-president or an honorary member of several Triumph clubs.

Graham married Pamela in 1962 and they had two sons. Hamish is now a senior design engineer with Toyota Motorsport in Germany. Jonathan is a landscape gardener in Dorset. In 1981 Robson moved from the Lake District to a picture-postcard village in Dorset, thereafter traveling widely on business and pleasure. Sadly, Pamela died in 2014 after a long illness.

Triumphant passage

I wrote Graham in 1974, after I wrote a brief history of Triumph for my employer, Automobile Quarterly magazine. He had recently published The Story of Triumph Sports Cars (1973). And so I wrote with trepidation, the acolyte at the foot of Olympus. He couldn’t have been kinder over my amateurish efforts. After I became a freelance, we met personally in London. There to my astonishment, he offered to co-author with me a complete history of our mutual passion, Triumph Cars, and to find us a publisher.

Appearing in 1977, the book has had a long run in three editions—the current, and by far the most elaborate, in 2018.  While I had equal billing, Graham sold the job to Veloce Publishing, and did literally all the work. I had, originally, written Triumph’s history through 1940, and a few postwar sections. That part of the story was told. But Graham had to update everything that had happened since the previous edition in 2004.

He tackled the job with his usual celerity, rounding up dozens of exciting new photographs. The fabled 1930s Dolomite Straight Eight was also Graham’s to update: he had test-driven the newly restored car it in the 2000s. He never complained and treated me as his full partner. As a result of his efforts, Triumph Cars is one of my two proudest automotive histories.

Sunbeam sublimities

Graham helped in innumerable other ways. Together we co-authored the long-running Complete Book of Collectible Cars. He enabled a mutual friend get his dream job with Motor Racing Publications. When I tackled my second-favorite English marque, Robson was there again. Here is what I wrote in Tiger Alpine Rapier: Sporting Cars from the Rootes Group (1982):

Graham Robson’s efforts on behalf of this book and myself could not be listed in 100 pages. He began by recording a long interview with the Tiger’s visionary, Lewis Garrad. Then he compiled the specifications for Sunbeam and Humber. Next he read and critiqued the manuscript, located the photo archives and got filthy helping me select images. Graham liaised with E.M. Lea-Major of Talbot UK’s PR department. He also wrote the appendix on Hillman Imp rallying. (My file on the Imp consisted only of Bob Fendell’s comment that he could keep his rally Imp going by stringing a wire over his shoulder to the carburetor when the linkage broke.) I cannot begin to express my thanks to Graham for saving me from myself, for helping make the book as accurate as possible, for being so tolerant of my faults, and for being, in short, such a good friend.

Halcyon days

Betimes Graham would come to the States, always with a book to write or an appearance to make. On several occasions I took him to Detroit, which fascinated him. I always tried to line up interesting “press cars.” I was astonished at his reaction to the 1979 Lincoln Continental Mark V Bill Blass Designer Edition. Two tons, over 20 feet long, extravagantly trimmed, with acres of sheetmetal, it was the biggest coupe Ford ever built. Surely a monument to Utter Excess? But Graham was enthralled. “Do you Americans realize what you have here? This much sheer motorcar? Do you understand that the same money in England will barely buy you a Mini?”

Five years later Robson tore up the Detroit motorways in a Ford Mustang SVO, which he loved. (He was a superb driver, practicing rally ace Paddy Hopkirk‘s technique: “Fill Up Their Mirrors.”) I thought we were going to gaol, but somehow the coppers missed us. On the same trip we borrowed a Chrysler Laser, only just announced. We parked it in front of the GM Tech Center, and laughed when every single window of that famous styling emporium was filled by someone peering out.

In England we were welcomed at his two homes, first Croft House in Cumberland, then Girt House in Dorset. (“Dorset has a helluva lot more sunshine.”) Here, accompanied by the sonorous tones of sleeping English bulldogs (“a family tradition”), we whiled away evenings with Famous Grouse, talking cars. For the automotive tours of England, which Barbara and I ran in 1977-90, Graham paved the way. His good offices allowed us access to places where ordinary tourists were usually barred: Vanden Plas Coachworks, Aston Martin Lagonda, the metal-benders in the Rolls-Royce radiator shop. The magic name of Robson was our Open Sesame.

Always pressing on

Graham’s world was motoring, and by the 1990s his friend and fellow car nut was turning increasingly toward Winston Churchill. He understood, of course, and was happy to fall in when Churchillian missions brought me to England. When I sold Churchill books, he turned over his garden shed for me to pack up my purchases to ship home. In 2019 we arrived in London after the Hillsdale College Cruise. Graham made it his business travel up from Dorset. (“One always says ‘up,’ never ‘down’ to the Great Wen,” he once warned me.)  We dined luxuriously at Horse Guards Hotel. He hadn’t changed a bit. Even if he had, how could Robson be forgotten after 170 books?

I quoted to him the words of Alistair Cooke—a maxim I know he shared. “I shall never retire, because I have observed that many of my friends who do immediately keel over.” Alistair lived to 95, and broadcast his final BBC Letter from America only months before he left us. Good, sound policy.

On to the end

Graham Robson shared and typified Alistair Cooke’s philosophy—and mine. “We shall go on to the end,” as Churchill said. And sure enough: Last April Graham wrote me about another book! It was his last message:

We are bowled over by the sheer volume of color, beauty and depth of photographs in the latest and greatest edition of Triumph Cars: The Complete Story. Largely this was the effort of my co-author Graham Robson, but I never expected such a high quality treatment by the publishers. A big, square format, 10×10 inches, it’s chock-a-block with lavish illustrations from the first spindly Triumph 10/20 of 1923 to the last, badge-engineered Triumph Acclaim of 1984. There are even appendices on Triumph-derived cars like the Bond Equipe, Amphicar, Peerless and Swallow Doretti. There is a full account of Triumph’s remarkable racing and rally performances. It’s the most luxurious production anyone could ask for. Order your copy here.

Triumph Cars is one of the best car books Graham and I wrote. It’s as thorough as it is because when we began work, in the mid-1970s, we could still find and interview so many old Triumph hands. They began with Walter Belgrove, who skillfully designed many of the best pre-World War II models, and the famous TR3. Not widely known, Donald Healey was also associated with Triumph, and accounted for one of its most legendary cars, the straight-eight Dolomite (see below). We spent many hours with Alick Dick, whose management saved the company in the early Sixties. We benefitted from interviews with Harry Webster, and many other Triumph engineers.

Triumph Cars: from the Publisher

“Relating the story of Triumph is complex enough. To include all the earlier events which persuaded Siegfried Bettmann to begin car manufacture in 1923 is even more so. The authors, however, are experts in all things Triumph: the cars, and the political events surrounding them. They have assembled and presented an enthralling story of the way the car-making business came to prosper. Triumph was then afflicted by financial problems. In 1940 its factory was bombed flat in the Coventry Blitz. It was rescued from oblivion by Standard in 1944. Thereafter, Triumph again became a prominent marque, eventually dominated Standard, and (from the 1960s onwards) became an important cast member in the melodramatic events which involved British Leyland.

“Triumph Cars: The Complete Story is not merely a turbulent trawl through the historical record. The authors were also successful in locating the important characters whose efforts made it possible for Triumph to excite the world. Along the way, the career of cars as famous as the Glorias and Dolomites of the 1930s, the Heralds, Spitfires and TRs of the postwar years, and the headline-grabbing exploits in racing and rallying build up a story which no fictional writer could have created.”

“Graham Robson

…possesses a worldwide reputation as a motoring historian, and has been close to the sport of rallying for many years as a competitor, team manager, organizer, reporter, commentator and observer. In more than forty years he has never lost touch with the sport. Not only has Graham competed in many British and European events. He’s also reported on marathons in South America, and acted as a traveling controller in the legendary London-Mexico World Cup Rally. As a recognized authority on many aspects of classic cars and motoring of that period, he is the most prolific of all authors, with more than 130 published books to his credit. Over the years Graham has owned, driven, described and competed in many of the cars featured in the Rally Giants Series, and his insight to their merits is unmatched. Graham Robson lives and works in Dorset, England.

“Graham’s tenacious efforts to see Triumph Cars back into print is the reason this handsome new edition exists. Almost singlehandedly, he rounded up dozens of new color photographs, updated the text with new information. I wrote the prewar chapters of the book. But Graham updated the story of the fabulous 1934 Dolomite Straight Eight, since discovered and fully restored: ‘The Big One that Got Away.’

“Richard Langworth

…has been an automotive writer since 1969, when he sent a freelance article to Automobile Quarterly. He joined AQ as associate and later senior editor in 1970-75. He has since written or co-authored more than fifty books and 2000 articles on automotive history. Richard and Barbara Langworth have owned ten Triumphs from a 1938 Dolomite to an assortment of Mayflowers, Renowns and TRs. In 1975, he and several friends founded the Vintage Triumph Register, thinking the time had come for a club devoted to every model motorcar Triumph ever built.

“Langworth’s other interest is Winston Churchill. In 1968 he founded what became The International Churchill Society, serving as president or chairman for ten years and editor of its journal, Finest Hour, for 35 years. In 2014 he joined Hillsdale College as senior fellow for The Churchill Project. The project sponsors educational programs and online courses, and is completing Churchill’s official biography. Richard has written or edited nine books on Churchill. In 2016 he melded his two interests in an article, “Blood Sweat and Gears,” on Churchill’s cars for The Automobile. Richard and Barbara Langworth have hosted eighteen automotive or Churchill tours of England, Scotland, France and Australia, including the 1978 Triumph tour of Britain.”

 This is a book…

…for nuts who like quirky English cars. Hard to admit, but Ferraris bore me. Just unaffordable excellence. My fun derives from funky Britishers that ride hard and smell of oil. They just don’t make cars like that anymore. This abnormality is not uncommon. My old friend Rich Taylor captured it perfectly in his 1978 book, Modern Classics: 

To understand British cars, you have to realize that all the stereotypes fit. I know, for example, that rated on an absolute scale, a Triumph or MG or Healey is not a great car, the way a Mercedes or Ferrari or Maserati is a great car. But I don’t care. There is something about the very Britishness of their going that makes the way other people look at you, the way the rain beads on the hood, the elegant way you feel when you’re sitting in one, considerably more important than how fast it will go.

British cars are for the sort who get out and tinker on Sunday mornings, not those with legions of mechanics. While you can have a short, passionate affair with a Lancia, or a successful marriage with a Lamborghini, it’s hard actually to love them. But a Triumph has the kind of looks, the teasing kind of humor, that keeps you on your toes; the wonderful unpredictability that is something to anticipate.

See also: “Memories of The Vintage Triumph.“

Donald Healey’s Dolomite

In 1977 I wrote the pre-World War II chapters of Triumph Cars, now reappearing in an expanded new edition, thanks largely to my co-author Graham Robson (blatant plug, please order).

At the time, though, there was little to describe about Triumph’s most impressive failure, the legendary straight-eight Dolomite. The only one built by the factory had come to grief (along, almost, with Donald Healey) at a railway crossing on the 1935 Monte Carlo Rallye. Donald of course contributed what he knew, and we put in what we gleaned from contemporary press reports and factory documents. All we could conclude was that that a car with so much promise remained “The Big One That Got Away.”

Graham soon helped us to learn more. Prominent collectors restored both Dolomites. Now, Jonathan Wood produces The Big One’s history.  Here is a legend none of us will ever own, only two of which were built, only one by Triumph. (There were three chassis, and parts for six engines.) The book exists through the efforts of the two current Dolomite owners. Anyone who loves Triumphs will be grateful to both publishers and author.

The straight-eight Dolomite was the prewar company’s finest hour. Never again would there be a Triumph like it. In its time, a two-liter car that could do 110 mph bid fair to be the quickest touring sports car in England. It was a Triumph in the generic as well as the specific sense. Driving it was to experience the classic prewar English sports car in its most highly developed form. It was a Donald Healey masterpiece.

Dolomite lore

False stories about the Dolomite circulated for years. Some said Triumph built six, maybe eight. We heard of sedans and coupes. An old fellow had one in a barn but wouldn’t let anyone see it. Alfa Romeo sued Triumph for copying their 8C 2300 roadster. (Reminds me of Churchill’s supposed peace offers to Mussolini in World War II. They’re in a waterproof bag at the bottom of Lake Como, and if you can’t find them you just haven’t looked hard enough.)

Jonathan Wood has looked hard enough. He puts paid to all those rumors. He delivers exhaustive details on both cars—one built by the works, one from parts. Nothing escapes his net. The result is a cleanly designed 10×12” coffee table book, laden with large-format illustrations and authoritative text.

Methodically, Wood conducts the narrative. The prelude is 1931 when Bentley, Britain’s premier sporting car, stopped racing and entered receivership. Several companies vied to fill the void: Riley, MG, Squire. At Triumph, experimental manager Donald Healey was taking a look, encouraged by auto writer Tommy Wisdom. Their eyes fell upon Vittorio Jano’s Alfa Romeo 8C 2300, one of the most beautiful prewar sports cars. It was the Dolomite’s inspiration.

Triumph’s saga

The prelude spans eighty pages of Triumph history: origins of the company under Siegfried Bettmann, its revival under Claude Holbrook, its impressive rallying successes; its lovely production cars, like the Gloria and Southern Cross. Plentiful illustrations include maps showing one-time works locations.

The Dolomite was styled by Triumph body engineer Frank Warner. Who was Frank Warner? In one of his extensive sidebars, Wood provides Frank’s life story. Likewise Bettmann, Holbrook, Wisdom, Jano, designer Walter Belgrove, and of course the great Donald Healey.

The straight-eight program officially ended in April 1935, but in Triumph Cars we showed a 1936 advert for a “very special ‘Continental’ sports saloon” related to it. Jonathan Wood has tracked that story down too. This beautiful long wheelbase saloon by Walter Belgrove (since vanished) was part of an extended line of cars planned around the Dolomite’s Alfa-like double overhead cam straight eight engine. Walter Belgrove’s renderings of a body styles show what could have been “Triumph’s flagship line.”

Recent History

We next delve into the Dolomite’s subsequent history: Tony Rolt’s and Robert Arbuthnot’s acquisitions of Healey’s car, rebuilt after its collision; parts sufficient for a second complete car; the racing career of the rebadged HSM (High Speed Motors); Giulio Ramponi, whose Corsica body betimes graced a chassis. Profuse photos show both cars in their various guises and appearances through the years. The best of these are double page color portraits of both cars today, restored to perfection. The endpapers of the book are color close-ups of their beautiful engines.

The last third of the book is a chronological, account of the history and known ownership both cars: DMH1 (Donald Healey’s, now owned by Jonathan Turner), and DMH2 (Tony Rolt’s ex-HSM, now owned by Tim Whitworth). It is amazing how many people actually knew about the cars over the years; it took Wood to put their tale together.

Wood reprints driving impressions from 1935 on, but Patrick Blakeney-Edwards, who restored DMH1, probably knows the Dolomite as intimately as anyone. “On the road it just feels fantastically competent,” he says—“it’s as good as any prewar car I’ve driven. The brakes are stupendous, the steering light and the ride excellent. It’s perfect for unstressed high-speed motoring….For me it feels as though it was built for competition, particularly around a circuit such as Le Mans….”

Above all this book is a tribute to Donald Healey, whose grandson Peter contributes the Foreword. Writing Triumph Cars, I had the fun of knowing him, and bugging him about his years with the company. An advanced autoholic, Donald liked nothing more than reliving old times, the good, the bad and the ugly. A kinder, more generous and talented man never existed. He’d love this book.

Harry Barnes was to have been our first editor, but quickly decided he couldn’t do it. I was elected, producing issues 1-18 from 1974 to 1977. Looking at those productions, I’m struck that while Triumphs haven’t changed much else has in half a lifetime.

Annual dues were $10—equal to $48 today, but didn’t buy as much. Imagine a world without computers! You printed off sheets of clean, “camera-ready” type. We couldn’t afford typesetting; those who didn’t have electric typewriters put a brand new ribbon in their Remingtons and banged hard on the keys.

“Half tones” (photos) cost $5 apiece and were rationed. We substituted “line art”—100% black sketches (as with the Jabbeke TR2 100 mph record car on the cover of TVT 1), which cost nothing extra. Issues #1-11 were printed black on buff paper called “Woodbine,” which I thought neat, though to my aging eyes today it seems barely legible. Somehow, things came together. We picked up members and Triumphs and sprang for real type, half tones and, with TVT 12, a color cover—a Silverstone grey TR3A named for Alick Dick, last managing director of Standard-Triumph.

Triumphs of All Stripes

History was big. No longer, we declared, would Triumph nuts have to suffer single-model fixations. We loved ’em all. We saw our mission to educate people on a proud history stretching back to 1923, possessed of impressive competition credentials, studded with brilliant characters from Donald Healey to Kas Kastner.

In TVT 8 we splashed out and produced 20 pages dedicated to the classic Triumph Gloria (1934-38), with able writers like Graham Robson, Glyn Lancaster-Jones, Dennis May and Chris Hastings. The next issue we shot three decades forward to “the swing-axle crowd”: Spitfire, Vitesse, GT6, Herald, even the Bond Equipe.

Then it was on to the razor-edge Town & Country, Renown and Mayflower…and the postwar Roadster, whose dickie-seat passengers, designer Walter Belgrove said, reminded him of “two privates perched over an Aldershot latrine.” (Everybody has their opinion.) We campaigned in support of the “flying doorstops,” the TR7 and TR8, urged British Leyland to send America the Dolomite Sprint sports sedan—and mourned when the marque died.

Golden Memories

I can’t tell you how much fun it was because I haven’t the space. We looked back on the noble TRS performance at Le Mans ’61 (TVT 7); Bob Tullius’s Group 44 (TVT 11) , the goofy “Sectioned Mayflower” (TVT 10); the TR-powered Morgans (TVT 18); the weird TR-X that almost precluded the TR2 (TVT 16). We covered the great 1977 national meet at Bridgehampton (“Austie Clark’s Place”), where a TR5 bonnet went airborne down the finishing straight, scattering the frightened crowd (we laughed, but only later). By 1978 we had expanded into technical topics, parts book reprints, and promoting Cox & Buckles’s new USA spares emporium, long since become the Roadster Factory.

By TVT 19, when I handed over to Dennis Phleeger, the Vintage Triumph Register had been well and truly launched. I rejoiced when my brother Mike Cook became editor, because I knew that meant a quality magazine full of “half tones” with “colour” on every page. Thanks to so many devoted people who followed since those early days, VTR remains as active as ever, still dedicated (as we proclaimed with TVT 1) to “the Smartest Cars in the Land.”

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Richard Langworth cofounded the Vintage Triumph Register in 1974 “in a Detroit bar with four other autoholics,” and has since published over fifty books on automobiles and Winston Churchill. Today he writes for Collectible Automobile and serves Hillsdale College as senior fellow for the Churchill Project.