Triumph Acclaim

Triumph Acclaim

Manufacturer	British Leyland/Honda
Production	1981–1984 133,626 made
Predecessor	Triumph Dolomite
Successor	Rover 200
Body style(s)	4-door saloon
Engine(s)	1335 cc Straight-4
Transmission(s)	5 speed manual 3 speed automatic
Wheelbase	91 in (2311 mm)
Length	161 in (4089 mm)
Width	63 in (1600 mm)
Height	53 in (1346 mm)
Related	Honda Ballade

The Triumph Acclaim was a front wheel drive medium-sized family car made by British Leyland (BL) from 1981 to 1984. It was based on the Honda Ballade and used a Honda-designed engine, but met United Kingdom component-content requirements. It was the final model of the Triumph marque.

The development process began in 1978 when delegates of British Leyland entered talks with overheads at Honda with a view to developing a new small family saloon. On 26 December 1979, Michael Edwardes officially signed a collaboration between British Leyland and Honda. 18 months later, the new car went into production, badged as the Triumph Acclaim and based on the Honda Ballade. The end of Dolomite and TR7 production meant that the Acclaim was the only car to wear the Triumph badge after 1981.

The Acclaim was significant as the first essentially Japanese car to be built within the European Economic Community (now the European Union), to bypass Japan's voluntary limit of 11% market of the total number of European sales. The Acclaim was also a major turnaround point for BL itself, with the car sporting good reliability and build quality from the outset. It paved the way for the Honda-based, Rover-badged range of cars which BL (and successor organisations Austin Rover and Rover Group) would develop throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

The most notable outward change from the Honda was the appearance of a central badge on the grille. At the time, the Japanese model had "Honda" to the right-hand side of the grille. Other changes included twin Keihin carburettors (the Ballade only had a single carburettor), the mirrors were situated on the doors, the independent front and rear MacPherson strut suspension was tweaked for the UK market and the seats were based on Ford Cortina frames. The Acclaim was thought to provide a more luxurious interior trim than it's Honda equivalent. The brakes were disc at the front and drum at the rear.

All Acclaims were powered by the transverse mounted all alloy and overhead cam 1335 cc engine found in the Honda Civic driving the front wheels through a 5-speed manual gearbox or a 3-speed Trio-matic (which was a manually selectable automatic transmission) gearbox and the interior was nearly identical (except for the seats). The usual BL trim levels were offered: L, HL, HLS and the top of the range CD, which had front and rear electric windows, headlamp washers, velour upolstery with seat pockets on the back of the front seats and optional air conditioning. The car remained largely the same throughout its production life. The main changes were to the door handles, the clock a restyled steering wheel, a restyled gear knob, the interior light and the heater recirculation control, which was moved. Later HL & HLS cars were better equipped than the earlier ones.

There was a limited-edition "Avon" Acclaim which had leather seats, wooden dashboard, wooden door cappings, two-tone metallic paint, colour coded wheels with chrome embellishers, chrome plated grille, colour coded headlamp surrounds, vinyl roof, extra soundproofing and optional turbocharging.

The Acclaim replaced the Triumph Dolomite of the 1970s and was succeeded by the first Rover 200-series, based on the next incarnation of the Honda Ballade.

It was the last car to wear the Triumph badge. The last Acclaim off the production line is now in the Heritage Motor Centre.

In 1982 and 1983, it featured in the top ten selling cars in Britain; the first Triumph to achieve this feat since records began in 1965.

A total of 133,625 Acclaims were produced, the vast majority of which were sold in Britain.^[1]

Production finished in the summer of 1984, when the Rover 200 was launched, and the Acclaim's demise saw the end of the Triumph marque, as Austin Rover's restructuring saw only the Austin, Rover and MG marques being retained.

An urban myth surrounds the car in that it was claimed it would have to be re-badged for the German market as the name 'Triumph Acclaim' translates to 'Sieg Heil' in German. In truth, the Acclaim was only sold in Germany to British servicemen and servicewomen based in Germany through the NAAFI.

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