Angela’s Twenty-one
Angela Cotton likes Triumphs. You may recall our article on her Tigress 250 scooter, and another on her Tiger Cubs (TCM, November 2019).
Six years ago at Netley Marsh autojumble she upped her game, purchasing a 1961 3TA 350cc twin. “I’d always fancied a bigger Triumph,” she said. “I really wanted a 500, but this was within budget.”
“Though you’ve spent the difference and more since then,” laughed Angela’s partner Graeme Stretch. He’s into Triumphs too, though in his case it’s the classic four-wheeled kind, and he has helped with many of Angela’s rebuilds.
The 350 from the trader turned out to have been bodged together with several non-original and ill-fitting parts. This was to be a practical, ridden machine, not a show bike, so the lack of detail originality didn’t bother Angela, but the mechanical problems did. Pegging away at them, plus using and working on her scooters, ancient and modern, has meant that the Triumph has covered less than 500 miles since she’s been its keeper, and not left its Isle of Wight home.
Angela is a good-humoured and capable woman, and her love of the Tigress and her Vespas chimes with the story of Triumph’s Twenty-one, a historically significant model – and one with a big link to scooters.
The tale of the Twenty-one
The 350cc model introduced for 1957 was Edward Turner’s first unit construction
