Triumph 6T Thunderbird

The Triumph 6T Thunderbird was the original Thunderbird, a British motorcycle introduced by Triumph in 1949 and built until 1966. Managing director Edward Turner thought up the idea, the name and the paper dart logo on a trip to the United States, enlarging the Speed Twin's parallel twin from 500 cc to 650 cc to give American customers the power they demanded. Three standard-production bikes were ridden around a circuit in France to average 92 mph over 500 miles, and the model won lasting publicity when Marlon Brando rode a 1950 example in the 1953 film The Wild One. From 1960 it carried the rear fairing nicknamed the bathtub, and in 1963 it took the Turner-designed unit engine.