Canley Classics - Triumph Museum

I hate electronic ignition!

2009-12-16T08:49:00.004Z

MKIII V8 shares car park with famous Spitfire.

We taxed the V8 for 6 months (the only car we own that we have to pay the rent on!) during the 'summer' and used it on and off up until the end of November. Nothing much to report on this year regarding work on the car as it went straight through the MOT after a rear wheel cylinder change, and was subsequently 100% reliable (or 110% as they say on X factor).

That was up until the week before I was due to bring it back into work and put it to bed for the winter. Pulling off the drive at home it suddenly died, and refused to start. I've isolated it to the ignition module in the distributor which I had problems with a couple of years ago. My experience with electronic ignitions of all types is not a happy one, they have proven to be one of the most unreliable areas of my Triumph driving history over the years. The V8 is the last car we own that still relies on the devils work to get a spark to the cylinders. I might investigate swapping the distributor for an earlier points & condenser P6 unit in an effort to improve reliability in the future. Meanwhile it sits in the garage at home in disgrace waiting for me to fix it which might take a while as I don't work on cars at home, ever!

New pictures!

2009-12-12T14:18:00.004Z

I am indebted to Ted Taylor for sending me a raft of new (new to me) pictures of BYE at the start of, and during the 1970 World Cup Rally.

Thanks Ted, that's all I needed to raise the enthusiasm levels and dust off the welding gear!

Everyday Atlas

2009-12-12T10:48:00.004Z

Courier and Atlas towards the end of the summer (remember that?).

Since I put the oldest (roadworthy) Herald to bed in September I have gone back to using the Atlas as my everyday transport. All well and good for the first couple of months, but just recently the cold damp mornings are beginning to take there toll on my enthusiasm. Jumping into an ice box at 6am every morning and then suffering the hurricane force drafts, the terminally leaky windscreen seal, and a heater that's about as much use as a fart in a colander is getting me down. Don't get me wrong I still love my Atlas, but me thinks I need something more civilised back on the road during winters worst. Come back the Chicane all is forgiven!

Stafford 2009

2009-12-11T07:57:00.003Z

TSSC Stafford 50th Aniversary of the Herald 2009

We thought it might be a good idea to get the oldest Herald (on the road!) up and running for this years TSSC Stafford 50 th anniversary of the launch of the Herald event.

Born on the 19th March 1959 and bearing chassis number 11 there can't be many cars earlier than this.

Bearing in mind it hadn't been on the road since the 1980's it needed very little in the way of recommissioning. A complete brake overall, a drivers footwell, clutch hydraulics, and it flew through an MOT. Our aim is to preserve where ever possible, not to simply 'restore' and loose all original reference points. To many cars have had all originality 'restored' out of them, bearing little evidence of how they left Triumph's gates when new.

The drive up to Stafford proved uneventful bar a headlight cowl flying off. Once retrieved from the side of the road we were surprised to find no damage to it what so ever which was a relief bearing in mind how rare long peak cowls are getting.

Since Stafford I continued to drive the 948 every day until the end of the summer, and what a great little car it is to drive to. One of the nicest 948's I've ever had the pleasure of driving (and I've driven a few!), they made these early cars real good.

Atlas gets the 'works'

2009-04-17T09:13:00.003+01:00

I always thought the Atlas looked a little plain and seeing as it's painted in it's original powder blue 'works' rally colour I thought it might look nice in some 'works' sign writing. Some kind soul forwarded me a picture of a van in period with something suitable on the side which we forwarded to the people doing the job for us, I think they did a good job of replicating it.

New Pictures of 6003VC

2009-04-16T08:20:00.004+01:00

Yet more trawling through the pile of old classic car magazines brought in from home for shredding revealed the following pictures of 6003 VC's past exploits. Found in the February 1990 edition of Thoroughbred & Classic Car they show 6003 VC going on to to win overall the Historic Car Register's Weston Park event on the RAC stage. As this entry, and result is new to me I shall have to add it to the car's other battle honours further down this page (when I've worked out how to do it!).
That pile of old magazines is finally getting smaller, I'm on my third boot full in the Chicane, and you can get quite a few magazines in a Chicane boot I will tell you!

Gold Seal Spitfire

2009-04-15T09:04:00.004+01:00

Browsing through the remnants of my once extensive magazine collection (I have been shredding them!) in the garage at home the other day I found the following from the March 1986 edition of Classic & Sportscar. This confirms my recent correspondence with Julius Thurgood that the car had passed through his hands in the mid eighties.
Coincidently I had a gentleman telephone me last week who had owned the car in the early 70's after it's Gold Seal career ended. More info to follow as and when we get it including some promised new pictures!

As Found

2009-02-27T22:42:00.004Z

Here's the photos as found...

4 Cylinder Lucas Injection

2009-01-16T10:02:00.001Z

Well at least the unique 4 cylinder distributor/metering unit pedestal, the 4 cylinder racing metering unit, and the racing injectors anyway.

Tried but not raced on the Le Mans Spitfires, this is where this set originates from. Using a cam operated metering unit as against the more recognisable vacuum operated type, meant instant translation of the drivers throttle input to the race cars fuel demands. Didn't do anything for fuel consumption though, so not useful in road going applications! Very similar to the units used on the Abingdon Mini Cooper rally cars of the late 1960s, and very sought after today! Have spoken to those directly involved with Le Mans Spitfire development at the Triumph and no-one as yet can remember which car was used for the testing. By default I think it must have been one of Bradley's cars, ADU 1B, 2B, 5B, or ERW 412C, but have yet to confirm?

Herald Technical College Chassis

2009-01-16T10:01:00.001Z

MKI Herald exhibition/show/college rolling chassis.

Recently donated by an ex-Triumph employee who in turn had recently acquired it from the MG Rover headquarters, and training school at Studley Castle in Warwickshire. It's interesting to note that MG Rover had thought it worthwhile to have a training aid on the books that was more at home in 1959! Triumph produced many of these training aids (at least a hundred) for technical colleges, schools, and other institutions, that provided valuable insight into the inner workings of the automobile. This was only possible with a separate chassis car, and this is the reason many of these survived into the 90's. A veritable flood of these came onto the market from the early 90's, right through until recently. Most ended up being used as donors in restoration projects, indeed a couple of partially disassembled ones that went through our hands in the Kipping's days ended up under concourse cars. Our latest find however will not suffer this fate for two things are in it's favour, firstly it's complete, and in good condition, and secondly it's a MKI, and very much rarer than the 'common' MKII college chassis version. Needing only minor cosmetic restoration, it shouldn't take much to get it up and running and driveable again.

Transaxle

2009-01-16T09:58:00.003Z

This will really test your Triumph trivia!

This is an example of a complete prototype transaxle assembly from the stillborn 1958 Zebu saloon project. The Zebu was a halfway house between the Standard Vanguard and the Triumph 2000 (Barb). Triumph lost their way at this time, and things got rather complicated with many body design changes, and multiple chassis and running gear revisions. At one time in the project a Herald body was hot crossed bun sectioned and stretched to fit the Zebu chassis! Things got so desperate at the end Triumph dropped the whole project and then went off and nearly settled on a Vanguard engined AMC Wrangler (an ugly American saloon of the period. Fortunately sense prevailed and we were given the wonderful Triumph 2000 family.

We are currently restoring the transaxle to display standard incorporating a wheeled display frame so that we can move it around in the museum.

70X Engine Weber Inlet Manifold

2009-01-16T09:54:00.002Z

This is one of the ultra rare original factory Spitfire Le-Mans/Rally 70X Weber inlet manifolds. It was recently donated by Peter Clarke ex of the Triumph Competition department and instrumental in the building and maintenance of the original 'works' cars.

Peter went on to help build and prepare with Peter Cox the ultra competitive ex-works, ex Stirling Moss/Val Pierre SMART Spitfire ADU 467B, maybe this is where this manifold originates from?

February 08 up-date

What were the chances of finding the other hand to our manifold floating around Coventry 40 odd years after the event? Well I knew it was a long shot to complete the pair of the ultra rare 70X alloy head (the steel head, and SAH head manifolds are different) inlets. Step forward another ex comp shop (experimental) engineer who recently dug one out for us along with a load of steel head inlets, and forged piston sets! We sorted through the spare stuff and it duly went on to e-Bay, making a tidy sum in the process for their owner. Apparently most of it has found it's way to Italy.

Picture from the e-Bay listing of those steel head inlets.

Le Mans Fuel Tanks

2009-01-16T09:52:00.004Z

At least eleven of the works Spitfires built, ADU 1B through ADU 8B, ADU 467B (may not have had a long range tank, as a 'normal' hardtop car) , AVC 654B, ERW 412C and of course the Macau, all had these endurance long range aluminium petrol tanks fitted.

We have four of the original five we owned (we recently sold a tank to our friend Steve Phillips who is making a replica Macau) here on display in our museum. These should not be confused with the replica tanks we made and sold a few years back, the most famous of which now sits in Mark Fields (Jigsaw Racing) works replica Spitfire.

The ones we have on display are genuine 40 year old original, and show all signs of it, being dented, and corroded, as you might expect for 40 year old aluminium.

So consider this, bearing in mind that ADU 3B, ADU 4B, ADU 5B, ADU 6B, ADU 7B, ADU 8B, and AVC 654B should all have there original tanks still fitted (the Macau lost its original tank in America) that makes seven tanks still fitted to works cars, plus the five we have owned, and one other one we know of locally, and the Macau's (still in the USA?) that makes 14!

OK, so a couple of tanks may have been made as spares, but if you knew that we acquired these tanks fairly locally, and that there exists locally the considerable remains of a factory backed private Spitfire racing effort, still in situ after almost 39 years after the three cars were last campaigned, then it might not surprise you to see an amazing survival rate of 'works' parts.

Watch this space for further developments.

In the meantime please feel free to come along and examine these and other parts of Triumph's Spitfire racing effort.

Macau Head

2009-01-16T09:49:00.002Z

We have recently been extremely lucky in acquiring the original aluminium works 8 port 70X head that was taken off the Macau by Kas Kastner in 1966. Along with some other original engine components acquired, this should go most of the way to allowing us to return the Macau to it's 1965 specification.

We are indebted to Kas Kastner for his help in tracking down the parts, it turns out they never went very far, having sat unused in California for nearly 40 years!

The cylinder head in particular is in very good condition, and is virtually ready to use, a tribute to very careful storage for all those years.

It now seems unlikely that any of the original works circuit cars will be at Le Mans latter this year to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Spitfires racing there, a good time to get the Macau up and running in original 4 cylinder form?

Here are some quotes from Kas taken from the various correspondence we have exchanged, they add to the excitement!

Kas : "Are you interested in the Spitfire aluminium 8 port cylinder head with inlet manifolds that I believe is the original fitment for the car (Macau) when I received it from the factory?"

Kas : "That's really great, I am very pleased indeed that you are getting the original parts back home, wonderful !"

Experimental Rotary Throttle

2009-01-16T09:48:00.002Z

Another important part of Triumph's superb experimental and development history has recently been donated to our museum. This time we are indebted to Mr Peter Clarke formerly of the Triumph competitions and experimental departments.

This is an experimental rotary throttle body, we believe Ray Henderson (head of experimental) may have had a hand in its conception and design, and indeed based on Ray's work Rover later patented the idea.

You can see from one of the pictures that we have set the throttles half open/closed so you get an idea of its operation, simple and uncomplicated, and way ahead in conception.

Stag V8 Lucas Petrol Injection Inlet Manifolds

2009-01-16T09:46:00.002Z

How rare are these, I have never even seen a picture of these before let alone having seen them in flesh.

Triumph very early on in the Stag development program tried Lucas injection and these are orginal inlet manifolds from that period. Donated by Tony Luxton (ex Triumph experimental) we are indebted to him for saving such rare parts and giving them into the safe keeping of our museum. Now all we need is an eight cylinder metering unit (I know where there is few of those), and a Stag metering unit drive and mounting, any ideas?

5 Speed Gearbox

2009-01-16T09:44:00.002Z

This is one of the mythical Triumph 5 speed gearboxes, predating the later 77mm 5 speed that appeared in the TR7, Rover SD1, etc.

Looking like a normal Triumph saloon, TR 4-6 alloy gearbox with a bit tacked on the back, this is essentially what it is! Ours is numbered EX5SPD/1 (experimental 5 speed number 1), I know of another in Germany, and there was supposed to be another in a big saloon somewhere up North? Ray Henderson once told me on one of his visits here that 'it wern't nought to do with us' (Triumph)! He later rang me up and appologised, he had spoken to Triumphs chief gearbox guy at the time who had confirmed the project had indeed happened, prompted by the intervention of a certain Mr Kas Kastner. All the ones I have seen or heard of have had saloon input shafts, and have at one time or another been fitted in saloons, not TR's, unless anyone knows differantly? Why didn't they go into production with this instead of the incredibly heavy cast iron case, clunky old 77mm box I will never know?

Econocruise

2009-01-16T09:33:00.002Z

Cruise control, only fitted to modern luxury motors? We bought a Spitfire4 MkII a couple of years ago that had been fitted in the mid 1970s with this bolt on cruise control kit. The car has been off the road since the very early 1980s so we haven't yet tried it out. Sports cars with cruise control, whatever next?

Dunlop Wheels

2009-01-16T09:30:00.001Z

Please note. This is simply an old advertising brochure from Dunlop from the 60's that we have scanned in. It does not imply that we stock Dunlop Formula 'D' wheels!

Blue Prints

2009-01-16T09:28:00.002Z

Recently donated to our museum was something in the region of 200/300 original factory blueprints.

We are indebted to Roy Ford (formally Triumph Experimental) in firstly having the foresight to save these valuable pieces of history from disposal when the Triumph factory was being cleared, and secondly in donating them to our museum.

Detailing the designs of such diverse parts as chassis brackets, trim parts, and wiring looms.

Although in good condition, they will need careful storage, after cataloguing.

Unleaded Petrol Research Courtesy of Esso/Triumph

2009-01-16T09:25:00.000Z

Nothing New Under The Sun

The following correspondence from our archive between Esso and Triumph shows that the two companies were worried enough about unleaded fuel in 1970 to instigate some comprehensive studies into valve seat recession. Of course Triumphs were to run throughout the 1970's in America on unleaded fuel without problem as they do today.

If nothing else it also proves our advice since unleaded fuel became available in the UK (and elsewhere on this website), use it without modification, you will have no problems. If Esso could thrash a fresh GT6 around a test track at 100mph day after day with negligible recession then you are hardly likely to suffer any. We also have had several of our Triumph's on long term (very, very long term!) test without recession, see the Chicane and 2.5 PI MK1 pages in our museum.

Spitfire Tuning Kits

2009-01-16T09:21:00.003Z

Amazing what sits around in your drawer?

These original typed and hand written/annotated specification notes for the factory Spitfire4 MkII tuning kits were recently donated by our friend Tony Luxton (ex Triumph experimental engineer). Tony has recently retired from Land Rover where he continued to work in development after moving there when the Triumph closed at Canley. These little gems came to light whilst clearing his drawers out!

Interesting in that it shows part numbers for all the trick bits, but also prices in pounds, shillings and pence, hand written alongside each part.

Triumph only really sold (usually through SAH) Spitfire Interim, and Spitfire Stage II kits to satisfy homologation regulations to justify the racing effort.

These are also if you wish to replicate a Stage II car in that it even list things like choke sizes for the 40 DCOEs, ignition timing, and compression ratios.

Original Triumph Gift

2009-01-16T09:20:00.002Z

Original Triumph complimentry match box. Made (we are told) to celebrate the 1959 launch of the Herald.

Later on these match boxes re-appeared with the picture of the red and white Herald covered by another Standard Triumph shield emblem. This has given rise to the theory that either there was a serious over production of the box in the first place, or that to few were given away at the original 1959 launch! Now much saught after by Triumph collectors, we have seen these change hands for over £5 each on e-Bay!

Chairman's Badge

2009-01-16T09:18:00.002Z

Found under the carpet of a GT6. What was it doing there?

Fire Extinguisher

2009-01-16T09:16:00.002Z

Part number 554449, available new from your Stanpart Accessories Brochure in the 1960s. Always better to be safe than sorry!

Draftman's Board Ruler

2009-01-16T09:14:00.001Z

We are indebted to Roy Ford (former Triumph Experimental Dept) for donating this draftman's board ruler.

Taken from one of the drawing boards in the Triumph design studios upon the closure of the Canley plant. How many cars were designed using this - what stories could it tell?

Spitfire ADU 4B Le Mans

2009-01-16T08:58:00.005Z

Commission number (1964) X727, engine number (1964) X935E, registered 01.06.64. Described in prototype department build sheets as 'Le Mans No1'.

ADU 4B as revealed when removed from container at Felixstowe after arrival in the UK from the USA in 2004.
Picture courtesy of James Carruthers

ADU 4B 1965 Le Mans pre race and the late great Harry Webster

Le Man 1965

ADU 4B Sebring 1965
(Peter Clarke works mechanic to right of image)

ADU 4B Sebring 1965 Pit Stop
Picture courtesy David E Feuerhelm
David's father Duane drove 4B at Sebring in 1965

ADU 4B at the Swiss Hill Climb Mittholz - Kandersteg Sept.1965
Thuner at the wheel first in his category
(Picture courtesy Daniel Senn)

ADU 4B at the end of the 1965 season with the drivers from the
Leyland Triumph Swiss Racing Team.
On the right is JJ Thuner Swiss Championship winner 1965.
(Picture courtesy Daniel Senn)

ADU 4B showing hasty repairs following accident whilst in Switzerland in the 1980's

ADU 4B in the USA in 2002
whilst in the custodianship of Vern Brannon
(929 HP Le Man TRS behind)
Picture courtesy of Howard Baugues

Spitfire Gold Seal Racing

2009-01-15T23:01:00.004Z

This is possibly the only surviving Gold Seal Racing plastic Spitfire.

We were privileged to acquire this car from Richard Lloyd himself, who delivered the car to us aided by his race mechanic Peter Clarke (ex Triumph competition dept). Richard had tracked the car down with the help of Julius Thurgood classic car dealer (Julius has since informed us that he saw it in an advert in Exchange & Mart in 1984), and latterly the Top Hat race series organiser. Previous to this it had sat in a barn on a farm for many years in an unloved state. Unfortunately by the time we acquired the car it was engineless its original 70X engine having gone into a new car that Peter Clarke had built up for Richard to go racing in. They (Peter & Richard) having decided that it would be too difficult to enter an all plastic Spitfire in any established race series decided to build the new car up around a steel tub with aluminium outer panel-work (we supplied the tub and the alloy panels). As a result the glass-fibre car was now redundant and seemed unlikely to ever race again hence our acquisition.

Period shot of car with Richard Lloyd at the helm
(courtesy of Richard Lloyd, it's his autograph on the front cover!)

Earlier in it's history our car had been owned by Terry Hunter (former works rally driver for Triumph) who had bought the car directly from Triumph after its works competition career ended, he in turn passed it on to Peter Clarke who then comprehensibly rebuilt it for Richard Lloyd into the plastic Spitfire we see today. The only major steel part of the car, the bulkhead is probably all that is left of one of the original prototype Spitfires built by Triumph prior to production.

Later in the cars racing career when it acquired it's blue nose.

For those of you who were unaware of Team Gold Seal here is a brief history.

Gold Seal Car Company Limited (a London based sports car dealers) sponsored a team of 3 drivers and cars, the drivers being Peter Cox, Richard Lloyd, and Chris Marshall. Peter Cox needs little introduction as he was a prime mover in the factory competitions dept in the 1960s during the Spitfire racing/rallying years. Peter went on in 1967 to win the Freddy Dixon trophy in the ex Stirling Moss, Smart Spitfire ADU 467B. Indeed a highly modified ADU 467B was Peter's first Gold Seal sponsored car for the 1968 season.

Servicing at the Mugello Circuit 1969

Richard Lloyd at the time was working for Peter Gormley Management Limited looking after Cliff Richard, The Shadows, and others, very 1960s! Richard went on to be a highly successful racing team manager including the Team Bentley Le Mans effort recently.

Mugello 1969

Chris Marshall sold sports cars for a living, whilst in his free time he raced saloon cars (A40s, Minis, Anglias), until he converted to Spitfires.

The cars themselves were radically modified Spitfire's even by today's standards.

Eventually all three cars sported all plastic (glass-fibre) body-shells, bonnets, etc. Even the boot lids were 'glassed' in with integral glass-fibre hinges to complete the effect! The only 'metal' parts of the car ended up being the bulkhead and floors, yes even the sills were glass-fibre!

As delivered to us, and much as Julius Thurgood found it in 1984
after purchasing it from an advert in Exchange & Mart

All of this glass-fibre work was carried out by Chris Williams of Windmill Plastics here in Coventry, and indeed all of the cars carried Chris Williams sponsorship decals on their rear quarters.

All three cars were built and maintained by Peter Cox, and Peter Clarke who was also a 'works' competition dept mechanic heavily involved in the Spitfire effort.

All it needs is an engine, oh and a major restoration!

In 1969 Team Gold Seal entered two cars in the International Mugello Grand Prix for sports cars, run on the Mugello road circuit near Florence. Entered in the 1000cc class this entailed sleeving down the 1200cc 70X engines to 998cc. The two cars were entry number 54 (blue nose car), and entry number 55 (yellow nosed car). Unfortunately Pete Cox crashed the yellow nosed car very heavily in practice, so much so that all they brought of it away from the event afterwards was the engine (this engine subsequently got fitted to a Formula Junior style racer but was never very successful in this form), and a few other mechanical components. The blue nosed car raced in the event (driven by Chris Marshall & John Brittan) but suffered a puncture that put it out of the serious running.

It was this car that Julius Thurgood tracked down and sold to Richard Lloyd years later, and that we were lucky enough to acquire later still from Richard.

Gold Seal Racing : Peter Cox, Chris Marshall and Richard Lloyd

As it stands our car is in serious need of restoration, but it will be worth the effort, what a super part of Triumph racing history! The one stumbling block to an accurate restoration could have been sourcing a works 70X engine to replace the one removed by Peter in the course of building Richards new race car. However since we got the car we have found two genuine 70X motors, and enough components to build a third, so no problems there then. Now all we have to find is the time to do it.

2001 - Back Home in Coventry

2009-01-15T22:40:00.000Z

It became common knowledge in Triumph circles in 1999/2000 that for the right money The Macau was available yet again. In 2001 we made our first tentative enquiry, checking the cars provenance and the price! On the 4th July 2001 we rented a Mercedes Sprinter and drove to Switzerland to buy The Macau. On arrival our initial impressions were disappointing, parked in an underground garage blocked in by several other dead cars, under a layer of dust The Macau sat forlornly on 4 flat tyres. After much pushing and shoving we managed to get the car out into the daylight where Dieter tried to get the engine started on petrol that smelt ancient. After several failed attempts pools of foul smelling petrol were forming on the floor under the open ram pipes of the 45 DCOE Webbers, this promptly caught fire! This was quickly put out and further attempts at starting the car were quickly forgotten about. Despite this I was more than satisfied that this was indeed The Macau before me, and I was happy to see the excellent condition of the basic car and the many original 1965 features still in situ.

Back home in Coventry we quickly gave the car a good wash, polish, and servicing after its period of inactivity. Temptation got the better of me and I steered The Macau out of Canley Classics gate straight on to Triumphs old test route mentioned by Fred Nicklin above, and cobwebs were duly dispensed with (in both me and the car!).

Since then The Macau has been regularly exercised including re-visiting the Mira test track with Fred Nicklin driving ( Classic Car Magazine article reproduced here), a blat around Enstone Airfield ( Practical Classics Magazine article reproduced here), and being displayed at the NEC Classic Car show and the Triumph Show at Stoneleigh.

The Macau Spitfire on the runway at Enstone Airfield in 2002

David Lloyd paying us a visit to inspect his handywork.

David worked at the Triumph and actually drew up the Macau's special features. He was also responsible for the manufacture of the Macau's fibre glass panelwork including the rear deck, and hump. David has promised to help us reinstate a more sympathetic (to the original) hump.

The Wanderer Returns

2009-01-15T22:36:00.002Z

Save a brief visit to these shores in the mid 1990s Triumph's most famous racecar has been wandering the globe since it left Coventry in 1965.

Now back in Coventry for good care of Canley Classics Triumph Specialists The Macau's future is assured.

Soon to be housed in a purpose built museum dedicated to Triumph, growing to become one of the largest collections of Triumph prototypes, racecars, and memorabilia in the world.

Originally built for the 1965 Macau Grand Prix in which it finished third overall it had many further successes in the Far East before being shipped to Triumphs American racing department.

Here it was modified by Triumph tuning Guru Kas Kastner for a further period of racing. Dropping into temporary obscurity in the late 1970s early 1980s, at one time actually used as a road car by a Texan owner in the mid 1980s.

Surfacing at a Classic car auction in Switzerland in the early 1990s it was bought and kept in a private collection in Switzerland until last week.

Now in need of sympathetic restoration the car is however in remarkably original condition for a well used former racecar. After The Macau's period of inactivity the engine needed a little work before it was again fired up for a short drive along the roads it left 35 years ago.

The 1990s - Dieter Messmer

2009-01-15T22:28:00.001Z

Bought by a Swiss motor trader Dieter Messmer for the equivalent of £6000 The Macau was back in Europe. During his ownership the centre spine joining the rear deck and the dash top was replaced enabling the passenger tonneau to be refitted. The Macau seems to have been used little during this time doing only the occasional local hill climb.

As the Macau appeared in that 1991 auction catalogue.
Courtesy of Daniel Senn

The 1980s

2009-01-15T22:21:00.004Z

The Macau then passed to Forristall's GT Cars Inc, in Houston Texas in early 1981, from whom Dave Seibert of Atlanta Georgia bought it for $8000 in February 1981.

As the Macau appeared in 1982.
Taken at an early SVRA race at Altanta.
Pictures courtesy of David Seibert

Mr Seibert continued to race The Macau in historic events including the Atlanta Vintage Grand Prix in November 1984, there still being stickers from this event in the car. Prior to this Mr Seibert had gone some way to restoring the car to its 60's spec by re-installing a hump behind the drivers head, and re-painting The Macau overall silver with a black painted bonnet top. This is very much as the car appears today, the paint having stood up well to the last 20 years.

Racing at Altanta 1982

During 1987 the car was again advertised for sale bringing enquires from Europe. We are not sure if it was sold at this time but the next time The Macau had a public airing was when it turned up for auction in Switzerland in September 1991.

Painted silver again!

The 1970s

2009-01-15T22:18:00.002Z

The car passed to Alamo Sports Cars in Texas in February 1968 who raced it in the SCCA (Sports Car Club Of America) Nationals. It may have been during this period that the original magnesium wheels were substituted for wider Lotus 'wobbly' magnesium wheels.

The following mail was recieved from Ray Ariola that clears up this part of the Macau's history;

My name is Ray Ariola and I have been employed at Alamo Sports Cars for 11 years. I do part time work for a retired gentleman here named Robert Alexander on his stable of british cars( Spitfire, TR6, TR7,MG, even a Turner MKI, among others)this weekend while finishing up on an engine rebuild on one of his Spitfires, we were talking about other cars he has owned and he told me that he was an owner of the Macau spitfire at one time.

As he related it, he purchased it from Mr. Robin Eschauzier who founded Alamo Sports cars, who purchased it from Kas Kastner. Mr. Alexander sold the car to Gerry Barry (who licensed it for street use). He remembers the car as having the rotoflex rear suspension, and wobbly web wheels when he owned it. So it might be safe to assume that Mr. Eschauzier had those modifications made at his Triumph dealership.

Thanks for clearing that up Ray.

The Macau changed hands again in July 1974, this time Barry Jerry (Gerard T Barry) being the lucky chap. Mr Barry actually registered The Macau for the road with the registration PKN 689 in the county of Bexar Texas in November 1979.

Kas Kastner Musings

2009-01-15T22:05:00.004Z

When we bought The Macau we did some fairly detailed research into the history including contacting as many past owners as possible. We now know (or think we know!) The Macau's history for every year of it's life. Thanks to the contributions of people like Ray Henderson (Triumph Competition's), Fred Nicklin (Triumph test driver), Vernon Branon (owner of ADU 4B and ace researcher), and Kas Kastner (one time owner of Macau) we have filled in a few of the gaps in The Macau's history. There follows the musings of one Mr Kas Kastner on his period of ownership of the car which ran from April 14th 1966 to the 2nd February 1968 (yes we know the actual dates!). Thanks also to Mr Kastner for the pictures he forwarded along with his e-mail as reproduced below.

Yes, I did put in the 6 cylinder engine and built the scoop for the hood to clear the valve cover. Hard to remember other things but I'll look through my photos and see if I've got some others that might give some better views. I do believe that I put a TR-4 gearbox in it but don't remember any dates, probably early '64 ish. I thought I did cause I remembered putting in the TR-4 rear motor mount (the tranny one) but you know that was 35 years ago and I've had so many cars and did so many conversions and modifications... sometimes it gets a little confusing.

I changed the tank because we were running pretty short races and needed a sealed unit for technical inspection. Whatever the chassis was when I got the car is the same one that is in it now for all of me. I did not change it, not having a reason or the time or facility or money to do it.

Courtesy Kas Kastner

Bigger radiator, 2 litre engine and the TR-4 gearbox were installed and we ran the car in a new series called the United States Road Racing Championships which was a fore-runner to the Can-Am. This was circa '65-'66. We ran in the under 2 litre section and did okay. The straight line was great but too small a brakes and tyres held the car from really being a thing of real performance. It looked great on the track though and always caused a lot of comment.

I guess it would have probably been in '67 cause that would have given me time to do the conversion over the Christmas holidays. We ran it two or three times in the 1147cc form but were not even close to being competitive against such new and modern design cars not devised from a production unit, so I figured I'd do something about it.

In early 6 cyl form Charlie Gates at the helm.
Picture courtesy of Kas Kastner

It went a lot better with 200bhp under the bonnet. I think (probably) we got a third in the under 2000 class at Riverside because I do remember we made $800 that day. I've checked all my photos and nothing has a date on it.

Sorry but at the time it didn't mean a damn thing so why bother with the details. This was strictly a fun thing toy for me to get away from the production car regulations and hum drum. Charlie Gates was the only one to drive the car for me.

Getting back to the roto-flex, I just don't remember what the car had as received. Whatever Ray Henderson (who worked in Triumph experimental/competitions) sent to Macau, that's what I had and that's what I sold. This means that if it was updated then another owner along the way did that part. I am guilty of the engine and hood scoops though. The original parts are long "gone". I have no idea as they were not worth anything to me at the time. I expect I used the head on some cheater engine for someone to win with. I have found four photos, two in colour with 2000cc engine and one with the 1147cc engine all at Riverside with another at a track in Northern California called Cottati north of San Francisco.

Courtesy Kas Kastner

I would expect I sold the car right after the season in 1967 as I was up to my ears with spying for Harry Webster and worrying about emissions and also getting ready for the new 6 cylinder cars. I hope you understand I am rather a ruthless character and when I'm finished with a tool I want it out of my sight. That's how I felt about the cars... out with the old and in with the new. Too much to do and too little time and no money.

I do not remember the guy I sold the car to in Texas. It might sound familiar if I heard his name. (Seems I sold a lot of cars into Texas) What happened to it after that I have no idea. I think I have a couple photos in my collection that you might find of interest. One is the original configuration with Charlie Gates driving at Riverside California.

I was also at the factory when they were making this car... never thinking I would have it in my control later. We kind of raced this as a lark and fun, and it was just that.

Kas Kastner

Kas Kastner

2009-01-15T21:56:00.007Z

Delivered into the hands of ace Triumph tuning guru Kas Kastner The Macau was soon pressed into service with Kas's preferred driver Charlie Gates. Racing in a series called the USRRC (U.S. Road Racing Championships) the car proved uncompetitive in its original 1200cc form against larger capacity cars, and only ran in this form for 2 or 3 races. Kas recalls doing the now famous 2 litre 6 cylinder conversion over the Christmas holidays in 1966 ready for the 1967 season. At the same time the original 22 gallon 'Le Mans' petrol tank was replaced with a sealed 'Moon' smaller capacity aluminium racing tank to satisfy the current regulations. Also incorporated around this time to satisfy the USRRC regs was a passenger seat, necessitating the removal of the centre spine, the tonneau cover over the passenger compartment, and the installation of a full width Perspex screen. The bonnet gained extra bulges and scoops and took on a far more aggressive appearance. Kas remembers winning $800 after getting a third place in the under 2 litre class at Riverside. Kas has supplied several pictures from this period taken at both Riverside and Cottati race tracks shown on these pages.

Courtesy Kas Kastner

Towards the middle of the 1967 season the car was painted overall white and the hump behind the drivers head was removed probably to make it look even less like a single seater.

After the 1967 season Kas quickly disposed of The Macau, as he has said out with the old in with the new, new projects came along and The Macau was now surplus to requirements.

The Early Years

2009-01-15T21:53:00.002Z

The Macau Spitfire's conception and actual construction is well documented with several excellent photographs in the Heritage archive showing the method used to turn a endurance coupe in to a single seater open short circuit screamer. Built for the November 1965 Macau Grand Prix and commissioned by Walter Sulke of Z.F. Garages the Standard Triumph distributors in Hong Kong. The basis of the car used the all aluminium tub of the 1965 Le Mans Spitfires, the coupe roof being substituted for a flat glass fibre deck with a raised hump behind the drivers head aping the Jaguar D type arrangement. A rigid strut linked the rear deck and the dash top from which a soft tonneau (not solid as some have stated) covered the redundant passenger compartment with not even a seat fitted. From the curved Perspex windscreen forward it was almost all standard Le Mans with fared headlamp aluminium and glass fibre bonnet, 70X engine producing 108bhp on twin 45 DCOE Webers, sitting on a lightweight chassis.

Always right hand drive there seems to be a deal of confusion by some authors about it having at some time being converted to left hand drive which it never was. Maybe this confusion arose due to the cars chassis number which is suffixed with an 'L' normally indicating an export car built left hand drive, or maybe its because pictures have appeared in print over the years (including one in a parts suppliers catalogue) where the negative has obviously been reversed giving the appearance of a left hand drive car! Critical examination of the unique bulkhead area of The Macau today reveals no alterations or repairs that would have been necessary in the conversion to LHD and the re conversion back to RHD. More critically the people who would have carried out the conversion and re-conversion all tell me they have no recollection of doing it, so it didn't happen!

At the end of October 1965 the car was shipped to Hong Kong, not much time to prepare for the race on November 28th! Walter Sulke managed a third place in the 30 lap Grand Prix against stiff competition including Jaguar E types, Lotus Sevens, and Formula Junior cars. Later at the same event Albert Poon drove the car to a second place in the Portuguese Trophy race.

Although raced successfully in further races in the far east The Macau's stay out there was short, returning to the Triumph competition department in Coventry early in 1966. Here it appears the car was fettled for a further period of racing this time in the United States for which it was despatched on the 13th April 1966 aboard the 'Moidancer'.

left: racing in the US in 1966
centre: original four cylinder engine developed 109bhp, with eight port head
right: rear hump and wings were fashioned from fibreglass

A Brief History

2009-01-15T21:43:00.009Z

If you have been waiting for a history of this most famous Triumph Spitfire to appear on our website then I apologise for the delay. For even though I have dreamed of owning it since I first saw a picture of it on the cover of one of Graham Robson's first books, The Story Of Triumph Sports Cars, written in 1973, and have actually owned it for 2 years, it has taken to now to collate the huge amount of source material we have gathered about The Macau.

It would have been easy to simply copy verbatim one of the many potted histories that have appeared over the years in publications far and wide, and we think we have a copy of them all! One of the the most obvious reasons not to do this, is which one should we pick, as they all seem to contradict each other in many fundamental areas!

The Macau Spitfire in its original form in 1965

I am indebted to many for their contributions but the following deserve special mention.

Vernon Brannon - owner of Le Mans Spitfire ADU 4B and president of the Vintage Triumph Register, who filled in most of the gaps through the cars history through its time in the USA in the 'lost years' the mid 1970s, up to its export to Switzerland in 1991.
Bernard Robinson - editor of the Triumph Sports Six Club magazine, 'The Courier', and long time Macau fan, who provided some lovely pictures, and moral support when the decision was being made to spend an inordinate amount of money on such a small car!
Kas Kastner - former head of the Triumph competitions department in the USA and one time owner of The Macau, who's reminisces and pictures can be seen elsewhere on this site (Kas Kastner Musings).
Fred Nicklin - ex Triumph test driver who in his time drove most if not all of the Le Mans Spitfires including lapping the Mira test track at nearly 130mph in The Macau, lucky man. A frequent visitor to our premises, Fred's reminisces always keep us spellbound, Fred you should write a book, wink, wink! One snippet of information Fred divulged is that he actually drove The Macau past our gate on his way to that famous Mira 130mph track test. Apparently we are on one of the former Triumph test routes. Fred remembered the run to and from Mira being almost as exciting as the track itself, remember the car wasn't registered and had a straight through open exhaust, he said it seemed that he was chased by every dog in Warwickshire!
Ray Henderson - head of Triumph experimental and in overhaul charge of the construction of all Triumph competition cars through the Spitfire period. Ray who still lives locally, spent a day with us, and amongst the many things learnt that day was that Ray used to keep his boat in one of our sheds whilst he worked at Triumph!

So here it is, no guess work, no copying other people's work, I have the car here in front of me and paperwork and photographs from nearly every of its 38 odd years.

left: Macau sits in the Standard-Triumph engineering department
centre: like production cars, it had a removable transmission tunnel.
Gearbox was a GT6-type all-synchromesh unit
right: crated ready for shipping to Macau

Life On Mars (again)

2009-01-15T01:21:00.000Z

Also appeared (very briefly!) in an episode of Life On Mars. After a whole days filming in Manchester the only way I can see the V8 in the particular episode it appears in is to freeze frame the DVD!

RBRR 2004

2009-01-15T01:20:00.001Z

This car is to be our 2004 Round Britain Reliability Run entry.

Prototype 3500 V8 Saloon

2009-01-15T01:17:00.002Z

Factory V8 prototype saloon using TR8 running gear

This is one of four cars that we own that was originally built as a PE166 engine (later became the SD1 2,600cc straight six) or 2000 MkIII development shells, only this one is fitted with TR8 engine and 5 speed gearbox.

V8 Saloon at JOG on the 2004 RBRR

Built we are told as a painted and trimmed shell ready to go into the MkIII development program along with at least 30 other special 'off tools' shells this one got sidelined and ended up in TR8 development work. These cars were useful for all sorts of special work with their enlarged engine bays virtually anything would fit in, we have examples fitted with PE166 engines and 5 speed, 16 valve TR7 and 5 speed, 'normal' Triumph straight 6 prototype engine, and the V8 car here. We also have the remnants of a 5th car that was unfortunately banger raced before we could rescue it.

Life On Mars

2009-01-15T01:12:00.003Z

Our car on the set of Life On Mars

DI Sam Tyler (John Simm) on stakeout in LOM

Read more about Life On Mars at the BBC website at -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/lifeonmars

Prototype 2600 MkIII Saloon #2

2009-01-15T01:08:00.003Z

Although it's probably never had a Rover (read Triumph) OHC 2.6 engine in it! I suspect this was one of the painted, and trimmed shells that sat outside the Triumph experimental dept waiting to go into the 2.6 engine development program but never got used. Quite a few of these painted, and trimmed shells (figures vary from 10 to 20'ish) subsequently got sold to those in the know in experimental for £250, bargain! These guy's subsequently built up the cars using existing identities from donor car's, or registered them as newly built cars. Some were registered long after Triumph had officially ceased production.

This car is probably one of those, hence it's 'flag of convenience' identity (standard 2.5 PI), further investigation needed on our part me thinks. The only clue to it's real identity rests with it's body number, but that means going through the Heritage archive microfiche car by car in the hope of finding anything useful (needle in a haystack!).

Prototype 2600 MkIII Saloon #1

2009-01-15T00:35:00.005Z

LWK 725F Chassis No X772

Originally built like our experimental PI Estate with an early TR5 engine CP 133 E this car at some time in its life under went an identity crisis!

When acquired by us it had been re-shelled with one of the Triumph 2600cc OHC engine development shells.

These cars have unique bonnets, nose cones to fit the longer deeper 2600 engine. Amongst the many contacts we have from the former experimental department the consensus of opinion is that up to 30 of these special shells were constructed, Triumph 2600 Mk 3 maybe?

It didn't come fitted with a 2600 engine but had been adapted to fit a more familiar Triumph straight 6 but never the less still an experimental engine bearing the number X1140E.

X772's engine bay in original prototype 2.5 PI MkI form

Later in X772's existence it acquired one of these
2600 body shell in Triumph styling studio

December 2004 Update

2009-01-15T00:17:00.004Z

Heritiage's 3000 Mk11 (registered FOL 361L, chassis number ME 73244 DLBW) was included in their classic clear out auction of the 29 June 03. Needing restoration after a period of neglect and vandalism, it never the less appeared to be quite sound and a fairly easy project. Bidding fever pushed the finishing bid to £3,000, this was typical of the whole auction as most lots went for many times over estimate. Wish I had had a few cars in that auction!

As far as I know FOL 361L had been originally built for Triumph's sales exuctive Lyndon Mills, for his personnel use, what a company car! Not a prototype as such but one of the many V8 saloons and at least one estate (ours) built for the high and mighty at Triumph. This has been confirmed by Pete Clarke (ex Triumph experimental) who states that at one time he and a few others were running a makeshift production line in experimental churning these things out one after another. They would simply pull a part finished car out of the normal production stream, run it through experimental adding all the Stag bits as they went. This explains why these cars have 'normal' production chassis/commision numbers as against the more normal X prefix of out and out experimental cars.

Our V8 estate was registered by Rover at Lode Lane it was retained by them until at least 1975. I can only think that the reason for this was due to an internal BL promotion and whoever's company car it was at the time following them from Coventry to Solihull?

The Heritage trace for XXC is full of contradiction. Built in August 71, but not despatched until October 72? Built white with black trim (as we found it), but despatched Valencia blue with tan trim, and no evidence of it ever being blue? Destination (dealer) is listed as a direct sale to BLMC Rover Solihull as we know from the DVLA copies of the original log books.

The copies of the old green log books clearly state that the engine fitted when first registered was indeed a 2997 cc Stag V8 number LE 902 EBW.

As found in local scrapyard in 1983

This means it had only survived on the road for just over 10 years! Not good by todays standards when cars generally show little deteroration in their first 10 years. Mind you as I remember it all of those cars surrounding XXC in this picture, Cortina, Imp, Princess, were all younger!

V8 engine bay

Prototype 3000 V8 Estate

2009-01-15T00:12:00.004Z

XXC 200K Built by Triumph Experimental Between August and October 1971 Using Stag V8 Running Gear (Engine No LE 902 EBW)

Predating the Del Lines V8 Estates by some years he has never the less stated in a recent telephone conversation that on one of his many visits to Triumph at the time he remembers seeing this car in its original colour (white).

Triumph Day at the Heritage Centre, Gaydon in 1998
Picture Rob Pearce with thanks

It is believed that this is the only genuine Triumph built V8 Estate although Heritage understand that 2 saloons (since revised to lots, thanks to Pete Clarke, see below) were also built one of which they have in their reserve collection.

RBRR 2000

2009-01-15T00:04:00.002Z

Round Britain Reliability Run 2000

Classic & Sportscar Magazine clipping January 2001

Chicane

2009-01-15T00:00:00.003Z

South African Built Triumph 2500

A rare car in this country, having many unique features only seen on these cars with a high local build content, glass, trim, and not least colours.

Round Britain Reliability Run 2000
7.00am Saturday - Breakfast John O'Groats

Ours is Aqua blue, we know it as bathroom blue! We don't know a lot about this particular car other that it had passed through several owners in this country who hadn't registered it or used it since it was imported.

What we do know is that it was registered MJS 925T in South Africa indicating we are told that it was originally registered in the Transval area.

Whilst the back seat was out a brief note written by a Desray Raath was also found.

Any help with previous history from South African enthusiasts appreciated.

Round Britain Reliability Run 2000
8.00am Sunday - Breakfast Land's End

As Delivered

2009-01-14T23:38:00.002Z

As delivered to us!

Prototype 2.5 PI MkI Estate

2009-01-14T23:31:00.005Z

KWK 546F Chassis No X769 factory prototype 2.5PI MKI estate

Built by Triumph experimental in 1967. Using early TR5 engine CP 29 E and petrol injection.

In Triumph Experimental (top right) sharing some interesting company, TR6 & TR5 prototypes, and behind the TR5 is the TR Zest prototype, all of these cars still exist!
(picture courtesy of Derek Graham)

Retained by Triumph until 1971, and at one time owned by Andy Roberts (one time chairman of the 2000 Register) it is now in need of some TLC.

Dennis Benson

2009-01-14T23:24:00.001Z

2007 update step forward Dennis Benson! Dennis has confirmed that KC1 has indeed expired although some parts from it do still exist so a paperwork rebuild is feasible. So there you are KC2 is the oldest extent, complete GT6 in existence, it's official!

Dennis Benson is a long time GT6 enthusiast who (along with John Kipping) did much research into the early cars many years ago. Dennis has been off the scene for many years playing with trains, but has recently returned to the Triumph fold with plans to restore his prototype GT6 chassis number KC6.

The Oldest GT6

2009-01-14T23:20:00.002Z

JRW 331E - Chassis No KC00002L - The Oldest Surviving GT6

Heritage holds no production records for the early build GT6's but we have research information from various other sources.

Originally built as a left-hand drive car with wire wheels and painted white 19.

John Kipping aquired KC2 in the late 1980's from it's second owner since the factory, and we got our hands on it in 2000.

It is now in dire need of restoration but still in remarkably original condition never having been welded.

There is a remarkable survival rate amongst the earliest GT6's and ongoing research shows at least half of the first 10 cars produced have survived in one form or another. KC 00001 was known to have survived into the late 80's in the local Coventry area. Around this time it appeared in the Courier in a parlous state the owner stating that he intended to restore it. This apparently never happened as later on various mechanical units from it ended up in our pile of re-conditioning core. A sad end to an important car, although it has been rumoured that a 'paperwork' rebuild is possible. So KC 2 remains the oldest intact GT6 unless you know better (Dennis Benson where are you?).

Triumph Sports Six Club International Weekend in 2000

You may be wondering why KC2 has a MKII bonnet? It also has MKII trim, and other MKII styling cues, we are now told that along with it's prototype MKII engine (experimental engine number) this is how it left the factory. It's all MKI underneath retaining it's earlier swing axle suspension, and it's original MKI bodytub. So this is how we will (eventually) restore it, it pays to hang fire on jumping into restoring these historically important motors, it's all to easy to undo factory 'original-ness' with an unsympathetic misplaced enthusiasm hasty restoration.

The Oldest Herald Saloon

2009-01-14T23:10:00.002Z

Canley Classics saves the oldest known Herald saloon, chassis number G11, engine number G8E, built on the 19 March 1959.

Not registered until July 59 in Leicester, only two owners from new. The second owner bought the car in the seventies and used it only for one year, it then entered a period of storage in various locations for the next 30 odd years. Losing its last covered storage over a year ago, it had until recently been parked behind a shop in a public car park, and was starting to attract the attention of vandals. Saved in the nick of time, allthough superficially tatty, it has survived remarkably well retaining all of its original unique bits that would be next to impossible to replace. Now safe and in the dry, it awaits it's turn in the (sympathetic!) restoration queue before it joins the other museum cars.

Oldest Known Surviving Triumph Herald Saloon

Herald Coupe TL5 Rally Car

2009-01-14T23:05:00.003Z

8166 DU (Formerly TL 5). This is the works rally car driven to a class win in the 1960 RAC rally by Tiny Lewis.

One of a series of Standard Pennants and Herald Coupes to bear the registration TL5 driven with great success by Tiny Lewis through the late 50's and early 60's.

Reregistered by Triumph in March 1961 as 8166 DU presumably so that Mr Lewis could transfer TL5 to his next rally car?

Standard Triumph Review

RBRR 1998

2009-01-14T11:59:00.004Z

The last time I used TWP 956F was on the Round Britain Reliability Run back in 1998.

Round Britain Reliability Run 1998
Karl's Herald Coupe 2.5 and our TR5

Donnington Track Day

2009-01-14T01:42:00.003Z

Following it's return to the UK 6003 was quickly fixed and then took part in that December's Club Triumph Donnington track day where it was mostly reliable!

Castle Donnington 2005
(picture courtesy James Carruthers)

10CR 2005

2009-01-14T01:40:00.002Z

Brought out of retirement in 2005, and refitted with it's (now rebuilt) original engine 6003 was entered for the Club Triumph 10CR (10 Countries Rally). We got as far as Italy before a broken half-shaft meant an unceremonious tow truck ride home for the car (we continued in a hire car Seat Toledo!).

Broken half-shaft 2005 10CR St Barnard Pass

Magazine Articles

2009-01-14T01:35:00.005Z

6003VC continued to be my road car until August 2003 during which it appeared in articles in Practical Classics (June 2003) and Retro cars, bringing with it fantastic publicity for the business. Alas during the Practical Classics photo shoot at Bruntingthorpe airfield I got rather over enthusiastic and popped the head gasket again! As a temporary measure we shoehorned in the Kastner/Macau triple 45DCOE equipped full race 2 ltr engine. Wow! What a buzz that was, but half a tank of petrol to get backwards and forwards to work (12 miles), I think not!

Kastner/ Macau Full Race 2 ltr Triple 45DCOE

Rallying Results - 1980/90's

2009-01-14T00:44:00.027Z

work in progress!

Date	Event	Crew	Entry Number	Result
1989	Pirelli Classic Marathon	Woolley / Woolley	46	7th Overall
1990	Monte Carlo	Woolley / Woolley	-	Not classified (started event in another car!)
August 1990	Targa Rusticana	Young / Shapland	-	49th Overall
November 1991	Rally Britannia	Woolley / Kukula	18	12th Overall
1992	Pirelli Classic Marathon	Woolley / Dixon	20	Retired (halfshaft!)
August 1992	Telford Historic Stages	Woolley / Kukula	6	4th Overall (1st in Class)
November 1992	Rally Britannia	Woolley / Kukula	34	34th Overall
January 1993	Coronation Rally	Woolley / Kukula	4	Retired (engine!)
April 1993	Historic Imber Stages	Woolley / Kukula	208	9th Overall (3rd in Class)
November 1994	RAC Historic Rally	Murray / Kukula	111	16th Overall (7th in class)
April 1995	Historic Imber Stages	Murray / Kukula	219	TBA
May 1995	Mid Wales Stages	Murray / Kukula	213	10th Overall
November 1995	Rally Britannia	Murray / Kukula	-	TBA

1992 Telford Historic Stages (courtesy Sean Kukula)

1993 Coronation Rally (courtesy Sean Kukula)

John Woolley

2009-01-14T00:36:00.003Z

Reappearing in the 1980's (or at least the registration 6003VC did!) it was campaigned by John Woolley, and others, in (it seems) every historic rally for nearly a decade.

Many thanks to Sean Kukula for providing the following history of 6003 VC's busy career at this time;

I did quite a few events in the car including the Rally Britannia 3 times (An event that ran in front of the RAC rally during the Sunday on the spectator/stately home stages), the Telford Historic, Imber stages a couple of times, Epynt (Between Xmas & new year where it was so icy you could barely stand up in the services area which resulted in a rather exciting moment which involved us running out of braking room & going straight down a very steep bank only just avoiding the river at the bottom). Another classic was the Coronation Rally at Pembrey in January which again was very icy. A recent storm had made a telegraph pole weak which then broke near the top bringing the wire with it across the road, we were next car on the scene & somehow the wire got caught on the sumpguard hence we did a very commendable impression of a plane landing on an aircraft carrier! Later in the day whilst trying to regain the time lost a rod came out of both sides of the block & also the sump pan (At around 8000 rpm), the gudgeon pin had broken but the rod didn’t, it just turned into a squashed “S” shape.

The car was sold to Jim Murray who had previously rented this or another car from John. I then did 3 rallies with Jim, Rally Britannia, The Mid Wales Stages & also the Imber stages (not sure in which order)

John and Allison Woolley in 6003 VC
on the 1990 Monte Carlo Rally

Road Book for the 1994 RAC Rally (6003 on the front cover!)
Courtesy of Sean Kukula (Artwork by Ian Shapland)

1963 Alpine Rally

2009-01-14T00:30:00.003Z

Thanks to Fred Nicklin (Triumph test driver) for donating this original copy of an internal memo from Graham Robson (head of Triumph Competitions at the time). It shows the route of the 1963 Alpine Rally when Fred took along 6003VC as a service support vehicle, with Graham Robson co-driving.

Here lies a dilemma in as far as these documents prove that 6003VC in original 1600cc form, as Fred remembers, was serving as rally chasing service vehicle throughout June 1963, not finally returning to the UK until early July? Is this then the same 6003VC radically modified in triple SU 2 ltr form with many bodywork modifications that caught the ferry in late July to take part in the August Spa-Sofia-Liege? What a fantastic effort by Triumph to modify a car to that extent in a couple of weeks, or more evidence of the number plate/identity swapping prevalent in competition departments the world over? If this is the case which 6003VC burnt out in Yugoslavia, we shall probably never know?

6003VC

2009-01-14T00:21:00.004Z

In April 2002 we got to hear that John Woolley's re-creation of the 1963 works Monte Carlo Vitesse was for sale. It had lain dormant in a north London motor traders premises for some time and now the owner was looking to sell the registration or the car or both together. It would have been a great shame to have lost the works registration 6003VC to a less deserving home, so we jumped at the chance of keeping it attached to a Vitesse and bringing it home to Coventry. This Vitesse is possibly one of the most rallied Triumph's of all time and as such it deserved to be saved (see it's entry list below).

6003 VC On The Starting Line 1992 Pirelli Classic Marathon

Besides being assured the car would be ready to view, all fired up and ready to go, we were a little disappointed when we initially found it sitting forlornly at the back of the garage under an inch of dust. Anyway the deal was done, the registration stayed on the car, and the car was on the trailer on its way back to Coventry.

Courtesy of Triumph World magazine (August 1995)

Back home the next day after washing the dust off, it was evident that this Vitesse had hardly turned a wheel since it's last outing. Still covered in stickers from the 1995 Safety Devices Historic Challenge, it looked like this was the last time the car had been used in anger. On closer inspection I was more than happy with what we had bought as the car came complete with full built in roll cage, plumbed in fire extinguishers, triple SU engine, one of our own heavy duty J type overdrive boxes, Salisbury LSD, perspex window's etc, etc. The carbs and the rest of the fuel system (including twin petrol tanks) needed completely stripping and rebuilding as whatever concoction of fuel had been in there when last used had set hard. The brakes were completely renewed to be on the safe side, and the halfshafts needed rebuilding as they were completely knackered. Apart from that it needed very little doing to get it through an MOT, although the examiner did comment on the state of the underneath of the car, he said it looked as though it had been pebble dashed with house bricks, this car has had a very hard life!

6003 VC On The 1989 Pirelli Classic Marathon

There then followed a couple of months of mundane every day use, or as mundane as you can get in a stripped out full house racer on the public highway! The temptation got the better of me and we booked in for the Classic & Sportscar Action Day at Castle Combe in August along with most of the rest of the Canley Classics crew and their Triumphs.

Castle Combe Track Day

On the second time out on the track we suffered a spectacular head gasket failure whilst pulling 7,500 RPM trying to overtake a DB7 Vantage, with Craig Gingell (our web maestro) acting as ballast in the passenger seat. It was worth it though, the car handled brilliantly and felt bomb proof, up to the point when the head gasket blew! Soon fixed and back on the road, it continues to bring me to work most mornings, complete with the biggest grin a bloke is allowed to have outside the bedroom.

Brief history before our ownership. Built along with 6001VC, 6002VC, and 6004VC (spare car) for the 1963 Monte Carlo rally in which it finished 24th overall and third in class. substantially rebuilt (now 2ltr triple SU) for the Spa-Sofia-Liege of August 1963 it burnt out in spectacular fashion before the finish.

2.5PI World Cup Rally Car

2009-01-13T23:36:00.003Z

Car Number 1 World Cup Rally

Abingdon built, privately entered, and driven.

More info to follow...

First car on the starting line Wembley 1970 World Cup Rally
(Picture courtesy of Roy Fidler)

Leaving Wembley stadium.

And a few miles down the road speeding ticket!
Picture courtesy of Alan Burford-Salter (and others)

We are on the hunt for any pictures of this car (specially colour). There must have been loads of pictures of it taken at the time bearing in mind it was number one off the starting ramp in the World's most famous rally!

Dove GTR5

2009-01-13T23:27:00.005Z

Bought some years ago as an unfinished rebuild project, off the back of a scrap man's lorry.

The story we were given was that it had been in a Council lock up attracting unpaid rent somewhere in the Coventry/Birmingham area. Said scrapman had the contract to clear council property of the local area/area's of such car's. Only problem was that he was supposed to take them straight to be crushed, thankfully he came here first! Current research has drawn a blank to the cars identity, but we have been promised help on that front by a respected TR historian.

Up to 40 GTR4s were built and a handful of GTR4As. Subsequent information has come to light about the possibility of some customer's own car conversions being carried out on more than one TR5. This has yet to be verified as far as we know? Our car has certainly been a Dove coupe for many years, we have owned it for over 15 years, and it certainly looked like it had been off the road and in storage for at least 10 years prior to that.

We have done some work on the shell, new outer sills, repairs to the floors etc but compared to some of our other TR5s this is a very sound original shell. It appears to have been quite a few colours in its time including at some stage brown!

It would be nice to finish this one off, it would be really useful for the weekly shopping run to ASDA where we could park it with all the other hatchbacks!

TR5

2009-01-13T23:26:00.006Z

My first ever car, bought with my pocket money, part time job wages, and a contribution from the parents in 1977. I was still at school at the time so it gave me a couple of years to do its first restoration in time to get it on the road when I became 17.

Rousham Park STIR late 70's/early 80's?
(Standard Triumph International Rally)

It's been some years since we last had TWP on the road, but it wouldn't take much to get it MOT'd, just the usual brake, and clutch hydraulics issues. I can't believe that 31 years (1977-2008) have flown by since I first drove it!

10CR 2007

2009-01-13T23:23:00.002Z

Subsequent to the 2006 RBRR our Stag then completed the 2007 CT 10CR (10 Countries Run), add another 2,500 miles to that total!

2007 Club Triumph 10 Countries Run
(Belgium overnight stop)

RBRR 2006

2009-01-13T23:21:00.003Z

2006 Club Triumph Round Britain Reliability Run

(Lands End Hotel)

Stag

2009-01-13T23:18:00.003Z

One of the few cars that we own that is a bog standard production car, not a prototype, ex factory racing/rally cars, or other such odd-ball. We keep it because having seen so many poor examples in the course of the last 25 years we know this is one of the best. The Snag seems particularly prone to the old tin worm and I have seen many low mileage examples with body issues. Ours has survived mostly because of it's lack of use, and decent storage. We acquired our example in 1987 and by that time it had already been off the road for a number of years with mechanical issues. Apparently in it's 35,000 mile history it had already been through one engine under warranty, the replacement expired soon after, and the conversion Rover V8 fitted by the time we got it had seized it's camshaft (hmm three engines in 30K miles, I should have walked away!). After we got it we stripped it down to a bare shell and commenced a rebuild to our preferred specification. As bought it was Damson, with tan trim, auto MKI car, after we had finished it was Mallard, with black trim, and manual overdrive. The only modification from standard spec being the 15" alloys, and some decent low profiles. In the following 20 years we have only added a further 3,000 miles, and 2,000 of those were last Octobers Club Triumph RBRR (Round Britain Reliability Run). Apart from a coil expiring it performed faultlessly.

Restoration finished!

2009-01-13T22:30:00.003Z

Restoration finished but yet to receive original sign writing.

What we started with!

2009-01-13T22:29:00.006Z

This picture was taken in 2001 and shows 1799 VC just after we had pulled it out of the shed it had sat in for the previous 15 odd years. Prior to that it had been used extensively by John Kipping Triumph Spares as the works van pre-dating the string of Couriers that followed it into service with John Kipping.

I suppose its to much to ask that anyone out there has pictures of 1799 VC in its earlier life? Let us know if you have they would be very much appreciated.

RBRR 2008

2009-01-13T22:26:00.002Z

Atlas at the start of the RBRR 2008!

1959 Standard Atlas Van

2009-01-13T22:24:00.002Z

In excellent original condition mainly due to its low miles, and long period of covered storage (since the 70's!). The only thing stopping us from putting it on the road are the holes cut in the sides, and the roof for an aborted camper conversion. When it gets to the head of the restoration queue our panel man can work his magic with his wheel (English Wheel to our American cousins).

Disregard the colour scheme, it's original colour was Powder Blue, and that's how it will get restored. Hmm works rally/race service vehicle me thinks.

Welcome to Canley's Triumph Museum

2009-01-13T22:16:00.005Z

The Canley Classics Triumph Museum is the basis of one of the largest collections in the world of historically important Triumph cars and archive.

Please note The Triumph Museum exists currently only as a web based facility - the collection is no longer available for public viewing.

Started over 30 years ago and still growing.

There have been many that have helped us acquire unique Triumph parts, and cars over the years, but we would like to make special mention of the following ex-Triumph experimental department guys, Tony Luxton, Roy Ford, Peter Clarke, Ray Henderson, and David Lloyd.

The cars include factory prototypes, factory race and rally cars, first or last production cars, oldest or youngest production cars. Click on one of a few of the cars in the collection for a brief history and pictures.