1953 Triumph Mayflower, 1247 cc. Registration STN 336. Chass...

Hammer

£2,000

1953 Triumph Mayflower, 1247 cc. Registration STN 336. Chassis number TT 32864 DL. Body number 5386 59. Engine number TT 33919. The Mayflower was a four-seater family car powered by a 1247 cc side-valve engine through a three-speed, column-change gearbox. It had 'Razor Edge' styling, like its big brother the Renown, mimicking the style of the Rolls Royce of the period (hence its nicknames: the "poor man's Rolls Royce", or the "baby Rolls Royce"). It is thought that Sir John Black styled the car to appeal to the American market, with the name 'Mayflower' being chosen for this reason. Even the bonnet catch was designed with an integral emblem of the ship of the same name; a reference to the 'Pilgrim Fathers'. The engine is a modified version of that fitted to the Standard Ten and boasted an aluminium cylinder head. With the single Solex carburettor, it created 38 bhp. The gearbox came from the Standard Vanguard, having synchromesh on all forward gears. The body was designed at 'Mulliners of Birmingham', and the body shells were built by 'Fisher and Ludlow' at Castle Bromwich, Birmingham. It was the first car to be manufactured - by either Standard or Triumph - with 'unitary construction' (i.e. consisting of an integral chassis and body, rather than a body bolted onto a separate chassis). Around 34,000 were made in the four-year production run, with around 16,400 being sold in the UK; the rest being sold mostly to commonwealth countries with only 510 going to its intended American market. This example was first registered on the 11th June 1953 to a lady school teacher in the Preston area, she retained her, laying her up in 1971 with a mileage of 25,809. In 1973 John Hanks of Benton Car Sales, Newcastle upon Tyne bought her. In 1973 he removed the engine for a rebore, new pistons and a crankshaft reground; the mileage was 25,900. It was rarely used and again stored until 1983 when it went for an MOT at 26,445 miles In 2002 an attempt to sell it to a gentleman in Hamburg resulted in another MOT at 26,528 miles; this fell through and my vendor bought her in September 2004. He has not used her, the mileage today is 26,567, although he has carried out some minor recommissioning including the radiator was removed and flushed, replaced heater and radiator hoses, lubed and greased nipples, wax oiled, fitted with new hand brake cable and master cylinder but neither are connected. Sold with the V5C, 1985 and 2002 MOT's, tax discs from 1972, 1974 and 1977, assorted paperwork, handbook, parts books/manuals and the following, jack, tool kit, starting handle, spare wheel and a new, unfitted exhaust.