The Triumph TR4 was in production from 1961 to 1965, succeeded by the TR4A until 1967. While the engine and body didn’t change, the TR4A had a revised chassis and deployed an independent rear suspension referred to as IRS. The seller’s 1967 edition has that arrangement, one of many exported to the U.S. (as were so many of these British sports cars). This one’s a project that the seller needs to leave to someone else to complete.
Triumph’s TR4 Series didn’t change much mechanically from the earlier TR3 until the TR4A was introduced in 1965. The engine’s displacement was increased by nearly 10% to 2138cc. Along with the IRS (not to be confused with the Internal Revenue Service!), the TR4A had a wider track fore and aft. Not all buyers took to the IRS, so about a quarter of TR4A production was reverted to a live axle as before.
As the story goes, the seller found this Triumph under an abandoned covered structure. We assume the title was straightened out and the seller had intended to restore the small car, but the family dynamic changed. Some disassembly was done, like the interior and trunk, and some rust was found, but that’s not atypical of English-built sports cars.
We’re told the engine turns over, but the seller didn’t take it any further out of concern for corrosion inside the fuel tank. The compression in the cylinders seems to be consistently good, and we’re told the motor only has 1,200 miles on it since a rebuild. The brakes seem to be nonexistent, but the TR rolls freely. We’re told the car was last on the road in 1993 and currently calls Flagstaff, Arizona home. With extra parts, this TR4A is available here on eBay where the current bid is $3,075.
A TR4eh? Perhaps because the site was down, nobody could say, but I’m surprised not one comment. TR4 was my favorite Triumph, I could take or leave the IRS, the live axle ones handled just fine. If you need any more proof that the bottom has fallen out on British roadsters, especially ones that need work, a better example I doubt you’ll need.
Yes Howard the market for little British roasters is not what it was. Most younger folks would rather drive their phones, or the latest Xbox offering. Sad indeed. As I tell my over 70 pals, it’s not our world anymore, we just have to figure out how to live in it.
Love the car, but disagree that this is still not our world. You make the world what you want it to be and you would be surprised at how many younger folks don’t like the present world they live in either.
Perhaps a lot of folk under 70 don’t know how to drive a car like this enjoyably! Also, it is getting more difficult to find someone who knows how to tune and repair such beauties.
I agree with “Mark”. “Your World is what you make it.” I am one of those young people, heck I am only 61. And quite frankly I feel much younger. I love the TR4, I owned one for a while around 1985. Can anyone else (here) claim to have ported the iron head on one? How about grinding elliptical seats on the rockers for more lift without swapping the cam? I even had the nerve to contact Bob Tullius to see if he had any “left-overs” he wanted to part with. We should be glad that the “popular interest” is low enough that the prices are not inflated on these cars. To me, the TR4 is an excellent “blank slate” for the creative mind to modify.
“The family dynamic changed” – translation, his wife said he was out of his mind.