Here’s one that doesn’t grace the webpages of Barn Finds very often, a Triumph Herald (1959-1971), in this case, a 1963 example. The seller states that up to a half-million Heralds were produced in convertible, coupe, sedan, and station wagon body styles but this diminutive two-seater convertible seems to get overshadowed by the TR4, TR6, and the Spitfire among other Triumph models. That being the case, let’s look this Herald over and see what makes it tick. It’s located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and is available, here on eBay for a current bid of $2,350, with two bids tendered as of this writing. Thanks to Larry D for this discovery!
This claimed 51K mile roadster presents well as the seller claims, “this car is all original, body and chassis in good shape, no dents, minimal rust, ready for restoration…” At only 12.75 feet in length and about 1,600 lbs., there’s not a lot here to undertake as far as restoration goes though that lower quarter panel, in front of the rear wheel, looks to have something blooming. But other than that and some small surface rust spots, a restoration undertaking probably isn’t necessary. The bumpers could use some help, the trim is pitted, the rear plastic window appears to have separated from the folding top, and what looks like the rear license plate light assembly has become dislodged, but all-in-all, this Triumph is in reasonably nice, original shape. Unfortunately, as this Herald sits, viewing the driver’s side is difficult.
“It runs and drives!!” proclaims the seller. It is stated that motivation happens courtesy of a 35 HP, 948 CC, in-line, four-cylinder engine driving the rear wheels via a four-speed manual transmission. The trunk lid, however, displays a “Herald 1200” (introduced in ’61) badge which means a 39 HP 1200 CC, in-line four. Hmmm…an inquiry should be in order on that matter. Of note, the transmission is considered a “synchromesh” unit but that doesn’t include first gear. As is often the case, the engine has been photographed without its air cleaner assembly but we’ll assume that it’s included in the sale.
The interior looks good, the black vinyl upholstery appears to be unmarred as does the carpet and what can be seen of the door cards. The wooden instrument panel is not showing signs of delamination or peeling varnish and there is no indication of missing switches or gauges though the tachometer (instrument to the left) appears to be slightly off-center. The center of the dash panel is dominated by a black handle that is ostensibly used to slide open the rather oversized ashtray – that’s one that would be hard to miss.
Size and power-wise, this Herald is similar to the same era MG Midget, a two-seater that is encountered with some amount of regularity. If that class of British sports car floats your boat, this Herald comes across as a nice alternative to the Midget wouldn’t you agree?
I really like this one. I think the Triumph Herald was kind of the Ford Falcon or Chevy ll for Britain. It was more than a Mini, and was the workhorse for the common person. The old man got one once, a hardtop, through his wheelings and dealings. I was a kid and don’t remember much, except sitting on the front tire with hood open changing plugs. Unlike any other car I had worked on. It was so out of character for the old man to have a small car, British and French the only ones he considered.
Like all these, a bit meager for todays roads, not sure if O/D was available on these, they can be retrofitted with 1500 Spitfire O/D’s, if you dare to go 75 mph in one. Tell you what, if it wasn’t so far away, and don’t give me that “shipping is so care free today”,,because it’s NOT, I’d buy this in a minute. Very cool find.
I agree with Howard. This car looks like a deal provided it doesn’t go crazy with bidding. My brother had a red 63 2 door sedan while in high school a 1200, and drove the wheels of it. He destroyed cars like he was in his own demolition derby. The Herald held on for a whole summer. The sports Herald is the one to look for. Stacked angled headlamps, 6 cyl power and overdrive. You don’t see them much even at British meets.
. . . by “sports Herald” you mean Triumph Vitesse – 1600cc and later 2-litre models. My 1600 version was a treat to drive once an upgraded ‘SAH’ transverse rear spring was fitted.
Dashing around Southern France one night I hit a large ‘pre-deceased’ animal at speed, which practically removed the rusting rear outrigger with the wheel radius arm attached. A quite interesting experience!
I hadn’t bothered with insurance for such matters and cash was scarce, so it meant a few days extra locally whilst seeking a ‘fix’. Chassis parts were thin on the ground – even in UK – but I always think something will turn up, and, lo I found a cast-off length of U-shaped steel which I cut in half to produce a very reasonable ‘new’ part for a helpful ‘garagiste’ to weld back on. All done by eye and twice as strong as the original. Never had it checked later. Wish I’d never sold that car!
Except that the Ford Falcon and Chevy 2 were at least twice the size of the Triumph Herald. I had a Herald sedan and a Chevy 2, but I can’t think of an American mass production car that was as small as this.
I didn’t mean in size, as traditionally, us Yanks had much bigger cars, Europe always had small cars for the masses. The Herald and Falcon both appealed to the same kind of people, smaller families, just with different needs. The Metropolitan , also of British nature, was about the only feasible one here at the time, and even that had dismal sales.
Regularly bringing between $30-60K in Australia where they have become a “cult” car. This is a bargain.
WOW. In NZ about $7500 is really tops for these. I own a mint one.
Why? There are many and they struggle to make $10000 USD anywhere else!
Hello Bruce, I live in Melbourne and I would have to say I haven’t seen one of these cars in decades here.We had one and it was a total dud, it was in the garage more than on the road. My own personal experience years later with a 71 Hillman Hunter was a carbon copy of the Triumph,hence no more British cars for me.
My military dad shipped a light blue one to the Philippines in 1968. It staid on Clark Air Base and another car-came home that was bigger.
A fun lil car …,
They are from 8 to 15 on justcars & carsales.
In essence a Triumph Spitfire with a different body.Also came in a 6 cylinder version. This has much more room than a Midget. Much easier to work on with the tilting nose. Easy upgrade to a larger, later Spitfire engine with dual SU carbs, header etc. . Go all the way with a 2.5 L TR6.
Don’t think about more power without very substantial re-engineering. The rear suspension on a Herald is notoriously bad. I had one at college and had to sell it because it scared the ñife out of me on British country roads. Can be sorted, but 100bhp wld be a safe limit.
Yeah, the six cylinder car was called a Vitesse. Both were great little cars.
There was also a Van version.The 6 cylinder cars were Vitesses,not Heralds.
The “van” was just a wagon with the rear seat deleted and windows filled in, a step backwards since the predecessor Triumph TR10 (a Standard everywhere but the US) had dedicated bodies for both, the van with a raised roof and the wagon with four doors. BMC and Ford also kept switching between the two like that.
These were (are) strange beasts.
I got one , everything you say is true
When I was in college in Northern New Hampshire a student had one of these, a strange choice for (mostly) poor college students.
As one of the EBay photos shows, the entire front sheet metal tilted forward for engine access, very useful for Lucas combat. Wilmot’s British car was not well suited for self-motivation in the snow so needed occasional push assistance but we could not push on that front clip because it activated “Prince of Darkness” mode and made that manual movement difficult.
Have one of these under restoration currently. It is the 1200 Sort convertible model that seats four, not two. There was a very early coupe version that only had two seats. The 1200 is typical Brit “rounding” up of 1147cc (sounds better than rounding down to 1100, eh?) The Herald pre-dated the spitfire by three years. They used the chassis and mechanicals with the swoopier body and went with dual side-draft SU carbs as opposed to the single downdraft one. I have twin carb setup for mine and will be installing the “compensator” required to eliminate, or at least mitigate, the rear wheel tuck-under that occurs in over-zealous cornering. Mechanical parts are available from purveyors of spitfire parts in this country, body and trim stuff has to be sourced from the UK if new is desired. I recently ordered a windscreen for a reasonable price, however, the packing and shipping doubled the price. “Old Cars Price Guide puts a number 5, restorable car at $2200, a number 4, good at $3600 and a concours at $18,000. This one appears to be a 4 or 5.
Ralph.