Triumph sports cars always seemed to offer that little bit more than their competition in features such as engine size, disc brakes and fully synchronized gearboxes. You can have your own piece of classic British motoring history with this 1962 Triumph TR3A project for sale on Hemmings in Shillington, Pennsylvania for $5,500 OBO.
The seller says that the body and frame of the TR is in good condition. Having been parked inside for most of its life has resulted in a car with solid interior floors and trunk floor. The rocker panels – or sills as our British cousins call them- have been perforated with rust, however. The dreaded tin worm has also taken hold on the lower rear panel on the passenger side with a rather large hole visible in the photos. The seller says that the car was hit in the rear, but the damage appears to be limited.
Interior-wise, the seats and carpets are out, but a photo of a single seat is provided to vouch for its condition. The wood dashboard has a couple of cracks visible but all of the gauges are in place. There is a nice aftermarket wood rim steering wheel installed and the original steering hub-mounted turn signal switch is present, too. The remains of the door panels are in place, but I can’t be sure if they are original or a later covering.
According to the ad the 2,138 cc, four cylinder engine turns freely but the seller recommends a rebuild. It looks like everything is there so, locating odd items shouldn’t be too big a job. It also looks like the battery box is solid and that is unusual for these cars since battery acid spills were common occurrences.
The convertible top is well past its retirement age and there are no photos or mention of the side curtains. They can be an expensive replacement item, but if frames can be located, they can be recovered by one of several specialist suppliers. I like the steel disc wheels. So many TRs have been converted to wire wheels you don’t often see them. And wire wheels – while nice to look at – can be more maintenance intensive.
Viable TR2 and TR3 projects are getting hard to find. While nearly everything can be bought to complete a restoration, spending on items like replacement chassis and extensive body work can push the costs to the point where it is difficult to justify. This project car might be the one for you.
Uh, you guys need to fact check a bit more. The TR3 didn’t get a full-synchro gearbox until the TR3B model, which was built just to use up the remaining TR3 bodies so they got the TR4’s mechanical bits. And, quite a few sold in America came with wires – I personally don’t know anyone who converted from disc to wires, but I’m sure it was done, but not in any great number though I’d bet. Those who drove them frequently and hard generally appreciate the steel disc wheels – they stay round!! I’ve owned a number of TR3’s, including the 12th one built and one of the very last TR3B’s.
Agreed but my point was that Triumph had fully-synchronized boxes before most of their competitors did.
I could be wrong but I think Alfa Romeo had synchro gearboxes by this time, and they were actual 5 speeds instead of the Triumph 4 speeds with an optional overdrive. I can’t remember the spoke count, but early Triumph wheels didn’t have enough. I replaced the early wheels on my TR3 with later ones and never had one go out of round (although I didn’t drive it hard). The US spec car did come originally with steel wheels, though.
The early TRs came with 48 spoke wheels – lovely to look at, but good for little else. The 60 spokes were an improvement but best of all were the 72 spoke wheels which perhaps didn’t appear until the TR6 and are very rare on a TR6 as virtually all of them had steel wheels.
It doesn’t appear to have overdrive either, or at least I can’t see the switch.
When I was born, one of these was my mom’s “daily driver”. Every time I see one, I still marvel that I somehow made it .
Honeymooned in a ’56 TR-3. My wife tells me that was 55 years ago. After tranny troubles and a bunch of broken axels, we switched to a VW, almost as much fun to drive.
Rocket Rex..😎
Probably the most fun car to drive I’ve owned, relatively speaking. Very durable and parts/support are cheap, especially in comparison to anything Italian. The achilles heal, like all old cars, is rust and this one is showing some serious tin worm since its gone from the outer panels into the inner body (and frame?). Too bad as the car isn’t priced too bad, but not worth the effort to me.
After having to stare at mind-numbing SUV’s all day every day, this little Triumph looks like it’s from another planet. And I want to live on that planet!
Totally rebuildable. My Spitfire was in much worse condition as I did a frame off restoration. I quite enjoyed the body work, and this one would be a fun time to cut out the rust and fabricate new patches.
Not sure about the price, but these things keep going up in price, so the entry level is higher as well.
If you have the frames, sidecurtains for this car can be rebuilt –
http://trf.zeni.net/webcatalog/specials11.20/index.php?menu=&page=14
The Roadster Factory has lots of stuff for TRs and MGB .
This would be a really fun project! Always liked the Triumph! If I weren’t so disabled and terribly old I would bring this one home!