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Scheunenfund! Barn Finds Travels To Germany

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I’ve been in Germany this week on business, and have been perusing the classified ads over here. What do you know, but up pops another Triumph Mayflower, and this one is a real Scheunenfund, or barn find. Scotty G. just covered one here that’s in the UK, but this one is in Neckarwestheim, Germany and is available here on eBay. The buy-it-now is 2,490 Euro or $2,812 as of today. 

m1

The little limo like car looks to be pretty solid, with poor paintwork. Google translate leads me to believe that the car was imported from Greece (?), but the seller states all documents are missing. I’m not sure how one obtains papers for a car purchased in Germany, but I’d really want to check on that before proceeding, and I’m only here for another day and a half. So it’s buyer won’t be me.

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As difficult as it is to believe considering the unusual shape, the car actually has a decent amount of space, including a usable trunk (boot).

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Despite the name and Triumph’s best intentions for selling them in the US, most of the Mayflowers I’ve found in ads, especially ones this complete, are right hand drive. This one bucks that trend and again, seems pretty solid. Yes, you are probably going to have to eventually replace everything, but like most finds, I’d concentrate on the mechanical components first and get it driving. Once it was debugged, then I’d worry about cosmetics.

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Here’s the engine. Interestingly enough, this isn’t a Mayflower engine, but it is a Standard-Triumph engine, either from a “10” or a Herald. Perhaps Andy can tell us for sure (look for a comment)? This has to be an improvement over the original 38 horsepower, although if it’s a base Herald engine, it probably won’t make that much difference. Mayflowers were made from 1949 to 1953, so we know approximately how old the car is.

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This plaque is on the dashboard. Anyone got any ideas? Want to go find out?

 

Comments

  1. Avatar zaphod

    Who cares? It’s an horrid old beast that should have been scrapped long ago.
    poorly equipped; pretentious, it is the epitome of what the Brits were trying to shove down colonials throats because they couldn’t be bothered to re-tool. Slow, nautical handling, uninspired design, cramped interior underexposed, these horrors should have been melted back into shoe horns 2 weeks after they took to the road. There’s a reason why they’re rare: They were awful.

    Like 0
    • Avatar Jamie Staff

      Gee, don’t mince words there, Zaphod. One thing I have found is that no matter how much a car is lacking, someone likes it for some reason.

      Like 0
  2. Avatar Matt Tritt

    I feel a bout of schadenfruede coming on.

    Like 0
  3. Avatar MikeG

    Good heavens that’s fugly! Somewhat interesting but fugly.

    Like 0
  4. Avatar Jesse Staff

    Have fun over there Jamie!

    Like 0
    • Avatar Jamie Staff

      Thanks, Jesse! Headed home tomorrow :-)

      Like 0
  5. Avatar Wayne

    $2812? Good luck

    Like 0
  6. Avatar Arno D.

    Evreux is in France, not far from Normandy. There was a NATO air base there, from 1952 to 1967. This base still exists, but is used by French airforce. Seems like this care has spent some time in France… If this car went to Greece, it must have been quite a long trip !

    Like 0
    • Avatar Jamie Staff

      Thanks, Arno! Makes you wonder, doesn’t it…

      Like 0
      • Avatar Arno D.

        It does, for sure! That’s 1700 miles up to Greece, and another 1200 back to Germany. Not surprising it looks so tired (so must be the driver I imagine). But it’s still there, not so sure about the driver…

        Like 0
  7. Avatar Paul

    Hmmmm Zaphod, what does it say below? No profanity, political rants or personal attacks, wow, in one fashion or another, I do believe that you demolished all of them. What is one mans horror is another mans passion. Maybe none of us like what turns your crank… Lighten up Dude.

    Like 0
    • Avatar grant

      Um, while it may have been a bit negative, there wasn’t any personal attacks or profanity; and his rather impressive rant didn’t once touch on politics, so he really didn’t “demolish” any of them.

      Like 0
  8. Avatar Mark S

    I kind of like the look of these even if the are a bit of a odd ball. All drivability issues could bl delt with by doing a restomod. Nice find Jamie

    Like 0
  9. Avatar packrat

    Actually, Zaphod was opinionated and acerbic while successfully dodging all of those land mines. For a couple of grand it would be an interesting, if slow Grocery Getter that would have enough speed for our cramped Metropolitan rush hour (though it would only be relaxing to drive between those times). Yes, papers might be a chore.

    Like 0
  10. Avatar Scotty G Staff

    Needless to say, I love these cars! They’re quickly rising towards the top of my master wish list. Speichern Sie Reisen, Sir!

    Like 0
    • Avatar Jamie Staff

      Thanks, Scotty! I’ll be sure and let you know when I find a good one in your area :-)

      Like 0
      • Avatar Scotty G Staff

        That would be great, Jamie! Left-hand-drive would be nice, but either way…
        Haben Sie einen guten Tag!

        Like 0
  11. Avatar Matt Tritt

    Gee Scotty. I think your good by should actually have a question mark behind it. “Haben sie” means “do you have”, so you are saying “Do you have a good day!” My German friends would likely just say by-by! ;-) Or maybe chuss! (Need an umlaut over the u but not sure how to do that.)

    Like 0
    • Avatar Jamie Staff

      Matt, I’m just lucky Google translate works… :-) And thanks for the good wishes!

      Like 0
  12. Avatar Matt Tritt

    Hahahaha! Try it with Danish sometime. Or Chinese! Too bad there’s no “Like” button on this site.

    Like 0
  13. Avatar St. Ramone de V8

    Great feature, Jamie. Keep them coming from wherever you are. This car isn’t my thing, but the discussion has been fun!

    Like 0
  14. Avatar Jesper

    That old tired myaflover, have bin for sale for almost a year. And the price is a bit high, for 1000 euro more, you can get a much better projekt. 1000 euro, is more realistic. Not the best looking car, build in UK.

    Like 0
  15. Avatar Jesper

    Ha ha Matt. Whats wrong with Danish?
    Fordelen for os Danskere, er at fordi vi kommer fra et lille land, kan vi snakke flere sprog, end kun vores eget.
    Feks. Engelsk, Tysk, og Fransk.
    Kan du sige : rødgrød med fløde?
    Fortsat god dag, fra det lille land i nord :-)

    Like 0
    • Avatar Van

      Did your cat run across the keyboard?

      Like 0
    • Avatar Matt Tritt

      I can’t get google to translate it! ;-)

      Like 0
  16. Avatar Van

    If Walt Disney was to put Mickey Mouse in a lemo driven by Goofy.
    I know. “here’s your sign.”

    Like 0
  17. Avatar Andrew S Mace Member

    As to the “less favorable” comments already made, the Mayflower was actually a bit more advanced than some other products coming out of England at the time. Yes, the flathead was essentially prewar-based, but otherwise there was a good bit of “new” in the design. And Jamie, I’m going to guess that it’s an 1147cc Herald engine, based on what I can see of the carburetor. That would have been perhaps a slight performance boost over the original, but still not nearly enough to “race for pink slips”! ;)

    Like 0
  18. Avatar Jesper

    No it also didnt make much sence.
    Danish is a dificult language to lern, but German is more dificult.
    And after my opinion a ugly language.
    This Mayflower is so rusty, that its only for parts. Here in europe our climate often eat up oldtimercars so bad, that its a hopeless job to fix a rusty car.
    And does a car look rusty, its for shure also.
    Plus our inspektion every second year
    Know where to look for weak points.
    So always by the best car you can pay.

    Like 0
  19. Avatar Matt Tritt

    Yep! I worked with several Danish companies in the wind energy business back in the 80’s and found the language difficult! On the other hand, I found German not all that hard – probably because it’s the primary basis for English…. Who Knows?

    I have to admit that I’ve never found the Mayflowers all that attractive: pretty-much a miniature Rolls or Daimler, but not all that well put together. The proportions just seem off the mark.

    What I’d like to have is a Nimbus!

    Like 0

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