It’s important for me to look at cars like this 1965 Triumph TR4A, submitted to us by Barn Finds reader Michael V. Why? Because it is way, way rustier than the junkyard-find Mercedes 190E 2.3-16 Cosworth I’ve been documenting on these pages. It makes me feel better that someone sees potential in this Triumph, despite the fact it’s being held together by bubble gum and whatever sheer resolve the floor fragments can muster. Find it here on craigslist for $800.
With the cover removed, you might think this looks like any other tatty, project-grade TR4A. And it does. But the interior pictures paint a far bleaker tale, one of nights spent welding floor panels in and tackling holes in the frame. The seller notes that the Triumph is equipped with “… Stromberg carburetors, 4-speed manual transmission, took off valve cover cover engine looks good, won’t turn yet, car will roll on tires.”
Yowza! That’s some serous rust to contend with. The floors will need total replacement, and the seller notes the presence of “…repairable frame rot.” While this is a desirable “A” spec model with the independent rear suspension that addressed the first iteration’s handling ills, that may not be enough to save this TR4 from becoming a very good parts car.
That said, the TR4 does come with a seemingly complete motor and some of its interior. The chrome bumpers are tired but possibly re-usable. The interior looks to be a pile of foam pads at this point, stuffed into the trunk, and the missing windshield and top are hastening the floor’s demise. The seller suggests the large engine bay could accept a V8 swap, but not until you restore the structural integrity first. Parts car or ambitious restore – you decide!
You’d have to be crazy to take this on. You’d better buy a tig welder while your at it and get started on honing your welding skills. To farm the work out to a body shop will far exceed the value of the car, and you better find a shop where they handle this kind of repair. I say parts car.
That’s not a car cover, it’s a contamination mask to prohibit rust transmission.
Yes, it’s rusty, but $800 for the big bits of a TR4A is good value. A new chassis isn’t that painful, either.
Good way to learn to weld, too.
The interior doesn’t matter, as it’s gone. Get a pair of lowback buckets and hoon about in it leaving black lines…
Complete waste of time, energy and resources and even a waste of web page exposure and time to view the page.
This will never see the light of day as a complete car again.
I need a tetanus shot after just looking at the photos.
Yep….good parts there.
I don’t know if they are available for the TR4, but if this were an MGB it MIGHT
be worth something, as new MGB bodies are available…..
Its not going to last long at $800, Source a good hood for one of these and see what you pay? Not everything on this car has cancer, So someone will buy it on parts value alone. Would I part it out? Probably not, But I can weld and repairs are not as hard as people make it out to be.
But research the market on these 1960s TR4s (Both TR4A IRS and straight axle cars) and they command premium prices, So regardless someone will snap it up soon.
(Im totally TRIUMPHANT! I have Triumph motorcycles and a Triumph car. Its biblically noted that Triumphs are historically awesome.. ” ” The Triumph of Moses was heard throughout Egypt!” Psalm 58:10,11 “The godly shall rejoice in the triumph”
Zechariah 9:15 “They will taste victory and shout with triumph.”
I have commanded my holy ones; I have summoned my warriors to carry out my wrath— those who rejoice in my triumph.
Isaiah 13:2-4
Yes, but the lord actually drove a Plymouth as he was quoted as telling Adam and Eve that if they disobeyed him, he would drive them from the Garden of Eden in his Fury!
Jesus drove a stretched Honda as “Jesus his disciples were all of one Accord.”
This will sell for $800 but I’m surprised it didn’t fall apart when the car cover was taken off.