A couple of people asked about the TR10. Although I'm no expert,
as I understand the TR10 story it goes something like this...
The TR10 is a very rare (but not very valuable) Triumph that really
isn't a Triumph at all. The Triumph factory was totally destroyed by
German air raids during WWII. All that was left after the war was the
name, which was bought by Standard. Standard set up Triumph (with minimum
captial) in a sort of autonomous state to make cars. By the mid-50's, the
Triumph TR2/3 was selling like hotcakes in the US and economy cars were
starting to come on the scene (VW Beetle, Honda, etc). Standard had been
producing the "Standard 10" for some time--four door sedan, 39 bhp, front
drum brakes, three speed, very low gearing on the differential ('cause of
the very low horsepower). It was underpowered, undergeared, underbraked,
and undersuspended. Not a very good car, to say the least. Standard
wanted to export it the the US (remember that WWII left England and the
English people with massive financial debt--exports were their major source
of capital) but had no name or distribution system here so they slapped a
"Triumph TR10" badge on it and advertised it as a close relative to the
TR2/3--although the two cars had absolutely nothing in common. They sold a
handful of the TR10s, but not very many because they were not competitive
with anything else in their class. The line died off (1959?) and led to no
offspring (unlike the proud and successful Herald --> Vitesse --> Spitfire
--> GT6 lineage).
The good news is that because TR10s have virtually no value to
collectors, you can modify them to your heart's content and not depreciate
the (basically nonexistent) value. So you drop in the engine (~75 bhp),
front disc brakes and differential from a Spitfire, and you get a
reasonably dependable, really cute little car that will actually reach 55
mph. [BTW, the TR10 differential used to be very popular with hill climb
enthusiasts due to its incredibly low gearing]. [BTW again, as near as I
can tell, pre-WWII British cars seemed to have used a naming system based
on the horsepower per cylinder. I think this had to do with the vehicle
taxing system in place at the time. So the Standard "10" had ~10
bhp/cylinder].
I picked up one and a half TR10's two years ago for $700. It
(they?) sits, untouched, in my garage next to the TR3A that is almost done
but I haven't touched in 4 years. My wife and I bought an 1890 Queen Anne
home that we are restoring as we live in it. As long as we are living with
blankets for a bedroom door and plaster dust everywhere, there is little
extra time and money for Triumph toys. Oh, plus the 50-60 hours a week
spent trying to get tenure......
Life is full. I'll get back to the TRs someday. My parents
recently retired to Florida and I'm thinking of trailering the TR10 down to
Dad and having him finish it. He's very good with cars (currently drives a
'56 T Bird he restored) and needs something to do with all of his free
time.
Cheers
Bob
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