Oily rag or resto?
‘Mostly dry stored’ and ‘mostly present and correct’ are not the most reassuring descriptions for an old car in an auction, but this 1948 Triumph Roadster has a lot of potential. It’s offered by Brightwells at its Classic & Vintage sale in Herefordshire on November 28, sold with no reserve.
The year 1948 saw the change from the 1.8-litre engine shared with the Renown to the larger and torquier 2.0-litre unit from the Standard Vanguard, which this car has. The Vanguard’s three-speed manual transmission was operated via a column shift, making for easy three-abreast seating with the two little dickey seats in the tail turning the Triumph into an unlikely five-seater.
‘It was owned for 30 years by a gentleman who stored it in his garage,’ says Toby Service of Brightwells. ‘It changed hands when he moved overseas a few years ago. Since then, it’s been outside under a tarpaulin and now the gentleman has decided he’s unlikely to get round to fixing it up.’
The car is rather heavily patinated as it is now, but replating the bumpers, renewing the hood material and giving the paint a professional mop and polish may be enough cosmetic attention. The engine turns but hasn’t been started in a while, and the exhaust needs replacing. Service reckons it should fetch somewhere between £5000 and £8000.
‘I’d leave the body as it is; it shouldn’t take too much to make it roadworthy.’