1961Triumph TR4 for sale

Description

You are looking at one of the earliest TR4 roadsters in America, with a LOW three digit serial number! So early, in fact, the car has no “TR4” chrome badge on the rear deck lid!I bought this car over a decade ago from a good friend who had owned it for 20 or more years, and who had grown too old to really enjoy it anymore. He wanted it to go to someone who would act as it’s steward and give it the care it deserved. I think I’ve done what he wanted.The car has 34000 miles showing and it’s believed to be correct! It has been stored in a climate controlled storage area for at least the last forty years.Over the years, it’s had many, many small things replaced or repaired to keep it compatible with modern traffic and fully functional, but most parts replaced have been retained, because THIS IS A NUMBERS MATCHING CAR with its original driveline (original trans comes with)!It starts easily, runs smoothly and goes like it should! It cruises the highway easily at well over the legal 70 due to a very expensive update that appears on my list below!The rorty exhaust note takes you back to the day when a British roadster was for an extroverted guy or girl!There are a lot of differences between this model and the later TR4, much less the TR4a!The first clue that this is a special TR comes from the metal dash, painted white! No tacky plasticy looking wood graining, no black vinyl! The shorter hood bump and missing trunk badge also gives things away!All the gauges and switches work properly, and the speedo was recalibrated to read the correct speed. Good to know, because the TR4 goes right through the “Ton” easily!The seats would be familiar to TR3b owners, being the rounded backs with metal springing. When the seats were rebuilt a couple of years ago, I sourced ALL the correct and original upholstery! This included the original design metal springing in the seat bottom, along with the rubberized horsehair seat back padding and cotton batting. The seat kit was obtained from the same company who supplied them to Triumph back when the car was new almost 60 years ago! Because of this attention to detail, the doors, seats and sides look just as they did when this car rolled off the Standard Triumph production line in Coventry, England!This car, being mostly unrestored, has the patina of careful usage and storage indoors, having been driven as often as outdoor fun and time was available!The interior shows generally very light wear, with only a small crack on the original hand grip on the right of the dash (I have an original grain new replacement that goes with the car), as well as some light crazing on the white painted dashboard. There are no cracks on the dash pad, no loose piping, no warped door cards! The instruments and switches function as they should! The carpeting is the correct (for the very early production number) gray nylon loop carpet! Not the incorrect fuzzy stuff! This carpet is virtually without wear, partly due to the factory rubber floor mats! A super nice looking factory interior!The exterior shows the patina one would associate with a car that was used sparingly and kept up as beautifully as was this one! The top is three months old, and perfect! As I have the British Motor Heritage build sheet on the car (comes with), and it came new with a white top and tonneau, a new-in-the-box Robbins white top and a white tonneau come in the trunk!The car has been painted once years ago and the excellent paint job now shows a few small impact dots and flaws. The optional from the dealer removeable luggage rack appears to have been actually used for luggage very occasionally! The rear bumper and guards, though they look great, have the little brown dots on the old chrome. I left it alone.The front bumper with the optional over rider is in great shape, the original grill has tiny marks from sand or gravel over the years but still looks very good.The trunk looks great with no corrosion in the floor and has a spare that has never been on the ground! The jack with its leather retaining strap is present.Tires are excellent, showing about 95% tread, and are perfectly balanced for a smooth ride!The hubcaps were rechromed and the Triumph world emblems are only a couple of years old.The stainless is excellent with only a couple of tiny dings, a very small amount of pitting is seen on the door handles. I never tried to replace them because they were original to this car and still look good! The car shows easy usage and great upkeep!In short, an excellent TR4 without corrosion, as you can see in the photos.BTW, I have tons of shots of the car up on the rack showing the nearly new exhaust and suspension with ALL wear items replaced! I did this because the rubber had perished over the years, but now all is new! The brake system is new, too, but all the photos wouldn’t fit in the eBay ad!If you’d like more shots, let me know at spook01@comcast.net and I’ll send them right away!The engine has good compression, and starts right up, pulling strongly to the 5500 RPM redline!It never gets over 190 degrees because of the mod I made, installing an electric fan with a thermostat driven actuator behind that aluminum radiator. The big fat tractor belt was traded for a Moss narrow belt kit with alternator! But I’ve still got it to go with the car!I put a spin-on oil filter conversion from Moss, as well as a oil change valve, to make an oil change a snap! No more swearing and then wearing the oil home! The oil, btw, was changed every 3000 miles or 6 months whichever came first!The radiator, though it looks stock, is an aluminum heavy duty unit. I replaced the original a while back after it sprang multiple leaks due, I think, to electrolysis!With this setup, you can drive in a parade in 100 degree weather and never overheat!A Petronix ignition system concealed in the distributor gives a dependable spark every time the Hi Torque starter spins the engine!
Now we come to the expensive update that really brought this TR4 into the 21st century!
The famous HDVA (Herman van den Akker) five speed conversion kit! Using a Toyota Supra fully synchronized five speed gear box, the gearbox has superior operation (and will take over 300 horsepower if you could ever find them!). It allows cruising at 80 without a problem, has a MUCH better shift, and a tighter pattern! It replaced the TR transmission perfectly, with no visual clue of what lurks beneath! The kit was $1800 and the fully rebuilt Supra gearbox was a grand....but when you drive it, you’ll agree it’s the best thing that ever happened to a TR! And, it still looks stock!Of course, I always retained all the original parts, and never modified the structure of the car due to its history and low serial number.
And that brings us to spares. As I said earlier, I have most everything that came off the car over the years, excepting only the old leaky radiator which could not be rebuilt. In addition, an original very early decklid is included. It’s in great shape in case it’s ever needed and is the correct one without the badging holes! An uninstalled roll bar is also included if wanted. A factory workshop manual comes with the car, along with a book of judging criteria on the TR4.Other small items will be included as they come to hand!
Please take the time to carefully examine the photos, and if you want more, email me at spook01@comcast.net. Ask any question you want, I want the car to go to a good home with an appreciative owner.If you decide to buy this little beauty, it will require a non refundable $1000 deposit via PayPal. The rest is due when you pick up the car, within 7 days of the deal closing. You may bring cash, a check you can cash at a nearby bank, or a wire transfer which must be verified before the car leaves. No personal, certified checks, etc.I know this is a bit of a pain, but my bad experience with a guy when I sold my Lotus changed my ways. I apologize, but that’s how it must be.Thanks for looking at the TR4. If you take her home, you’ll never be sorry!