Description
1946 TRIUMPH SPECIAL ALUMINIUM ROADSTER
PRICE: £5, 000 | €6, 000 | US$6, 500 | CA$9, 000
One man hand-built this car in 1946 - and there has never been another like it.
That's really all you need to know. It began life on a Standard Triumph tubular chassis, and somewhere in post-war England the factory body came off for good. In its place, the builder shaped his own shell from sheet aluminum - long and low, open wheels at every corner, left unpainted so the hammer marks in the panels still tell the story.
This is what a British "special" really was after the war. No money, no factory, rationing on everything - but with a solid frame, a willing engine and a sheet of alloy, you built the car you wanted. Most were driven into the ground and scrapped. This one made it, spent decades in England, and came over to Canada in 2004.
DRIVETRAIN
Rebuilt, performance-tuned Triumph TR2/ TR3 inline-four with twin carburetors, 4-speed manual, rear-wheel drive. Only about 15 hours on the rebuild - fresh, not worn out. Chassis 2335, showing approx. 82, 871 miles (TMU). Brakes fully rebuilt: new lines, wheel cylinders, rear shoes and master cylinder. Steering parts sourced from Triumph specialists. New tires and tubes on steel wheels with full-faced aluminum hubcaps.
DETAILS
Chrome vertical-slat grille wearing Standard badging. Hood cut-out to clear the carbs (the carbs won, the hood lost). Outside handbrake lever on the driver's side. Aluminum fuel cap. Rear bumper with tail lights.
COCKPIT
Red leather bench seat, tweed side panels, dash and rear bulkhead trimmed to match. The gauges are period and wonderfully mismatched - Jaeger coolant temp and oil pressure, 120-MPH speedo, 6, 000-RPM tach, Cemco amp meter, Weston ohm meter and a Stromberg Motoscope vacameter. Four-spoke wheel, floor shift, dash-mounted mirror. Right-hand drive, as built.
WHY IT'S WORTH A LOOK
Offered by John Scotti Classic Cars, Kirkland (Montreal), Quebec, Canada. Clean title. We ship worldwide every week and can arrange export paperwork and transport. Viewing by appointment.
