1953 Triumph Thunderbird – Project Profile

The great thing about project bikes is that they’re generally a damn sight easier, not to mention cheaper, than their four-wheeled counterparts. It’s basic maths really. Compared to a project car a bike is smaller. There’s just less of it to have to deal with. Less parts to source and replace, less metalwork to strip and paint, less stress, less headaches, less expenditure. At least that’s the theory. They are also way easier to work on. Everything is accessible. There’s no cramped engine bay requiring the hands of a five year old girl to access, there’s no need to cut spanners in half to reach a particularly ensconced nut or crawl around on the ground to get underneath the thing and no interior to rip out in order to progress. We think everyone should have a project bike. Like this 1953 Triumph Thunderbird for example.

Immortalised by Marlon Brando in The Wild One the Triumph Thunderbird was introduced in 1949 and lasted all the way up until ’66, such was its popularity. Conceived as a bike to capture the important and lucrative American market Triumph had a very specific game plan in mind. At the time the American bike industry was booming and the motorcycle had become a symbol of freedom and counter culture with companies like Harley Davidson reaping the rewards, rewards that Triumph wanted a share of.

With that in mind it developed the Thunderbird. Using its already established parallel twin engine as featured in the Speed Twin but bored out from 500cc to 650cc, the Thunderbird provided the necessary power to sate the American customers’ thirst for performance. The bike was even given an American sounding name to further appeal to the Yanks and they lapped it up. With its low slung looks and meaty engine it ticked a lot of boxes and sold well.

Along with unveiling the Thunderbird at the famous banked circuit in Montlhéry near Paris, where three standard production bikes were thrashed by a team of riders to show just how capable the bike actually was, further publicity came with the aforementioned movie The Wild One. The now iconic image of Marlon Brando looking as cool as a cucumber sitting atop a 1950 Triumph Thunderbird 6T was permanently etched into the collective consciousness of bike fans the world over and everyone wanted a piece of the action. The Triumph Thunderbird was now hot property.

What is it? 

The triumph Thunderbird name was used for various different incarnations over the years but the one we have available via our auctions platform is an early, first-gen 1953 bike. The same model as Brando’s these early Thunderbirds were simple machines, with an incorporated round headlight, single sprung seat, dual exhaust system and lightweight wire-spoke wheels.

Built upon a rigid frame with a telescopic fork at the front and a sprung rear hub the bike features drum brakes at each end. 34bhp is delivered by a 650cc OHV air-cooled engine managed by a single carburettor that’s mated to a four-speed manual gearbox.

Why is it a project? 

Despite an earlier restoration in 1988 by the seller’s father, who was a Triumph enthusiast with a collection of bikes, this particular Thunderbird has seen little use in recent years. It’s a solid example but does carry various signs of age and prolonged storage, including some surface corrosion, tarnishing and a few missing parts. The bike was fully operational before being parked up but will require a full check and mechanical recommissioning before hitting the road again.

What should you look for? 

This is a professional auction listing and as such you should have everything you need to make an informed purchase. From a detailed description to myriad photographs we’ve done all of the hard work for you and if there’s anything else you need to know then our auctions team is just an email away and are happy to help with any comments or questions you may have about the bike.

What should you do with it? 

To say that the Triumph Thunderbird is iconic is a bit of an understatement. The Thunderbird played a key role in Britain’s transatlantic sales battle and was one of the greatest touring bikes of its era, but perhaps more importantly, it’s just so damn cool, with or without Brando’s endorsement. This then presents as a fairly simple project. If it were our money (and it very well might be) we would simply get the thing running as sweetly as possible and worry about any aesthetic jiggery-pokery later on down the road.

The important thing for us would be to get riding as soon as possible. As we touched upon at the beginning of this article, these bikes are easy to work on and well within the capabilities of any confident home mechanic so get bidding. You might as well grab a Schott Perfecto and some engineers boots while you’re at it…