Triumph TR4

Click Here for Full Screen Image - Click Here to Download Image

By the late Fifties Triumph’s bulbous TR3 was looking fairly antiquated and they hired Giovanni Michelotti to bring it up to date with some crisp new styling more in tune with the youthful exuberance of the Swinging Sixties.

Entering production in 1961, the new TR4 was a wonderful mix of British brawn and Italian style, the sharp new body doing away with the cutaway doors of the previous TRs to allow for wind-down windows in place of old-fashioned side-screens while the rear styling allowed a boot with considerable capacity for a sports car. It also handled better thanks to a wider track front and rear and precise rack-and-pinion steering.

The torquey four-cylinder, twin-carb TR3 engine was enlarged to 2,138cc and mated to an all-synchro four-speed ‘box that could launch the car to 60mph in 10.9 seconds on its way to a top speed of 105mph. Optional Laycock de Normanville electricallly operated overdrive could now be selected for 2nd and 3rd gear as well as 4th, effectively providing the TR4 with a seven-speed close-ratio gearbox and raising the top speed to 110mph.

Miss G Sapina of Cote D’Azur must have been quite the girl about town when she took delivery of this fabulous TR4 in November 1963. Originally registered 897 LM 83, it was finished in New White with a black interior and had the desirable options of overdrive and a Surrey Top with a removable canvas roof section which stowed neatly in the boot. A LHD car, it also had an uprated ‘tropical fan’, kph speedo, a heater and dynamo charging. Clearly fond of the car, Miss Sapina kept it for 11 years before finally trading it in at a garage in London in 1974 for the princely sum of £300 – about £800 less than she would have paid for it new.

UK-registered as KYX 232P, it was then bought by a John Warwick who kept it right up until his untimely death in the early 1990s at which point ownership transferred to his brother, David Warwick. It then sat in storage for a few years until David decided to get it restored in 1999. Unfortunately, his first choice of restorer went out of business and it was not until October 2011 that the car was finally back on the road in all its glory, now with the age-related plate BPR 582A.

David only drove the car about 100 miles each year, mainly to local shows in Dorset between 2011 and 2017, before our vendor (himself a lifelong Triumph owner) managed to prise it out of his hands in 2017. It is still showing only 51,000kms on the clock (31,700 miles) which the vendor believes to be correct based on the extensive history file that comes with the car. TR experts among you will spot the later TR4A light clusters on the front wings, photos of the car showing that this 'upgrade' was carried out early in its life. The boot rack has also been on the car since pre-1974 and it rides on period steel wheels with chrome Triumph hub caps.

Although it is tax and MOT exempt, it comes with an MOT to November 2019, the substantial history file also including photos of the restoration, original handbook, parts catalogue and workshop manuals, and a Heritage Certificate. The vendor has also amassed a delightful collection of French language TR4 brochures and period paper memorabilia, including French motoring maps and window stickers, which add to the charm of this ‘belle voiture’. A new Moss conversion kit is also available by separate negotiation should the new owner wish to carry out the popular alternator/narrow belt/electric fan/spin-on oil filter conversion.

Few owners, low mileage, desirable options, excellent condition – this lovely TR4 ticks all the right boxes and is due to be driven over 160 miles to the sale.