1961 Triumph TR3A

Roadster Convertible

4 - Cyl.

Manual

TS74972L

Gasoline

Strong 1961 TR3A to Drive Now and Restore Later This is a great-running, 50-year old TR3A roadster that I bought for my wife from the original owner 36 years ago. Taken out of storage, it’s been a blast to drive this summer in the high Colorado mountains where we live. The glass is perfect and everything works, but the cosmetics need work to make this car fully worthy of the marque – the paint is cracked in places, there’s some rust, the carpets are damaged and the side curtains need to be rebuilt – we don’t use ’em. In the 1970s we had no garage and this was her daily driver summer and winter in Boulder, Colorado, so the snow and exposure caused this rust. It always started in the coldest weather. You can buy this car and drive it as-is and it will still turn heads and get big smiles and waves. If you decide to restore it, all the parts are present; no scrounging for missing bits and pieces. I’ve put up a lot of photos so bidders can clearly see the condition of the car. Some of the photos are atop 11,312 foot Monarch Pass. We ran up there last Sunday for breakfast and photography. It’s a Triumph, so the temperature did rise to the tick-mark midway between its normal 185F and the upper gauge mark of 230F on the long uphill pull, but it didn’t boil over. What a joy to drive in the crisp Colorado morning air, with plenty of throttle left to pass folks on the way up. Extra Features Telescoping steering wheel Stromberg CD carburetors instead of the factory SU’s Conversion for spin-on oil filter (original cartridge case provided to convert back) Luggage rack Windwings New battery Lucas high-tension coil Tonneau and separate cover for folded-down hood sticks. Windshield washer spray jets installed and ready for installation of the Trafalgar windscreen washer kit (provided except for tubing). Defects There’s a small Bondo repair below the left rear taillight where someone backed into it in a parking lot about 33 years ago. The paint is starting to come off the Bondo. The original owner repainted the car with another coat of baby blue, and it’s cracking and peeling off in places. Rust in the usual TR3 places: rear panel, left and right walls of the spare tire well, lower edge of right front quarter panel aft of wheel, lower edge of left door. Small rusted-through hole in passenger-side floor board by door pillar. Superficial rust on floor boards, trunk and firewall. Interior kick panel carpets are shot, transmission tunnel carpet eaten away by battery acid leak many years ago (battery box repaired and proper drain tube installed). Broken plastic on steering wheel at end of spokes. Turn signals don’t always cancel reliably. Choke cable and handle not original (original-style replacement available online). Driver-side hinge on pop-up vent broken. Side curtains need to be rebuilt. It’s British – there are minor oil leaks from the valve cover gasket, pan gasket, and differential. Overall Condition Everything works – all lights, instruments, horn, wipers, heater and fan, generator, etc. You can buy this car, get temporary plates here and drive it home if you like – no trailer necessary. While the Remington Himax radial tires have 1/8-inch tread left, prudence would dictate replacing them soon simply because of their age. The car starts easily with choke, and idles smoothly at 650 rpm when fully warmed up to 185F. The engine wraps up nicely to its 5,000 rpm redline. When fully warm, oil pressure is 65 to 70 psi at speed, dropping to 20 psi at idle. The factory cartridge filter has been updated to use modern spin-on filters, making oil changes far less messy. There are no unusual noises from the 4-speed transmission and it shifts easily, although we always double-clutch when going down. First gear has no synchro so requires extra care with the double-clutch when trying to get to first while rolling. My wife remembers the original owner saying he rebuilt the engine around 60,000 miles and put in oversize 87 mm pistons (instead of the stock 86 mm) when he converted to the Stromberg carbs. (We've only put about 40,000 miles on since 1975). My memory is fuzzy from 36 years ago so I can’t attest to that, and I’ve never removed the head to check. I’ll just say it feels stronger than a stock engine. Having tuned many Strombergs and SUs over the years, I find Strombergs to be better and more stable once properly adjusted. The white convertible top’s windows are clear and unscratched without any sign of yellowing. The top material is white with a few areas of slight discoloration. The tonneau is clean and fits snugly. The hood stick cover is also clean. The metal frames for the side curtains are fine, but their fabric and windows need a complete rebuild if you want them on to drive in the rain. The side screen attachment brackets are provided Other than the small parking lot dent and repair to the left rear quarter panel below the taillight, there are no other dents or bruises; the car has never been in an accident as far as we know. The front grill is clean and straight. The frame is straight. The brakes and clutch work fine, with no pulling when running down the road. Behind the front grill are baby blue cardboard airflow baffles to funnel incoming air to the radiator. The glovebox is present and the lock works. We don’t have the original tool roll, but do have the original jack and ratcheting handle for it, as well as original lug wrench and manual starter crank to impress your friends if the battery is flat. The starter crank is quite handy when setting the timing or adjusting the valves. Click Here to See Additional Photos Extra Items that go With Sale New fan belt New clear front and red rear lenses and chrome ring Original red shop manual (complete with grease smudges) Stromburg CD carburetor shop manual Extra hood badges (fair condition) and letters Spare Tenax and Lift-the-Dot fasteners Spare instrument cluster panel (panel only, no gauges) Blue upholstery piping and fabric Trafalgar windscreen washer bottle and pump New clutch and brake pedal pads Spare Triumph folding handle lug wrench Spare “T” key New set of Lucas points Original grease gunBook: The Triumph TRs, A Collector's Guide by Graham RobsonBook: Original Triumph TR by Bill Piggott Other A clean TR3A overdrive transmission that’s been stored indoors for 42 years will be in another auction shortly. I will rebate $150 to the successful bidder on this vehicle if they are also the successful bidder on the transmission.The number on the engine is TS75140. We’re moving out of the country, so it makes no sense to keep storing the car when someone else can buy it and enjoy it this summer and fall. You can contact me by e-mail or at 719-966-7171 (8 am to 8 pm, MDT) to ask further questions. We've priced it very reasonably with no reserve. Good luck bidding and the winner will enjoy reclaiming the fine old days of open-air British roadster motoring.On Aug-01-11 at 18:39:50 PDT, seller added the following information:My separate TR3A overdrive transmission auction is eBay item number 160629799702, see at http://tinyurl.com/4457jxuOn Aug-04-11 at 13:40:55 PDT, seller added the following information:These are responses to questions I've received. 1. Any issues with hot or cold starts? No. In the 1970s when my wife drove it in winter, it would start even at 0 Fahrenheit. Just give it full choke. (Staying warm in the car with the little coffee-can size heater is another matter.) Never had a problem with hot starts or vapor lock. 2. Overheating in traffic? Hasn't been a problem in Colorado because we don't live where we sit in stop-and-go traffic. In the late 1960s, with a different TR3 in NYC, I could see the temp gauge go all the way to 230F when sitting on the highway on a hot summer day. It never boiled over, but the oil pressure would be below 10 psi. If you're running a 50/50 water/antifreeze mix and a 4 psi radiator cap, the boiling point is 243F at sea level. This is typical Triumph summer behavior in city traffic -- the temp gauge needle runs to one end while the oil gauge needle runs to the other. Some people add an electric fan to the radiator to assist cooling when there's little radiator airflow. Other put a restriction plug in the bypass port of the radiator housing so coolant isn't being shunted around the radiator. The original TR-3 thermostat had a sliding band that closed off the bypass port, but they're hard to find now. Google "TR3 Thermostat" or "TR3 electric fan" for more information. Unlike the '57 TR-3 I had in the sixties, this one has cardboard baffles to direct incoming ram air to the radiator, so it's more efficient once you're moving again. 3. Does it stall when warmed up? Sometimes after a hard, hot uphill run it will stall when we pull over and park. Happened when we drove up Monarch Pass to 11,312 feet a few weeks ago. But around town or on the highway when running at the normal 185F, no, it doesn't stall. It will drop back to its normal 650 idle. 4. It's a little slow to warm up and requires small amounts of choke until it's up to about 160F. I'm wondering what thermostat is in there. I vaguely remembering fooling around once with a 158F thermostat instead of the normal 185F. It's possible that it's opening earlier than it should, but on the other hand, once warm, the needle stays at 185F for normal driving. I really don't want to open the thermostat housing now just to see what's in there, but this would be an avenue of investigation for any buyer.