1958 Triumph TR3 A

Originally constructed on the 20th of May 1958 this TR3A is an early example of the breed. Supplied from Standard Triumph as a manual four-speed car with overdrive (which it retains and it still works) the car was originally fitted with a white hood (which it’s sadly since lost). The heritage sheet included with the car’s history shows its authenticity and all the build details even down to the hour it left the factory (apparently between 1pm and 2pm on that Tuesday afternoon, sixty years ago).

The vendor, a garage owner and former engineer at the time, took on a very comprehensive ‘nut & bolt’ restoration in the early 1990s. Undertaken at evenings and weekends, around customer jobs, this TR3A went from a shabby shell covered in rust in 1989 to a sound rolling chassis and body ready for paint and finally assembly by the mid-’90s. The fact that this Triumph still presents as well as it does is testament to the skill of the restorer. Not many cars repainted 30 years ago can hold a candle to this one. To back up the receipts for parts needed during the restoration, the vendor has also included a complete photographic file to illustrate the level of attention and care that was lavished upon this Triumph during its rebuild.

Repainted in a Dark Blue, this hue shows off the outrageously curvaceous lines of this Fifties Triumph to maximum effect. Sadly, the original contrasting white hood has been lost at some point, though a tidy and well-fitting black replacement is hardly an eye-sore. The plastic windows do show some very minor scuffs and scratches but nothing that impedes vision, though the side screens haven’t been used in a long time and one of them is missing its glass. While we’re talking about missing bits, the front bumper has gone AWOL but the vendor assures us that this was a deliberate cosmetic decision; he still has the bumper irons and several other spares left over from the build, should the next owner want to return the car to stock condition.

The bodywork is largely very good indeed but we did find a small dent to the nearside edge of the bonnet bulge. There’s also some very minor bubbling under the paint visible in the same area and toward the top edge of the bonnet. There’s another small dent in the nearside rear wing, just above its protective spat. There’s a paint mismatch on the flap in the centre of the windscreen scuttle and the chrome to the rear bumper over-riders is scuffed and scratched. If we were being really picky we’d also replace some of the rubbers around the car, especially the one surrounding the nearside rear light lens, as it has perished and cracked. There’s also a chip to the offside top corner of the windscreen but it’s out of the driver’s line of sight.

Shipped with a Grey Vynide leatherette material (like vinyl) this was binned in favour of the attractive beige fabric that now covers the cabin. The seats have a lovely patinated finish that’s perfectly aged and doesn’t show any nasty cracks or tears. The only damage we could find was a mild lift in the stitching to the top right corner of the driver’s seat upholstery. It’s a similar story with the carpets that show some light sun bleaching, mainly to the transmission tunnel. The rest of the carpet is uniform in both colour and tidy condition. The boot carpet has a little damage in the offside suspension turret area but nothing unsightly and there’s a few scratches to the underside of the boot lid on the nearside.

Lifting the carpets anywhere in this TR reveals steel that appears freshly painted. All the fixing and nuts and bolts around the car still look like new. According to the vendor, he’s only covered approximately 500 miles since the car was restored. He can only approximate that as the speedo doesn’t work. After completing the restoration, the vendor found he hardly got to use this Triumph as a pair of classic Porsches were usually called upon to provide weekend thrills. That’s not to say that this classic British sports car was abandoned, far from it in fact. It has been regularly exercised locally over the past 30 years and provided occasional transport to village classic car shows. In between outings it was stored in a nice dry modern industrial unit.

Not a lot to say here really, the car has allegedly covered just 500 miles since its restoration and the underside condition certainly backs this up – it still looks fresh from its restoration. There doesn’t even appear to be much in the way of surface corrosion to worry about, backing up the claim that the car has been used sparingly and only on high days. In fact, the only thing we found worth investigating further were some cracked rubber bushes to the top of the front uprights – everything else underneath seemed to be in rude health.

The vendor purchased the car as a project in an incomplete and pretty sorry state in 1989 and sadly much of the history before this date doesn’t seem to have survived. Having said that, we do still have an old-style logbook listing the car’s first few owners from ’58 to ’75. There are also some road tax stamps from ’65-’68 and that heritage print out.

The ‘proper’ history begins with MoTs from 1991 – 1997 and stacks of parts bills from the car’s restoration. The lion’s share of the body panels including the outer sills, A posts and floors were purchased in September 1992 for the sum of £881.56. Another substantial bill of £201.52 for an engine gasket refresh (including the cylinder head) can be seen from November 1995. Most of these bills for sundries and ancillary components all come from well-known Triumph restoration specialists Cox & Buckles, then based in the West Midlands (now Kingston Upon Thames).

These early TRs offer a near totally lost driving experience – a truly open sports car. The doors are tiny and barely cover the occupant’s shoulders. With the top down and the sun out, it doesn’t matter that 60mph takes over 12 seconds to arrive, you’ll still feel like you’re doing 90mph from a near standstill.

These are raw and engaging cars that really require your attention to get the best out of them. Though the flip side is that they’re some of the most visceral and mechanical classics out there. As such we’re confident that this meticulously restored TR3A will reach its £22,000 – £30,000 estimate with ease.

Inspection is always encouraged, within government guidelines of course. The car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon. To arrange an appointment please use the ‘Contact Seller’ button at the top of the listing. Please feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.