1968 Triumph TR250 Original Paint Survivor 2nd Owner 24,284 Miles Overdrive

GENERAL DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY:

Started collecting about 50 years ago and the main objective was to buy one owner, matching numbers, original paint, rust free cars for pleasure and investment. An unrestored original survivor, even with it's faults, gives you an accurate assessment of it's overall condition combined with plenty of character (or the nauseating word "patina"). This Triumph TR250 is one of those special cars. A relatively rust free one owner, original paint, matching numbers, original survivor with overdrive and 24284 actual miles that has been garaged in the South all it's life. I have known of the car and it's original owner since 1968. It was a special order personal export delivery for a Mr G Churchill, USA and was registered by the Triumph factory and issued with a Coventry registration in his name. Mr Churchill, an officer in the US Military, took delivery of the car at the factory because he wanted to race it at some point in the USA. At the time, if you had a Triumph sportscar and wanted extra performance from it, SAH Accessories, of Leighton Buzzard England, were definitely the people to see and this was the shop he hired to do the race prep work. In later years the company changed ownership, and to this day continues to sell newly-developed parts to suit all the classic Triumphs, now under the name of Triumphtune - part of the Moss group. The SAH aluminum sticker is still on the back of the bumper in the photos. Never driven in the wet and always in the owners garage. I purchased the car in the 70's after the owner passed away. It is a pleasure to look at, the lines and gaps on the car are straight and perfect as new. It starts, runs, drives and steers with a solid new feeling. Less than 10 miles have been put on since the rebuild. Scroll down for more photos.

ENGINE:

Original matching numbers engine. Blueprinted and balanced when new in England by a British racing preparation company called SAH Racing Accessories who specialized in Triumph cars. They did a "stage 2" race prep on the car which included complete disassembly of the engine for blueprinting, balancing, etc. This work was done when the car was new, fresh out of the factory. Regardless of such low mileage I disassembled the engine last month to ensure that it was in good order after such a long storage. As expected, due to the low mileage, it needed nothing except for a small spot in one cylinder that had a 1/4" wide shallow rust pit which required a boring to clean it up, so I had all cylnders bored .020 and installed new pistons, rebalancing them and the entire rotating crankshaft assembly as a whole before reassembly. While rebuilding I found internal parts like pistons, rods, crankshaft, etc, all hand marked, modified and balanced. There may have been other modifications and additional work that was done but I am not aware of what was included overall in the stage 2 package. There was a stage 3 package available that is listed below as an example of what was included in that package and obviously the stage 2 package was not as comprehensive as the stage 3. Everything else, bearings, seals, lifters, valves, timing chain, water pump, oil pump, belts, flywheel, etc, etc, was done to new or better than new specs. Carbs are perfect, tight as new. It is now a new engine, extremely strong, quiet and smooth. Idles perfectly, no loping. Break in oil is in the sump for running in and was changed out after the initial startup. Way above average oil pressure. Engine number is CC6384E. <p>

Example of SAH stage "3" tuning package: Blueprinted and balanced engine, SAH Rocker cover, SAH Springs, valves, SAH cylinder head, SAH inlet manifold, SAH Camshaft, SAH exhaust manifold, SAH exhaust system, SAH Throttle Linkage kit, SAH Oil Cooler, Triple 40 DCOE Weber Carbs, New Weber Filters, Sports Coil, Electronic ignition, New Fuel lines & Clips. Could not find the specs on the stage 2 package to compare to this stage 3 setup.

TRANSMISSION/CLUTCH:

The car was delivered from the factory with a standard 4 speed non overdrive transmission but it was removed from new and had a new factory Triumph overdrive transmission fitted while the engine was being modified by SAH Tuning. You cannot tell the difference. Everything is perfect as it would have been coming out of the factory, including the overdrive column switch and original Triumph wiring harnesses. If it wasn't for the VIN number indicating non overdrive I would have bet on it coming with overdrive from the factory. Overdrive works perfectly, as normal. Clutch, throwout bearing, clutch master and slave cylinders are all new. Shifts perfect through all of the gears, exactly like these transmissions should function. Syncros all in top working order. Strong and positive with no slop.

ENGINE COMPARTMENT:

Beautiful original paint condition. Solid and straight. No rust, no damage. I love tidy engine compartments and don't think I have ever seen a nicer, original paint, rust free engine compartment on any other 50 year old car. All we did was clean out the dirt from years of storage. Check the battery box - no rust, no battery corrosion and that is the original factory shiny paint. The battery mounting rubbers are even the originals. No surface rust anywhere. Original paint still looks fresh and bright as new. All serial, engine and body plates are intact and excellent as shown. Everything works. The two heater hoses are the 50 year old original striped hoses and may need watching but upon inspection I decided to leave them on because they are the originals and still in good useable condition. New battery, new alternator.

TRUNK COMPARTMENT:

Solid, excellent and straight with no rust or damage. The original paint is in poor condition due to color fading, paint lifting in spots and discoloration. Spare wheel is a TR6 wheel but the tire itself is the original Goodyear 185 X 15 Redband tyre with deep tread that came with the car from the factory when new.

SHEET METAL BODY PANELS:

Die straight originals throughout with perfect factory gaps. The door bottoms and jambs are rust free, solid, with bright factory original paint. The inner rockers are excellent, fender bottoms are excellent, front and rear valances, which are usually damaged or rotted, are also excellent, the body/chassis underneath is excellent, original floors are excellent. There are a few small isolated scabby pitted rust areas and the hood and trunk lid have large scabby pitted areas as shown. The top surfaces of the hood and trunk lid suffered a bit over the years of storage because the widow had put some plastic over the car in their unattached garage and eventually the garage roof leaked and got through some of the plastic in places. The plastic didn't really help and probably should have been kept off. The large rectangular outline of the British license plates with the wide mounting holes can still barely be seen on the rear of the trunk lid.

EXTERIOR BODY PARTS:

Everything is original and in very good undamaged condition. Bumpers, bumper guards, bumper brackets, tail lights, grille, headlight assemblys and all the other trim is still original, straight and in very good condition. Nothing bent or damaged. The chrome of course is 50 years old and is getting a bit thin but very useable as is.

GLASS:

The side windows are original and excellent, roll up and down easliy and are tight. The windshield is original and excellent.

CHASSIS:

The frame and chassis are in excellent, straight, undamaged condition as shown. Amazing that a lot of the chassis and frame still have the original glossy black paint from the factory as shown - and the underside has not been cleaned for photos. It is shown as removed from storage.

INTERIOR/UPHOLSTERY:

Another refreshing sight. The interior is all original and in close to new condition. All soft, supple and vibrant - no hardening. Original door panels, fender well upholstery, fuel tank firewall, side B pillar upholstery - original and excellent. Dash pieces are all original, uncracked, undamaged, soft. Not even any damage or wear on the dash piece above the choke knob. Seats are the best originals I have seen. Soft. supple, firm. Correct condition for a 24,000 mile car - original pedal pads are the same, hardly any wear. Seat frames are excellent. Only thing that was redone was new Moss carpeting. (not glued down).

DASH AREA:

The wood dashboard is the original with degrading of the varnish throughout as shown. All gauges work - everything works, speedometer, (24,284 miles is absolutely correct), odometer, trip meter, tachometer, lights, fuel gauge, oil pressure gauge, water temp gauge, ammeter, carburetor choke, bonnet release handle, turn signals, hazard lights, windshield wipers, horns, heater fan. Windshield wiper switch is getting stubborn(typical of the original clear hooters switches)and will probably need replacing at some point. Has AM FM pushbutton radio that is not working.

TOP:

The original top frame is complete, excellent, undamaged and unrusted as shown. The original convertible top is still on the frame and actually is in surprisingly good condition except for the rear window. No matter, you will want to install a new top anyway. Just nice to see a 50 year old TR250 top in decent condition. It was a one year only design.

PAINT:

Original factory paint. Even though it still looks good it is 50 year old faded paint with isolated discoloration spots/scabs and realistically has to be called fair to poor in spots. The sides are still quite good and would benefit from a machine buffing out. Certainly useable as it stands and I personally would not paint it because I covet originality - but that's my opinion. The worst spots are on the top of the hood and trunk lid where there are areas of paint lifting and pitting. Repaint or not - your option.

TIRES & WHEELS:

The five wheels and tires are from a TR6. The wheels are 5 1/2" wide. Tires are Michelin X 185 X 15 Redlines. The spare wheel is also a TR6 wheel but the tire is the actual original Goodyear 185 X 15 Redband that came with the car from the factory when new with plenty of tread left. I suspect the original owner replaced the narrow stock 4 1/2" wide wheel/tire setup at some point with these wider wheels in preparation of wanting to do some local racing. He passed away before that developed.

EXHAUST:

Brand new stainless steel exhaust system. Sounds and looks perfect.

SUSPENSION AND BRAKES:

All original suspension and braking mechanisms are intact. Nothing missing. New brake master cylinder, wheel cylinders, pads, shoes, brake lines. Emergency brake assembly is intact, tight and works fine. It has not been on the road since being in storage since the 70's, only driven up and down my long driveway and should be properly exercised on the road to bed in the brake pads and shoes and to make sure everything functions safely and properly.

PAPERWORK:

Free and clear title, stack of receipts, British Motor Heritage certificate. Heritage certificate notes that the car was a special personal export factory delivery to Mr G Churchill, USA, was registered by the factory and issued with the Coventry registration in the owners name.

FACTORY ID PLATES:

The Vehicle identification ID plate, body plate and engine number are intact and correct. The vehicle serial number is CD6534L.

REVIEW:

A one year only survivor like this comes along "once in a blue moon". The TR250 is my favorite of all the Triumphs. The stickers shown are from 1968 when the owner came back from England and took a professors job at the University of Kansas for a short time. He then moved to Georgia as shown on the 1971 Georgia State patrol safety sticker and passed away shortly thereafter.

INSPECTION OF CAR:

It is difficult at best to describe something as complex as a vehicle and it is highly recommended that you personally inspect the car or have a 3rd party inspect it for you. I can accommodate anyone to show them the car. I have sold roughly 30 autos and motorcycles through ebay over the past 20 years with a solid 100 percent buyer satisfaction feedback. I try to give buyers a better car and deal then they expect.

SHIPPING:

Having shipped cars to all parts of the world over the years I can assist the buyer with transport or completely arrange it only if necessary. However the cheapest and most efficient method is for the new owner to call a transport broker in their area and have them put out bids for the job. The car is in a secure place at my home and it can be collected there. I can assist with loading.

PAYMENT & BIDDING: Contact me if you have less than 5 feedbacks or your bid WILL be cancelled and you will be barred from any of my auctions. A $1000 non refundable deposit via Paypal is due immediately after the auction closes. No Paypal for the remaining balance and the balance is due within 3 days via wire transfer or express mail with a bank cashiers check or cash. No Paypal for the balance. Payment is to be made in advance of collecting the car. In advance, before collecting the car - This is an auction and you have plenty of time to inspect the car personally or have a 3rd party inspect the car - inspections are welcome and encouraged. Full payment is due before the car is collected. Winning the auction does not mean that you now have the privilege of coming to inspect the car to see if you like it - if that is your intention, please do not bid on the car. If you cannot trust me, my reputation, the description and the extensive photos then it is your responsibility to inspect the car yourself or have a third party inspect it for you. When the auction is over, it is your car and payment is due at the close of the auction per these instructions. No Paypal for the balance.