2 Products
Triumph Renown / Mayflower
1946–1954 · razor-edge · and the last dickey seat in the world
Aluminium over ash, cut like a small Bentley — and a side-valve saloon that was the first unitary car either company built.
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About the Triumph Renown & Mayflower
Sir John Black wanted a car that read as a small Bentley Mark VI, and the razor-edge Renown is the result: a six-light glasshouse with thin rear pillars, bodied by Mulliners of Birmingham in aluminium over a wooden frame. It started as the 1800 Town and Country Saloon in 1946 on a 1,776cc Weslake-converted overhead-valve four, became the 2000 in 1949 with the 2,088cc Vanguard engine and Vanguard front suspension, and then the Renown TDB got an entirely new pressed-steel chassis based on the Vanguard’s — so a TDB and an 1800 share almost nothing underneath. 6,501 TDBs, 2,800 TDCs and 190 limousines on a three-inch-longer wheelbase. Alongside them ran the Roadster, 2,501 with the 1,776cc and 2,000 with the Vanguard engine, and the last production car in the world fitted with a dickey seat — which had its own folding windscreen for the passengers in it.
The Mayflower is the odd one out and the thing to establish first. Same razor-edge styling, but a 1,247cc side-valve four with an aluminium head and 38bhp — the only side-valve car in this part of the Triumph story. It is also the first unitary-construction car either Standard or Triumph built, with bodyshells from Fisher and Ludlow at Castle Bromwich, so unlike the Renown it has no separate chassis at all. About 35,000 were made between 1949 and 1953, with ten drophead coupes in 1950 and 150 coupe utilities built in Australia from 1952 with timber floors and side panels. Coil front suspension, live rear axle on semi-elliptics, Lockheed hydraulic brakes.
Triumph Renown & Mayflower — specification & changes within the model
- Roadster 1800
- 1946–1948, 2,501 built. 1,776cc overhead-valve four, converted from Standard’s side-valve by Harry Weslake and built before the war for SS-Jaguar. Aluminium panels over ash, steel front wings only.
- Roadster 2000
- 1948–1949, 2,000 built. 2,088cc Vanguard engine from September 1948, with the Vanguard three-speed column change.
- The dickey seat
- The Roadster was the last production car in the world with one — and it had its own folding windscreen for the rear passengers.
- 1800 saloon
- 1946–1949. 1,776cc, 65bhp, lengthened tubular chassis, transverse-leaf independent front.
- 2000 saloon (TDA)
- 1949, 2,000 built. 2,088cc Vanguard engine, Vanguard independent front suspension and column change.
- Renown TDB
- From October 1949, 6,501 built. Entirely new pressed-steel chassis based on the Vanguard’s, coil-sprung front. Shares almost nothing underneath with an 1800.
- Renown TDC
- 2,800 built, plus 190 limousines on a 3in longer wheelbase with a division, radio and heater as standard.
- Bodies
- Mulliners of Birmingham — aluminium panels over a wooden frame. Razor-edge styling championed by Sir John Black.
- Mayflower
- 1949–1953, about 35,000 built. 1,247cc SIDE-VALVE four, aluminium head, single Solex, 38bhp @ 4200rpm. The first unitary-construction car from either Standard or Triumph — bodies by Fisher and Ludlow, no separate chassis. Coil front, live rear axle, Lockheed brakes. Ten drophead coupes in 1950.
- Mayflower in Australia
- 150 coupe utilities built there from 1952 by Standard Motor Company (Australia), with timber floor and side panels.
