Triumph Mayflower

Triumph Mayflower
Overview
Manufacturer Standard Motor Company
Production 1949–53
35,000 were made[1]
Assembly Coventry, England
Port Melbourne, Australia
Body and chassis
Body style 2-door saloon
2-door drophead coupé
2-door coupé utility (Australia)
Powertrain
Engine 1,247 cc straight-4 side-valve[2]
Transmission 3-speed manual[2]
Dimensions
Wheelbase 84 in (2,100 mm)[3][4]
Length 156 in (4,000 mm)[3]
Width 62 in (1,600 mm)[3]
Height 60 in (1,500 mm)[5]
Chronology
Successor Standard 8/Triumph Herald

The Triumph Mayflower is a British four-seat  1 1⁄4 litre small luxury car noted for its razor-edge styling. It was built by the Standard Motor Company and sold by Standard's subsidiary, The Triumph Motor Company (1945). It was announced at the October 1949 British International Motor Show, but deliveries did not commence until the middle of 1950. The Mayflower was manufactured from 1949 until 1953.

The Mayflower's "upscale small car" position did not find a ready market and sales did not meet Standard's expectations. Standard's next small car, the Standard Eight of 1953, was a basic 0.8 litre economy car.

Design and engineering

The Mayflower used a version of the pre-war Standard Flying Ten's[6][7] side-valve engine updated by having an aluminium cylinder head[2] and single Solex carburettor.[3] The engine developed 38 bhp (28 kW)[2][3] at 4200 rpm.[3] The 3-speed gearbox, with column shift, came from the Standard Vanguard[6] and had synchromesh on all the forward ratios.[8] There was independent suspension at the front[3][6] using coil springs and telescopic dampers,[3][9] but a solid axle with semi-elliptic leaf springs,[3] also based on the Vanguard's design, was at the rear. Lockheed hydraulic brakes were fitted.[8]

The Mayflower was the first car with unitary construction to be manufactured either by Standard or by the Triumph company that existed before Standard bought its assets. The body was designed by Leslie Moore, chief body designer of Mulliners of Birmingham with input from Standard's Walter Belgrove. The body shells were built by Fisher and Ludlow at Castle Bromwich, Birmingham.[7][10]

The Mayflower had traditional "razor edge" styling similar to that of the Triumph Renown imitating the style then still used by Bentley and Rolls-Royce cars.[7][11][12] Standard's managing director Sir John Black believed this would be especially appealing to the American market. One advantage of the car's upright styling was that it could seat four people in comfort despite its small size,[11] although there were complaints about the rear seat being constrained by the rear axle and being too narrow as a result.[13]

Non-saloon versions

Ten drophead coupés were built in 1950.[1][2]

Standard Motor Company (Australia) Limited produced a coupe utility variant of the Mayflower at their Port Melbourne plant in Victoria, Australia. 150 examples were built from Mayflower Saloon CKD kits imported from the United Kingdom, with bodywork locally modified to form a rear load area to which timber floor and side panels were added.[14]

Performance

A Mayflower tested by British magazine The Motor in 1950 had a top speed of 62.9 mph (101.2 km/h) and could accelerate from 0–50 mph (80 km/h) in 26.6 seconds. A fuel consumption of 28.3 miles per imperial gallon (10.0 L/100 km; 23.6 mpg-US) was recorded. The test car cost £505 including taxes.[5]

Reception

The Mayflower was announced and displayed for the first time on 28 September 1949, the first day of the Earls Court Motor Show.[15] Deliveries, including complete knock down (CKD) kits for overseas markets, began in the middle of 1950.[6][16]

Despite its low performance, the Mayflower impressed automobile testers, including Tom McCahill from Mechanix Illustrated[7] and The Scribe from Autocar.[17]

Legacy

Triumph Mayflower

The Mayflower had been an attempt to create a small car with an upmarket image,[4] but it failed to meet its sales targets.[2] Standard announced the Mayflower's replacement in a press release in early February 1952; the announcement further stated that the replacement would probably not be on sale until 1953.[18] The Standard Eight, which replaced the Mayflower, had a basic specification and was aimed at a different type of buyer. From the ending of Mayflower production in 1953 there was no small saloon with the Triumph name available in the United Kingdom until the launch of the Triumph Herald in 1959.[19] The Standard Ten saloon and Standard Companion estate were sold as Triumphs in the United States.[20]

The front suspension design from the Mayflower was used on the Triumph 20TS prototype and, with modifications, on the Triumph TR2.[6][11][21]

The Mayflower's "razor-edge" styling proved controversial and tends to polarise opinion. Motoring journalist James May has described it as being the ugliest car of all time.[22]

Cultural impact

The Mayflower is the subject of a well-known painting by Australian artist John Brack—The Car.[23]

Die-cast models

Die-cast models of the Mayflower include Mikansue models from the 1980s, Lansdowne models from the 2000s, and Oxford Diecast 00 scale models from 2008.

Notes

  1. 1 2 Sedgwick & Gillies 1986, p. 
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Robson 2011, p. 137.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Culshaw & Horrobin 2013, p. 318.
  4. 1 2 Langworth 1973, p. 132.
  5. 1 2 "The Triumph Mayflower", The Motor, 6 December 1950
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Robson 2011, p. 134.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Vance 2006.
  8. 1 2 The Triumph Mayflower - Brief Specification
  9. ↑ Jain & Asthana 2002, p. 293.
  10. ↑ Robson 2011, pp. 135–137.
  11. 1 2 3 Cook 2001, pp. 22–23.
  12. ↑ Langworth 1973, p. 131.
  13. ↑ Sewell 2006.
  14. ↑ Triumph Mayflower 'CoupeUtility', 2006
  15. ↑ "The Mayflower is an elegant little car with a 1250cc, four cylinder engine, three speed gearbox, and a full width, two-door saloon body with much the same knife-edge lines as the bigger Triumph saloon. The interior finish is in the same good taste as the external lines and the whole car is an attractive combination of the merits of modern design with the high quality looked for in British cars." - From Our Motoring Correspondent (28 September 1949). "Motor Show To-Day.". The Times (51498). London. p. 4.
  16. ↑ Piggott 2006, p. 25.
  17. ↑ Langworth 1973, pp. 132–133.
  18. ↑ "New Standard Car.". The Times (52226). London. 4 February 1952. p. 6.
  19. ↑ Culshaw & Horrobin 2013, pp. 318–320.
  20. ↑ Langworth 1973, p. 138.
  21. ↑ Langworth 1973, pp. 133–134.
  22. ↑ May 2008.
  23. ↑ Watson 2009.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Triumph Mayflower.
Triumph Motor Company timeline, 1946 to 1984 — a marque of British Leyland
type 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s
6789 0123456789 0123456789 0123456789 01234
Small family car Mayflower Herald
Toledo Acclaim
TR-10 1300 1500 1500 TC
Vitesse Dolomite
Large family car 1800 Town & Country 2000 Saloon Renown 2000 / 2.5 PI 2000 / 2.5 PI / 2500
Convertible Stag
Grand tourer Italia GT6
Sports car Spitfire
Roadster TR2 TR3 TR3A TR3B TR7
TR4 TR4A
TR5 TR6 TR8
TR250
Prototypes and cancelled projects:
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/9/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.