Actually they (The Roadster Factory) have two TRS's. One is currently
without an engine but otherwise is intact and has been taken to a number of
shows and events as far back as the VTR National at Road Atlanta in 1987
where it did a few laps with Dave Hagenbuch at the wheel. It has been
plagued by the same problems it had when new, that of porosity in the the
head casting. I believe the engine is being review by the folks at Group
44. I am not sure of the intent at this point, but there are modern
metalergical methods of curing the problem. The second car is literally in
pieces and I believe has a spare "Sabrina" engine in addition to the proper
one. Certainly some of the other ventures TRF has become involved in have
had an effect on the speed at which these two well historied pieces are
being maintained/restored. I know TRF has continued to sponsor the
reproduction of additional "NLA" pieces which is very expensive realizing
the tooling costs. Of course also a consideration is the heydays of the
80's in the parts business are over. This is true for all suppliers at a
time when original supplies are drying up of many pieces we took for
granted in the past. TRF has always shown a great desire to maintain the
historic significance over the years and I am sure both TRS's will benefit
over time from this attitude.
Russ Moore
At 07:43 PM 4/8/99 -0700, Baxter Culver wrote:
>If my memory is not too deficient, I recall the Roadster Factory of
>Pennsylvania obtained a "Sabrina" complete with twin cam engine. Was
>working on a restoration a few years back!
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Andrew Mace <amace@unix2.nysed.gov>
>To: MWO Jeans & Fashion <MWO.Jeans.Fashion@t-online.de>
>Cc: Amici Triumphi <fot@autox.team.net>
>Date: Thursday, April 08, 1999 11:43 AM
>Subject: Re: Triumph Sabrina
>
>
>>On Thu, 8 Apr 1999, MWO Jeans & Fashion wrote:
>>
>>> today I looked at some original drawings from Giovanni Michelotti he did
>for
>>> Triumph which are for sale. Amongst TR 4, Spitfire and some other models
>there
>>> are 5 drawings of a car titled 'Triumph Sabrina', if I remember correctly
>the
>>> date was 1959. I think it is a TR 3 based hardtop coupe (which is rather
>nice). I
>>> only know the 'Sabrina' twin cam prototype engine. Of course did this
>model never
>>> made it into production, but can anyone give a hint or heard about this
>proposal?
>>> I didn't find anything in the books.
>>
>>Michael, first I'm surprised that these drawings are up for sale. Is this
>>through the family, or are these drawings that somehow got away from
>>Giovanni in years past? Perhaps the ultimate buyers might at least make
>>copies available to some of the Triumph clubs around the world and perhaps
>>to the BMIHT as well? We can hope.
>>
>>As to the the "Triumph Sabrina": I wonder if it is somehow connected to
>>what became The Triumph Italia 2000. Many of the styling features of that
>>car are similar to those of the TRS Le Mans race cars that used the
>>"Sabrina" engine. I don't know if there ever had been plans to use the
>>Sabrina engine in that car? The only other thought is the one-off Conrero
>>GT, about which also fairly little has been written over the years.
>>
>>I'm working from memory here, without any books at hand, so this is all
>>just "guesswork"!
>>
>>--Andy
>>
>>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
>>* Andrew Mace, President and *
>>* 10/Herald/Vitesse (Sports 6) Consultant *
>>* Vintage Triumph Register <www.vtr.org> *
>>* amace@unix2.nysed.gov *
>>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
|