While there is much to love about the early Spits, the MKIV and 1500s with their kam-tail design are among my favorites. With the optional hardtop included, the MKIVs may well be the perfect blend of fun-to-drive and practical or, as practical as a sports car can be. With its light weight, independent rear suspension and (reasonable0 power, the junior Triumph was, well, a triumph of size, handling, and styling and well suited to the American market.
Only 5 prints left! This may be the most iconic of the Austin Healey 100 models—Donald Healey’s personal 100S coupe. Recently sold at Bonham’s for a price equivalent to the GNP of a small country, this one of only two examples of a factory built coupe is currently on loan from its owner to the Austin Healey Museum in the Netherlands. Built on a late BN1 chassis, the coupe has a custom interior that includes a radio, heater, very unique door panels and a few other special touches. Under the bonnet is a mostly stock 100S motor (although painted red, presumably to match the exterior) with the addition of a heater bib and a few other tweaks.
A collaboration between Carroll Shelby and the Rootes Group, the Sunbeam Tiger epitomizes the notion of a “big engine in a small car”. Based on the moderately successful Sunbeam Alpine,…
The Sunbeam “Alpine” name actually goes back to the 50s when the name used on a series of cars intended mostly for rally. The name as we know it today has its origins in 1956 when Kenneth Howes and Jeff Crompton were tasked with doing a complete redesign of the original car, targeted primarily at the U.S. market.
The Swallow Doretti was the brainchild of a coach-builder named Eric Sanders and California Tubing Company boss Arthur Andersen. Following a visit by Eric Sanders to California in July of 1952 both men felt that, as was to be demonstrated by the Austin Healey 100 and Triumph TR2, there was a market for sports cars in the USA and at home (at the right price).
The Triumph Stag started as a styling experiment cut and shaped from a 1963–4 Triumph 2000 pre-production saloon, which had been styled by Michelotti, and loaned to him by Harry Webster, Director of Engineering at Triumph.
The TR7 was and possibly still is one of the most under appreciated and undervalued British sports cars, even though it was, in fact, the best selling single model of any of the LBCs.
Sometimes your back-up plan is better than the original idea
Just like the B-side of single records gone by (“Love Me Do”, by the Beatles and several others come to mind) isn’t always the one that hits with fans, sometimes your back-up plan works out better than your original idea. That would be exactly the story of Plan B Illustrations.
