Prime Find of the Week: British Loadlugger

Estates are of course the new black within the classic car scene. Wait. Where have you heard that before? Well, here on ViaRETRO of course – and only two weeks ago as well. But it’s so true that we don’t have any issue in repeating that fact again and again…

But classic estates come in many shapes and sizes, and this weeks British loadlugger is something rather different from the massive Chrysler Town & Country we featured a couple of weeks ago. I should probably confess to being more than just a little biased, as I’m an ex-owner of a rare ’69 Triumph 2.5PI mk.1 saloon which I thoroughly enjoyed. However, I honestly feel that these early Triumph estates are both stylish and charming classics which offer a comfortable drive for the whole family.

Do you want to be part of this jet-set society? Of course you do… So you best keep reading!

The Triumph 2000 was a brand new Michelotti designed model launched in late ‘63 with a 2-liter 6-cylinder engine sourced from the Standard Vangaurd, but now issued with twin Stromberg 150CD carburettors. It was of course a modern monocoque construction, it featured independent suspension both front and rear, and was available with either a 4-speed manual or a 3-speed automatic gearbox. In the autumn of ‘65 Triumph added the estate version to the line-up, adding real practicality to the sober but stylish big Triumph. In late ’68 Triumph even upped the game further by offering both the saloon and the estate with the bigger 2.5 liter engine equipped with a Lucas mechanical fuel injection system, which was otherwise used in the sporting TR5. However, these 2.5 liter mk.1’s turned out to be very short lived, as the mk.2 model was introduced in late ’69 and continued right through to ’77.

For a while, Triumph practically had the entire European Executive Estate market for themselves.

This particular Triumph 2000 estate is quite an early car being from ’66. It presents very original and unmolested in an appealing dark blue with a factory black leather interior. Overall condition seems to be very tidy both inside and out, with only minimal and quite pleasing patina to the leather seats and some discolouration to the fully carpeted luggage area. The engine bay appears very clean too, which is usually a sign of a well-cared for classic. There’s a manual 4-speed gearbox and the selling dealer promises that the Triumph drives very well. It’s only a three-owner car, and it still retains its original service book, owner’s manual and even all the MOT certificates dating back to 1970. The estate versions of the big Triumph are much rarer than the saloons, and as such tend to trade for higher prices. This one has a fresh MOT and is offered at £8,995, which is probably about right if you’re buying from a dealer, and it’s as good as both the pictures and the description suggest.

Here’s a selection of the pictures provided by the dealer:


If you’re anywhere near as tempted as I am, you’ll need this link to the selling dealer in Sommerset, UK:

http://www.cookwayautoservicecentre.co.uk/index.php/sales/detail/158-triumph-2000-estate

 

With our Saturday instalment of Prime Find of the Week, we’re offering our services to the classic car community, by passing on our favourite classic car for sale from the week that passed. This top-tip might help a first-time-buyer to own his first classic, or it could even be the perfect motivation for a multiple-classic-car-owner to expand his garage with something different. We’ll let us inspire by anything from a cheap project to a stunning concours exotic, and hope that you will do the same.
Just remember – Any Classic is Better than No Classic! We obviously invite our readers to help prospective buyers with your views and maybe even experiences of any given model we feature. Further to that, if you stumble across a classic which you feel we ought to feature as Prime Find of the Week, then please send us a link to primefindoftheweek@viaretro.co.uk