The NEC Classic Motor Show Sale 2019 - 9th & 10th November 2019

The NEC Classic Motor Show Sale 2019 138 Cars Sunday 10th November 2019 Registration: PKV 374 Chassis Number: TS56910 Engine Number: TS1006FR Estimate: £100,000 - £140,000 • The ex-Works 1955 Le Mans 24-hours TR2 driven by Leslie Brooke and Mortimer Morris-Goodall to 19th position overall • Purchased by the late King Hussein of Jordan at Le Mans in full ‘race trim’ • An incredibly well-documented history file including countless invoices, period magazines, expired modern- day FIA papers and reams of photographs • From 47-years of private ownership by the same family and campaigned by them in many endurance rallies • An historically important motor car with potential entry to Blue Riband historic motorsport events such as the Le Mans Classic, Goodwood Revival, Mille Miglia and many more The Geneva Motor Show of March 1953 saw the launch of the all-new Triumph TR2 sports car, developed from the one and only TR1 with the experimental chassis number X505. The new model was soon in great demand due to its performance, reliability, availability and low price. It competed well against the contemporary rivals of the period and it soon became successful in competition winning accolades including the team prize in the Alpine Rally at their first outing and 27th overall in the Mille Miglia beating many Ferraris. For many sports car manufacturers at the time, endurance racing not only served as a great marketing tool, but also a test-bed for new and innovative parts and engineering technologies. In 1954, a TR2 was privately entered in the ‘24 Heures du Mans’ by Mr Edgar Wadsworth and, sharing the driving with Mr John Brown, the pair finished a creditable 15th in the gruelling event completing a total of 214 laps of the Circuit de la Sarthe. The following year Standard-Triumph Ltd decided to enter a ‘Works’ team of three cars to compete at the 24-hours, all finished in British Racing Green with wire wheels and carrying consecutive registrations ‘PKV 374’, ‘PKV 375’ and ‘PKV 376’. We are incredibly proud to be offering one of these team cars, ‘PKV 374’ for sale. For a long time, 374 was the sole survivor of the Works team and as a result is one of the most historic TR cars in existence. The team cars were not exactly standard customer cars at the time, as they were fitted with uprated experimental front disc brakes, long range fuel tanks and high-port cylinder heads, effectively making them prototypes, however, it wasn’t long before these modifications became standard fitment on customer cars. 374 and 375 were fitted with Girling disc brakes at the front and 11” Alfin drums at the rear, whilst PKV 376 utilised a four-wheel Dunlop brake setup. Each car was piloted by just two-drivers, perhaps unthinkable in modern-day endurance racing when three and four are the norm. PKV 374 (car no. 68) was driven by Leslie Brooke and Mortimer Morris-Goodall, PKV 375 (car no. 29) by Ken Richardson and Bert Hadley, and PKV 376 by Bob Dickson and the talented Ninian Sanderson, who was subsequently to win the race overall in 1956. The 1955 event would prove to be one that would long remain in the memories of all those that witnessed the devastating accident when, at 6.26pm, the Mercedes-Benz 300SLR of Pierre Levegh struck the left-side of Lance Macklin’s Austin Healey 100S NOJ 393 and the rapidly disintegrating Mercedes ploughed into the main stand killing 84 people and injuring a further 400. However, the organisers made the decision to continue with the race and, at the time of the accident, PKV 374 had been running well and, according to the late-June issue of Autosport, “Leslie Brooke was easily the fastest of the MG and TR2 drivers, and for many laps averaged over 90 mph.” Frustratingly for Brooke, at around 7pm on the Saturday evening, he overcooked it exiting the famous Tertre Rouge corner and ran aground embedding the car into the sandbank. As the marshals were not permitted to help the drivers to extricate their cars, it was up to Brooke and his brute strength and determination to dig the car out! Legend has it that he used the glove box lid and a shovel that he found near the corner, whilst rocking the car in first and reverse gears to free it from the ridge of sand on which it was stubbornly perched. Eventually, after 2.5 hours of toil, 374 was free and back on track with Brooke returning to the pit lane. For the rest of the race, gear selection became an issue and second or top gears appeared the only options, so it was remarkable that Brooke and Morris-Goodall finished the race in 19th place overall, only a few places behind their teammates in cars #28 and #29 who finished 14th and 15th respectively. 1955 Triumph TR2 - PKV 374 - The ex-Works Le Mans 24-hours LOT 411 More Images Lot 411 Bid On Lot 411