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
Powertrain
Engine	1,247 cc straight-4 side-valve[2]
Transmission	3-speed manual[2]
Dimensions
Wheelbase	84 inches (2134 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 economy car noted for its razor-edge styling. It was the first small car to be built by the Triumph Motor Company while under the ownership of the Standard Motor Company. It was announced at the October 1949 London Motor Show but deliveries, including CKD kits for overseas markets, did not commence until the middle of 1950.^[6][7] 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-Triumph's next small car, the Standard Eight, was a more conventional economy car.

Design and engineering

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

The Mayflower was the first car with unitary construction to be manufactured by either Standard or Triumph. The body was designed by Leslie Moore, chief body designer of Mulliners of Birmingham with input from Triumph's Walter Belgrove. The body shells were built by Fisher and Ludlow at Castle Bromwich, Birmingham.^[8][10]

The Mayflower had traditional "razor edge" styling similar to that of the Triumph Renown, and imitating the looks of the upmarket Bentley and Rolls-Royce cars.^[8][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 Triumph (Australia) 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] In the same year the similarly sized but less well equipped and more aggressively priced Morris Minor was advertised at £382.^[15]

Despite its low performance, the Mayflower impressed automobile testers, including Tom McCahill from Mechanix Illustrated ^[8] and The Scribe from Autocar.^[16]

Criticism

Triumph Mayflower

The Mayflower's "razor-edge" styling proved controversial and tends to polarise opinion. Although it has many admirers, others share the opinion of Top Gear presenter James May, who called it the ugliest car of all time.^[17]

Legacy

The Mayflower was an attempt to create a small car with an upmarket image,^[4] and failed to meet its sales targets.^[2] Standard-Triumph's next small car, the Standard Eight, was launched with a very basic specification and aimed at a different type of buyer. From the ending of Mayflower production in 1953 there was no small Triumph saloon available in the UK until the launch of the Triumph Herald in 1959, although in some overseas markets derivatives of the Standard 8 were sold as Triumphs.

The front suspension design from the Mayflower was used on the Triumph 20TS prototype and, with modifications, on the Triumph TR2.^[6][11][18]

Cultural impact

The Mayflower is the subject of a well-known painting by Australian artist John Brack—The Car.^[19]

Die-cast models

• Mikansue modelled the Mayflower in the 1980s (?)
• Lansdowne modelled the Mayflower in the 2000s
• Oxford Diecast produced a 00 scale model in 2008

References

Citations

Sources

• Cook, Michael (2001). "Chapter 2 The Long Buildup to the TR". Triumph Cars in America. St. Paul, MN USA: MBI Publishing. pp. 22–23. ISBN 0-7603-0165-4. LCCN 2001031231. Retrieved 2013-06-11. 
• Culshaw; Horrobin (1974). Complete Catalogue of British Cars. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-16689-2.  Cite uses deprecated parameters (help)
• Jain, K. K.; Asthana, R. B. (2002). "18 Suspension System". Automobile Engineering (Engineering textbook). New Delhi, India: Tata McGraw-Hill. p. 293. ISBN 0-07-044529-X. Retrieved 2013-06-11. "Following this in 1949, Triumph Mayflower introduced the combined coil spring/damper unit and strut-type telescopic damper." 
• Langworth, Richard M. (Second Quarter 1973). "Trundling Along With Triumph – The story thus far ...". Automobile Quarterly (Automobile Quarterly Inc.) 11 (2): 116–145. LCCN 62-4005. "Of course the Mayflower was just repeating ancient history, for like the 10/20 and so many Triumhs since, it strove to be a "quality light car," and yet remain, as Holbrook held it, "typically English.""  Check date values in: |date= (help)
• May, James (5 September 2008). "James May: Think again". The Daily Telegraph (Editorial column). Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 6 December 2012. "And I'm pretty confident in saying that the ugliest car ever to sneak off a sketch pad when no one with taste or discretion was looking was the 1949 Triumph Mayflower." 
• Piggot, Bill (2006). Triumph: Sport and Elegance. Haynes. ISBN 1-85960-969-4. 
• Robson, Graham (May 2011). "Chapter 9 Vanguards, Renowns and Mayflowers 1947-1953". The Book of the Standard Motor Company. Poundbury, Dorchester, UK: Veloce Publishing. Triumph Mayflower – Not a Real 'Standard,' but Very Odd, and Very Endearing, pp. 134–138. ISBN 978-1-845843-43-4. Retrieved 2013-06-11. 
• Sedgwick, M.; Gillies, M. (1986). A–Z of Cars 1945–1970. Bay View Books. ISBN 1-870979-39-7. 
• Sewell, Brian (2006-11-21). "Triumph Mayflower". The Independent. London, UK. Archived from the original on 2013-06-13. Retrieved 2013-06-13. "Inside, the rear seat was uncomfortably cramped over the rear axle; I swear that after a journey of any length, if two passengers had occupied it they emerged with one buttock squared into a block, for the interior was knife-edged too." 
• Vance, Bill (2006-10-20). "Motoring Memories: Triumph Mayflower, 1950-1953". In Yarkony, Jonathan; Wilson, Greg. Autos.ca. Trader. Archived from the original on 2011-04-15. Retrieved 2013-06-12. 
• Watson, Bronwyn (3 October 2009). "Public Works: The Car, 1955". The Australian. Retrieved 3 May 2013. 
• "The Triumph Mayflower". The Motor. 6 December 1950. 
• "The Morris Minor tourer". The Motor. 23 August 1950. 
• "Triumph Mayflower 'CoupeUtility'". The forgotten Triumph 1949–1953. "The Watch Charm Rolls Royce". TRIUMPH MAYFLOWER HISTORIAN. October 2006. Archived from the original on 2012-09-29. Retrieved 2011-06-19. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Triumph Mayflower.

• Triumph Mayflower pages