Yahoo Autos Junkyard Gem: 1960 Triumph TR3A
British sports cars still show up in the big self-service car graveyards I frequent, but most of them are MG Midgets, MGBs, Triumph TR7s, Triumph Spitfires and the occasional Jensen-Healey. Today's Junkyard Gem comes from an earlier period, making it the oldest discarded Triumph I've documented so far: a 1960 TR3A, found in a yard just south of Denver, Colorado.
Colorado Auto & Parts, my favorite Front Range junkyard, has a respectable selection of British steel out in their self-service inventory right now. How about a pair of Midgets?
Or this TR7? You'll find two Princess limousines as well, plus a chrome-bumper MGB-GT.
The Standard Motor Company (owner of the Triumph brand) began building TR3s in 1955 and gave the car a major facelift for 1957. This version of the car became known as the TR3A (though the manufacturer never officially used that designation), and it was built until 1962. There was a short-lived TR3B version launched that year as well, after which the TR4 took over.
Standard was bought by Leyland Motors soon after this car was built, with the Standard marque being phased out in favor of Triumph a few years later. Eventually, Triumph would join Jaguar, MG, Rover and all the rest as part of the British Leyland team.
That was unpleasant for Triumph stalwarts and for intra-division politics within British Leyland, because MG's MGA and MGB were bitter sales rivals to the TR3 and TR4. It's good for the telling of this bit of junkyard history, though, because it allows me to bring up some of the most legendary sports cars in 1960s sexploitation cinema history: the trio of machines driven by the murderous protagonists in Russ Meyer's "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill" of 1965. Tura Satana drives a 1964 Porsche 356 coupe, Lori Williams drives a 1959 MGA and Haji drives a 1958 Triumph TR3A.
