The Triumph Mayflower is a British four-seat -litre small luxury car noted for its razor-edge styling. It was built by the
Standard Motor Company
The Standard Motor Company Limited was a motor vehicle manufacturer, founded in Coventry, England, in 1903 by Reginald Walter Maudslay. For many years, it manufactured Ferguson TE20 tractors powered by its Vanguard engine. All Standard's tracto ...
and sold by Standard's subsidiary,
The Triumph Motor Company. It was announced at the October 1949
British International Motor Show
The British International Motor Show is an annual motor show held by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders between 1903 and 2008 in England, and as The British Motor Show since 2021 by Automotion Events.
Initially held in London at Th ...
, but deliveries did not commence until the middle of 1950. One of the nine prototype Triumph Mayflowers, "JWK 612", was factory tested 5000 miles across Europe in 1950, they used the famous rooftop test track of
Impéria Automobiles in Belgium. 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. The company's next small car, the
Standard Eight
The Standard Eight is a small car produced by the British Standard Motor Company from 1938 to 1959.
The car was originally launched in 1938 as the Flying Eight. After the Second World War the Flying range of Standards was dropped but an update ...
of 1953, was a basic 0.8-litre economy car.
Design and engineering
The Mayflower used a version of the pre-war
Standard Flying Ten's side-valve
A flathead engine, also known as a sidevalve engine''American Rodder'', 6/94, pp.45 & 93. or valve-in-block engine is an internal combustion engine with its poppet valves contained within the engine block, instead of in the cylinder head, as ...
engine updated with an aluminium cylinder head and single Solex carburettor. The engine developed at 4200 rpm. The 3-speed gearbox, with column shift, came from the
Standard Vanguard
The Standard Vanguard is a car which was produced by the Standard Motor Company in Coventry, England, from 1947 until 1963.
The car was announced in July 1947, was completely new, with no resemblance to the previous models, and, designed in 19 ...
and had
synchromesh
A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission system, where gear changes ...
on all the forward ratios.
There was independent suspension at the front using coil springs and telescopic dampers, but a solid axle with semi-elliptic
leaf spring
A leaf spring is a simple form of spring commonly used for the suspension in wheeled vehicles. Originally called a ''laminated'' or ''carriage spring'', and sometimes referred to as a semi-elliptical spring, elliptical spring, or cart spring, it ...
s, also based on the Vanguard's design, was at the rear. Lockheed hydraulic brakes were fitted.
The Mayflower was the first car with
unitary construction to be manufactured either by Standard or by the Triumph company that existed before Standard bought its assets. The body was designed by Leslie Moore, chief body designer of
Mulliners
Mulliners Limited of Birmingham was a British coachbuilding business in Bordesley Green, with factories in Bordesley Green and Cherrywood Roads. It made standard bodies for specialist car manufacturers. In the 19th century there were family ties w ...
of Birmingham with input from Standard's Walter Belgrove. The body shells were built by Fisher and Ludlow at Castle Bromwich, Birmingham.
The Mayflower had traditional "razor edge" styling similar to that of the
Triumph Renown
The Triumph Renown is strictly the name given to the Triumph's large saloon car made from 1949 to 1954 but it is, in reality, part of a three-car series of the 1800, 2000 and Renown models. Together with the Triumph Roadster, they were the fir ...
, imitating the style then still used by
Bentley
Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of luxury cars and SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded as Bentley Motors Limited by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Cricklewood, North ...
and
Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to:
* Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct
Automobiles
* Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...
cars. 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, although there were complaints about the rear seat being constrained by the rear axle and being too narrow as a result.
Non-saloon versions
Ten
drophead coupé
A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers.
A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving exp ...
s were built in 1950.
Standard Motor Company (Australia) Limited produced a
coupé utility
A coupé utility is a vehicle with a passenger compartment at the front and an integrated cargo tray at the rear, with the front of the cargo bed doubling as the rear of the passenger compartment.
The term originated in the 1930s, where it wa ...
variant of the Mayflower at their
Port Melbourne
Port Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Melbourne and Port Phillip local government areas. Port Melbourne recorded a populatio ...
plant in
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. 150 examples were built from Mayflower Saloon
CKD kits
A knock-down kit (also knockdown kit, knocked-down kit, or simply knockdown or KD) is a collection of parts required to assemble a product. The parts are typically manufactured in one country or region, then exported to another country or region ...
imported from the United Kingdom, with bodywork locally modified to form a rear load area to which a timber floor and side panels were added.
The Utility was introduced in 1952.
Performance
A Mayflower tested at Brooklands racing circuit, by British magazine ''
The Motor
''The Motor'' (later, just ''Motor'') was a British weekly car magazine
''Car'' is a British automotive enthusiast magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. International editions are published by Bauer Automotive in Republi ...
'' in 1950 had a top speed of and could accelerate from 0– in 26.6 seconds. A fuel consumption of was recorded.
Pricing
The Motor's test car cost £505 including taxes. The 1250 cc, 914 kg Mayflower was in a different market from the same year's 803 cc, 775 kg, less well equipped and more aggressively priced
Morris Minor
The Morris Minor is a British economy family car that made its debut at the Earls Court Motor Show, London, in October 1948. Designed under the leadership of Alec Issigonis, more than 1.6 million were manufactured between 1948 and 1972 in th ...
advertised at £382.
[" The Morris Minor tourer", ]The Motor
''The Motor'' (later, just ''Motor'') was a British weekly car magazine
''Car'' is a British automotive enthusiast magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. International editions are published by Bauer Automotive in Republi ...
, 23 August 1950 The MSRP in the US was $1750, more than the $1629 asked for a basic 2-door Chevrolet and almost 80% more than a similarly sized, powered and engineered Ford Anglia offered at a rock-bottom $948.
Reception
The Mayflower was announced and displayed for the first time on 28 September 1949, the first day of the
Earls Court Motor Show.
["The Mayflower is an elegant little car with a 1250cc, four-cylinder engine, three-speed gearbox, and a full width, two-door saloon body with much the same knife-edge lines as the bigger Triumph saloon. The interior finish is in the same good taste as the external lines and the whole car is an attractive combination of the merits of modern design with the high quality looked for in British cars." - ] Deliveries, including
complete knock down
A knock-down kit (also knockdown kit, knocked-down kit, or simply knockdown or KD) is a collection of parts required to assemble a product. The parts are typically manufactured in one country or region, then exported to another country or region ...
(CKD) kits for overseas markets, began in the middle of 1950.
Despite its low performance, the Mayflower impressed automobile testers, including
Tom McCahill
Thomas Jay McCahill III (1907–1975) was an automotive journalist, born the grandson of a wealthy attorney in Larchmont, New York. McCahill graduated from Yale University with a degree in fine arts. (McCahill's father had been a football all-A ...
from ''
Mechanix Illustrated
''Mechanix Illustrated'' was an American printed magazine that was originally published by Fawcett Publications. Its title was founded in 1928 to compete against the older ''Popular Science'' and ''Popular Mechanics''. Billed as "The How-To-Do Ma ...
'' and The Scribe from ''
Autocar''.
Legacy
![1953 Triumph Mayflower at Lime Rock (Trotta)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/1953_Triumph_Mayflower_at_Lime_Rock_%28Trotta%29.jpg)
The Mayflower had been an attempt to create a small car with an upmarket image, but it failed to meet its sales targets. Standard announced the Mayflower's replacement in a press release in early February 1952; the announcement further stated that the replacement would probably not be on sale until 1953.
The
Standard Eight
The Standard Eight is a small car produced by the British Standard Motor Company from 1938 to 1959.
The car was originally launched in 1938 as the Flying Eight. After the Second World War the Flying range of Standards was dropped but an update ...
, which replaced the Mayflower, had a basic specification and was aimed at a different type of buyer. From the ending of Mayflower production in 1953, there was no small saloon with the Triumph name available in the United Kingdom until the launch of the
Triumph Herald
The Triumph Herald is a small two-door car introduced by Standard-Triumph of Coventry in 1959 and made through to 1971. The body design was by the Italian stylist Giovanni Michelotti, and the car was offered in saloon, convertible, coupé, ...
in 1959. The
Standard Ten saloon and Standard Companion estate were sold as Triumphs in the United States.
The front suspension design from the Mayflower was used on the
Triumph 20TS prototype and, with modifications, on the
Triumph TR2
The Triumph TR2 is a sports car produced by the Standard Motor Company in the United Kingdom between 1953 and 1955. It was only available in roadster form.
The car had a 121 cid (1991 cc) four-cylinder Standard wet liner inline-four ...
.
Cultural impact
The Mayflower is the subject of a well-known painting by Australian artist
John Brack
John Brack (10 May 1920 – 11 February 1999) was an Australian painter, and a member of the Antipodeans group. According to one critic, Brack's early works captured the idiosyncrasies of their time "more powerfully and succinctly than any Aust ...
—''
The Car
''The Car'' is a 1977 American horror film directed by Elliot Silverstein and written by Michael Butler, Dennis Shryack and Lane Slate. The film stars James Brolin, Kathleen Lloyd, John Marley and Ronny Cox, along with real-life sisters Kim and ...
''.
Die-cast models
Die-cast models of the Mayflower include Mikansue models from the 1980s, Lansdowne models from 2006, and Oxford Diecast
00 scale models from 2008.
Notes
References
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External links
Triumph Mayflower pages{{Triumph_Motor_Company_timeline
Mayflower
''Mayflower'' was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, r ...
1950s cars
Cars introduced in 1949
Sedans
Convertibles
Rear-wheel-drive vehicles