1968 TRIUMPH

LKV 40F (#X755) is a very significant TR5 as it's believed to be the only surviving TR5 factory prototype out of the five built to TR5 specification from TR4A shells and chassis. Now fully restored with incredible accuracy, the result is simply stunning and the car is recognised by TR 'Cognoscenti’ as one of the most important TRs of all varieties still remaining in the public domain. TR5s are rare cars anyway with production of UK right-hand drive examples numbering only 1,161 units, tiny when compared with the succeeding TR6 which sold over 90,000 cars worldwide.

Its survival is undoubtedly testament to its early owners who, coincidentally, were involved in the car industry in Coventry and who understood the TR5’s importance at the time. Relegated to a corner of the Experimental Department at Canley, it was purchased in 1971 by Alan Batten who worked for British Leyland in the Technical Display Department and had been instrumental in one of the Paris Motor Show launch cars being fitted with a Perspex bonnet. He kept the TR until 1973 when it sold to Barry Wood, a design draughtman working for British Leyland whose accommodation overlooked Canley. The third owner was Gary Wise who worked for Chrysler on the other side of Coventry and who learned about X755 from his then girlfriend who worked for British Leyland and who, himself, went on to work for Triumph at Canley some time later. The next owner was Bill McTaggert also of Coventry who eventually sold it to his sister in Ormskirk. It was not until December 2001 that the full restoration was undertaken by Alan Graham over a five-year period with painstaking attention to authenticity.

#X755's unique prototype features included inner front wheel arches that were cut way (still evident today) and the nearside left-hand wheel arch has a strengthened section to house the high-pressure fuel pump that would eventually find its way into the boot on production cars. The gearbox is numbered EXT514 which is evidently an experiment unit and the engine number is CP/25-E as per the Trace Certificate. Upon stripping the engine down, the clutch release bearing carrier had 'engineers measurements numbers' stamped on it. Other differences from production and pre-production cars included the differential remaining in a white finish as did the chassis to make crack identification easier and the wiring loom had an experimental finish in blue as apposed to black. Remarkably, the history file contains a photo of LKV 40F in the Experimental Department at Triumph Canley in early 1968.

Now beautifully presented in Royal Blue with an exquisitely trimmed interior in Shadow Blue leather, the sheer quality and authenticity of X755's restoration is evident from our images. The fact that it's one of the very few 'historically important' TRs available for sale on the open market is significant and means that this surviving prototype TR5 is a must for any collector or marque enthusiast.