Trident Cars

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Trident Cars Ltd.
legal form Limited
founding 1965
resolution 1977
Reason for dissolution insolvency
Seat Woodbridge , Ipswich ( United Kingdom )
Branch Automotive industry

Trident was a British automobile manufacturer that launched small series sports cars with different engines from 1967 to 1977. The project was originally designed by TVR , but was not ready for series production due to economic difficulties.

Company history

Roots at TVR

Trident Cars has its origins in a failed project by the sports car manufacturer TVR.

TVR went through a number of bankruptcies and acquisitions in the early 1960s. Layton Sports Cars , founded in 1959 and renamed TVR Cars in 1961, was insolvent at the end of 1962 and was dissolved. In its place was the newly founded Grantura Engineering Ltd. who continued production of the TVR Grantura at the same Blackpool facility. In late 1965, Grantura Engineering was also insolvent. In addition to the TVR Grantura, the companies also had the Griffith 200 (later: 400 ) in their product range, which, with unchanged bodywork, was equipped with an eight-cylinder V-engine from Ford USA instead of a British four-cylinder engine. It was primarily intended for the North American market.

Prototype Trident Roadster

1962 commissioned Brian Hopton, one of the owners of TVR Cars, the British designer Trevor Fiore with the design of a new body for the Griffith 200. He had previously tried in vain to win Frank Costin as a designer. Fiore designed a compact hatchback coupe, of which the Italian Carrozzeria Fissore made a prototype with an aluminum body and an elongated TVR chassis. Fissore exhibited it as a Trident at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1965. In the course of the year Fissore built two more prototypes - a coupé and a convertible - but after Grantura Cars went bankrupt at the end of 1965, the Trident project was initially discontinued. Arthur and Martin Lilley, who took over the production facilities in Blackpool in November 1965 and brought them into the newly founded company TVR Engineering, initially assumed that they would also take over the Trident project. In fact, the British TVR dealer William "Bill" Last had previously acquired the rights to Fiore's design, the molds for the Trident body.

Trident Cars

Bill Last founded Trident Cars, initially based in Woodbridge and later in Ipswich , which presented a fourth prototype in 1966. Trident began series production of the coupé in 1967, stylistically based largely on Trevor Fiore's prototypes. Over the years, different six- and eight-cylinder engines of British and American origins were installed; the respective vehicles were given different model names. In 1974 Trident temporarily stopped production. In 1975 the company was restructured. The US investor Ernest Stern took over the majority of the shares. Trident then tried to reach the North American market with a revised version of the Clipper. Nothing came of it. After only two cars built, the company finally failed in 1978.

Most sources assume that Trident sold a total of about 130 vehicles from 1967 to 1977, one source even speaks of 225 vehicles. The British brand club sets the production number even lower. Until 2016, he could only document the production of a total of 85 Trident Coupés.

In the 21st century, Trident Sports Cars uses the Trident brand name. It has no relationship with the sports car manufacturer of the 1960s and 1970s.

The individual models

Clipper (1965–1974)

Trident clipper

The first model from Trident Cars was the Coupé Clipper. It was based on the prototype TVR Trident from 1965. Technically, Trident broke away from the TVR roots. Instead of an extended Grantura chassis like the prototypes, the series models had chassis of the Austin-Healey 3000 in the first few years . After their production was discontinued in 1969, Trident fell back on chassis of the Triumph TR6 , which were slightly extended. Driving behavior was particularly problematic when cornering and braking.

The Ford version

The first 30 Clipper were equipped with eight-cylinder V-engines with 4727 cm³ displacement (289 cubic inches) from Ford , which made 271 bhp (275 PS; 202 kW) and in a similar form from 1962 to 1967 already with the TVR Griffith 200 and 400 had been installed. Shelby also used it in the AC Cobra 289 . The 30 Ford engines came from an order from Grantura Engineering from the time before the bankruptcy. Bill Last took it over along with the Trident package. Selling price in its debut year was £ 1,923 before tax. This made the Trident £ 1,000 cheaper than the AC Cobra 289. After this supply was exhausted, Trident did not purchase any more engines from Ford. Some publications cite “delivery problems” at Ford or a strike as the reason for this.

The Chrysler version

Instead, the plant offered the Clipper from 1971 with eight-cylinder engines from Chrysler . They had a displacement of 5576 cm³, made about 300 bhp (304 PS, 224 kW) according to the factory and were coupled with a three-speed automatic from Chrysler. The pre-tax sales price in 1971 was £ 3,398. How many clippers were produced with Chrysler engines is unclear. One source assumes that only one exhibit was created while series production did not materialize.

production

The information on the production figures of the Clipper fluctuates in the literature between 35 and 39 vehicles in total; the British brand club, on the other hand, assumes only 30 vehicles. That would agree with the assumption that the clipper with a Chrysler engine was not produced in series.

Venturer (1969–1974)

Trident Venturer

The Venturer was the second and at the same time by far the most successful variant of the Trident Coupé. It appeared in 1969. All copies were based on the extended chassis of the Triumph TR6. The Venturer was equipped with a 3.0 liter (2,996 cm³) version of the British Ford Essex six-cylinder. The power was transmitted by a manual four-speed gearbox. The car was pretax £ 2,298 ex works in 1971. Most sources assume that a total of 84 copies of the Venturer were produced by 1974; the British brand club, however, assumes only 49 vehicles.

Tycoon (1971-1974)

This coupé appeared in 1971. Instead of the eight-cylinder engine from Ford, it had a 2498 cc in-line six-cylinder engine from Triumph with gasoline injection. It made 150 bhp and was connected to an automatic transmission. Six or seven copies were made of this version.

Clipper (1976-1978)

After restructuring the company, Trident presented a revised version of the Clipper at the 1976 London Motor Show. It differed from the earlier models in that it had a differently designed front section and safety bumpers based on US specifications. The exhibit was equipped with a 223 hp eight-cylinder Chrysler engine with a displacement of 5898 cc. According to one source, a Ford V8 was also available as an alternative. Trident wanted to open up the US market with this version. It didn't come to that. Due to ongoing economic difficulties, only two copies of the new Clipper were made. One car had right-hand drive, the second left-hand drive.

Venturer (1977-1978)

Together with the new edition of the Clipper in 1977, Trident also announced a new six-cylinder version. As with the previous Venturer, the Ford Essex engine with 3.0 liters and 138 hp should be used here. A production of this new venturer is not documented.

literature

  • David Culshaw, Peter Horrobin: The Complete Catalog of British Cars 1895-1975. Veloce Publishing plc., Dorchester 1997, ISBN 1-874105-93-6 .
  • Ralph Dodds: TVR. Cars Of The Peter Wheeler Era , The Crowood Press, Ramsburg 2015, ISBN 978-1-84797-997-1
  • GN Georgano: cars. Encyclopédie complète. 1885 à nos jours. Courtille, 1975 (French)
  • Mike Gullett: European Style with American Muscle . Mike Gullett, 2011, ISBN 978-1-257-90496-9
  • Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader: The great automobile encyclopedia. BLV, Munich 1986, ISBN 3-405-12974-5
  • John Tipler: TVR , Sutton Publishing Ltd., Strout, 1998, ISBN 0-7509-1766-0
  • Matthew Vale: TVR 1946-1982. The Trevor Wilkinson and Martin Lilley Years , The Crowood Press, Ramsbury 2017, ISBN 978-1-78500-351-6

Web links

Commons : Trident vehicles  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ John Tipler: TVR , Sutton Publishing Ltd., Strout, 1998, ISBN 0-7509-1766-0 , p. 29.
  2. ^ A b Matthew Vale: TVR 1946–1982: The Trevor Wilkinson and Martin Lilley Years , The Crowood Press, 2017, ISBN 978-1-78500-351-6 , p. 24.
  3. ^ John Tipler: TVR , Sutton Publishing Ltd., Strout, 1998, ISBN 0-7509-1766-0 , p. 30.
  4. ^ A b Peter Hingston: The Enthusiasts' Guide to Buying a Classic British Sports Car , Hingston Publishing Company, 2007, ISBN 978-0-906555-25-5 , p. 164.
  5. ↑ Motor Trend, Vol. 29, p. 18.
  6. ↑ a b c N.N .: Classic Cars Spezial - Englische Sportwagen , Munich 1994, p. 100.
  7. ↑ a b c d e f Trident Car Club website (accessed April 14, 2019).
  8. ↑ Trident Sports Cars website (accessed April 14, 2019).
  9. ^ A b Andrew Elphick: Trident Clipper development story. www.aronline.co.uk, June 21, 2011, accessed April 15, 2019 .
  10. ^ Mike Gullett: European Style with American Muscle . Mike Gullett, 2011, ISBN 978-1-257-90496-9 , p. 110.
  11. ↑ a b sales prospectus from 1971 (accessed April 14, 2019).
  12. ^ A b Norm Mort: Anglo-American Cars: From the 1930s to the 1970s , Veloce Publishing Ltd, 2009, ISBN 978-1-84584-233-8 , p. 76.
  13. ^ A b c Mike Gullett: European Style with American Muscle . Mike Gullett, 2011, ISBN 978-1-257-90496-9 , p. 111.
  14. ↑ a b Auto Catalog No. 21 (1977/78), p. 73.