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[ 1935 Triumph Gloria Six Flow Free ] ::
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QUESTION : Stuart Owen gave us the photo shown
below at the Dinner asking if we could
provide any information on this car. It was known to be a Triumph but
not much more. Fortunately we had Jon Quiney
at the Dinner who knew the car immediately. Jon is a Triumph expert and
has a couple of exotic Triumphs himself. Jon kindly provided the
following info which we thought would be of general interest.
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ANSWER
: Triumph Gloria Six Flow
Free
Saloon
by Jon Quiney
This model was designed by Triumph's in-house stylist, Walter Belgrove,
who in 1974 said "I designed this model around 1934-35 in
what was a 'streamline' year with nearly all the manufacturers
exhibiting at the Olympia Motor Show showing their versions of the ideal
'windcheater'. We gave the Triumph model the name 'Flow-Free' and I
do remember that at speed it was remarkably free from wind roar. The
British motoring public in those far off days were more conventional and
conservative than they are today and few of the advanced exhibits got
beyond the prototype stage. We at Triumph, however, were well received
and we put the model into production." However of
the 50 Flow-free cars sanctioned for production it is
believed that only about half were built in 1935 since despite
their undoubted good looks they failed to sell at £425. There are
no survivors of the original production cars but
this particular example is effectively the only
re-creation of such a model and which also has a very interesting
history.
In the hungry '30s there was a thriving cottage industry of small
companies fitting surplus bodies that had not previously been
sold, to an alternative chassis. One of these fringe operators was
Cooper Motor Bodies of Putney Bridge Road, London who specialised
in buying end-of-the-run bodies inexpensively from major motor
manufacturers. They decided to fit the body of this car onto a 1931
Bentley Four-Litre chassis. Photo above is of a Bentley with a Flow Free
body. Apparently with a minimum of alteration the basic Triumph body tub
was adapted to suit the Bentley chassis. But the rear end had to be
extended downwards, as was the bodywork beneath the doors at the sides
to accommodate the increased depth of the larger car's chassis. The rear
wings were also considerably enlarged to cope with the bigger tyres and
wheels. A new bonnet and front wings were constructed.
In 1994 by good fortune, acknowledged pre-war Triumph expert
and restorer Rob Green was able to purchase this original body when
the then Bentley owner decided to re-body his car with Vanden Plas
replica coachwork. At the same time Rob was also able to obtain a 1938
Triumph Vitesse saloon that was beyond practical restoration
(the ultimate development of the Gloria model) and so with a great deal
of work the Flow-Free body was grafted to a period Triumph
chassis. In effect Rob had to reverse all the previous alterations made
to the main body. It has the later two litre six cylinder ohv engine as
fitted to the 1938 Vitesse car but overall it is as
near as possible to an original 1935 Flow-Free model other than
the later Vitesse radiator grille. The finished car is a real eye
catcher and of course very unique in being the only surviving example of
one.
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