To be auctioned - the only RHD Trident coupe
Discussion
A 1965 restored Trident, claimed to be the only RHD model in existence. Silverstone Auctions, 12 November :
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalog...
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalog...
If it is the only one then it was for sale in Jan 2021 for £135000! I wonder how well it will do this time??
https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-britishcars/on...
https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-britishcars/on...
It has a valid MoT until March 2023 too. Even though it's not a legal requirement due to its age, you'd think they'd mention it, especially since it had no advisories. 
Previous owner undoubtedly recovered a fair bit for the number plate, unless they've kept it.
New V5c was issued in April.
Being sold at the NEC Restoration show auction by Silverstone. The Saleroom have an extra 1% premium:
https://www.silverstoneauctions.com/sa081-lot-1929...
Previous owner undoubtedly recovered a fair bit for the number plate, unless they've kept it.
New V5c was issued in April.Being sold at the NEC Restoration show auction by Silverstone. The Saleroom have an extra 1% premium:
https://www.silverstoneauctions.com/sa081-lot-1929...
keynsham said:
If it is the only one then it was for sale in Jan 2021 for £135000! I wonder how well it will do this time??
https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-britishcars/on...
sold for 76.500 pound according to the webpage....if its really sold? who knows?https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-britishcars/on...
The TVR Trident Did sell
Went to a TVR Collector
Very special car that's been in ownership by the same person for many years he bought it many years ago in bits and fully restored the car and its attended many TVR Events and national events including the London Excel show where i was its custodian and driver each day as the owner was not available to attend.
Apart from the owner i believe i was the only other person to drive her in his ownership.
Not long after the car had an accident where the insurance company insisted it went to a workshop near me that specializes in very rare cars sorry no workshop pictures as its very discreet with the owners cars that are being worked on multi million pound Astons and Ferraris mostly where they did an amazing job and even corrected a few things that where not exactly right when first restored as the parts where not available however they managed to re make.
All told about £60 000 spent.
Picture is on the day of sign off
The new owner has really bought a great piece of TVR history at a Bargain price.
Basically a lengthened Griffith Chassis and Alloy Body.
Nice Touring car and also an opportunity for the new owner to be invited to some special events
He has had it for sale for a while at an asking price over £100 000 however came to the point where he decided it needed to go to auction the new owner got a bargain.
Went to a TVR Collector
Very special car that's been in ownership by the same person for many years he bought it many years ago in bits and fully restored the car and its attended many TVR Events and national events including the London Excel show where i was its custodian and driver each day as the owner was not available to attend.
Apart from the owner i believe i was the only other person to drive her in his ownership.
Not long after the car had an accident where the insurance company insisted it went to a workshop near me that specializes in very rare cars sorry no workshop pictures as its very discreet with the owners cars that are being worked on multi million pound Astons and Ferraris mostly where they did an amazing job and even corrected a few things that where not exactly right when first restored as the parts where not available however they managed to re make.
All told about £60 000 spent.
Picture is on the day of sign off
The new owner has really bought a great piece of TVR history at a Bargain price.
Basically a lengthened Griffith Chassis and Alloy Body.
Nice Touring car and also an opportunity for the new owner to be invited to some special events
He has had it for sale for a while at an asking price over £100 000 however came to the point where he decided it needed to go to auction the new owner got a bargain.
Edited by Andrew Gray on Saturday 19th November 09:39
Grear car. I would install other wire wheels though, like they have been used presenting the car in the 60‘s with different offset.
What I learned from the Swiss Trident coupe owner is that the body is steel and only parts like bonnet and door sheets are alloy. I wonder if it‘s different here?
What I learned from the Swiss Trident coupe owner is that the body is steel and only parts like bonnet and door sheets are alloy. I wonder if it‘s different here?
a nice car....but i would not say it was a "real" bargain.
have you seen the enginebay? genereal impression is not that clean as i would expect in that price-range. wiring looks a bit chaotic.
cheapish blue/red modern crimp-connectors here and there, from the DIY Shop ...so, how does the wiring look underneath the dash?
8 HT Leads are black, 1 is yellow
the enginebay pic, showing a bit the front suspension, is neither promising: dirty, dusty suspension, nuts and bolts meanhwile rusty again, the original wiring harness with its bullet-type connectors unprotected from dirt and moisture near the front suspension
right exhaust tailpipe sits lower than the left
some would call that "cherry-picking"...but in that pice range it should be allowed.
anyway...at the moment "real values" seem to drop.
a friend of mine is into Arts. 3 months ago he sold some paintings from a well known french artist for nearly 2million euro..... recently he sold further paintings, comming from the same artist, the same collection and epoque: 300.000
have you seen the enginebay? genereal impression is not that clean as i would expect in that price-range. wiring looks a bit chaotic.
cheapish blue/red modern crimp-connectors here and there, from the DIY Shop ...so, how does the wiring look underneath the dash?
8 HT Leads are black, 1 is yellow
the enginebay pic, showing a bit the front suspension, is neither promising: dirty, dusty suspension, nuts and bolts meanhwile rusty again, the original wiring harness with its bullet-type connectors unprotected from dirt and moisture near the front suspension
right exhaust tailpipe sits lower than the left
some would call that "cherry-picking"...but in that pice range it should be allowed.
anyway...at the moment "real values" seem to drop.
a friend of mine is into Arts. 3 months ago he sold some paintings from a well known french artist for nearly 2million euro..... recently he sold further paintings, comming from the same artist, the same collection and epoque: 300.000
Edited by LLantrisant on Saturday 19th November 11:30
LLantrisant said:
a nice car....but i would not say it was a "real" bargain.
have you seen the enginebay? genereal impression is not that clean as i would expect in that price-range. wiring looks a bit chaotic.
cheapish blue/red modern crimp-connectors here and there, from the DIY Shop ...so, how does the wiring look underneath the dash?
8 HT Leads are black, 1 is yellow
the enginebay pic, showing a bit the front suspension, is neither promising: dirty, dusty suspension, nuts and bolts meanhwile rusty again, the original wiring harness with its bullet-type connectors unprotected from dirt and moisture near the front suspension
right exhaust tailpipe sits lower than the left
some would call that "cherry-picking"...but in that pice range it should be allowed.
anyway...at the moment "real values" seem to drop.
a friend of mine is into Arts. 3 months ago he sold some paintings from a well known french artist for nearly 2million euro..... recently he sold further paintings, comming from the same artist, the same collection and epoque: 300.000
Firstly Thank you for reminding me why i tend to avoid this forum for most of the time.have you seen the enginebay? genereal impression is not that clean as i would expect in that price-range. wiring looks a bit chaotic.
cheapish blue/red modern crimp-connectors here and there, from the DIY Shop ...so, how does the wiring look underneath the dash?
8 HT Leads are black, 1 is yellow
the enginebay pic, showing a bit the front suspension, is neither promising: dirty, dusty suspension, nuts and bolts meanhwile rusty again, the original wiring harness with its bullet-type connectors unprotected from dirt and moisture near the front suspension
right exhaust tailpipe sits lower than the left
some would call that "cherry-picking"...but in that pice range it should be allowed.
anyway...at the moment "real values" seem to drop.
a friend of mine is into Arts. 3 months ago he sold some paintings from a well known french artist for nearly 2million euro..... recently he sold further paintings, comming from the same artist, the same collection and epoque: 300.000
Edited by LLantrisant on Saturday 19th November 11:30
Secondly pictures where taken after it had completed Months and months apart being re built and the engine bay was not detailed as at the time the intention was not to sell.
Thirdly Art is selling a still strong as those with the money who buy art are still doing so reason i know that is i have a Brother who is a well collected artist and sells in the region of a Million £ of art a year
As for bargains i am aware of your past valuations on cars values and unless someone is paying you to take the car away its not a bargain?
This car gives the owner invites to very exclusive events both here and Europe and especially Italy where it was designed and built.
Andrew
It IS the only RHD coupe of the 3 built; the one and only convertible is also RHD.
The body of the car is all-steel - no alloy or glassfibre. The other two coupes had steel bodies apart from the bonnet, which was aluminium.
The cars were all hand-built prototypes, not production cars, hence there are some things which might have needed further development for production. The car was however fully detailed for sale and you would need to look at Silverstone Auctioneers' pictures to see the condition the car is in.
There is a long thread of about 34 pages about this car on PistonHeads when it was first put up for sale with the Classic Motor Hub in December 2020 at a price which took into account the fact the 60's Griffiths, on which it is based, were advertised regularly for £100K; uniquely styled hand-built steel-bodied cars like this regularly sell for about 50% more than the cars on which they are based.
Sadly that turned out not to be the case with this beautiful exceptionally rare car as the market decided it was not worth that much. The reason? It's a TVR. The guy writing on a US website who couldn't believe such a beautiful rare car was so cheap got it right: if it had the badge of some exotic low-production Italian car on the bonnet it would have a price tag of at least £250K and maybe lots more.
The lucky buyer does have a terrific bargain. As one of the only three Italian-bodied Griffith 400s ever made it is fantastic to drive (like a Griffith) and utterly unique. Not everyone likes unique cars of course, but if you do then it was a steal.
The body of the car is all-steel - no alloy or glassfibre. The other two coupes had steel bodies apart from the bonnet, which was aluminium.
The cars were all hand-built prototypes, not production cars, hence there are some things which might have needed further development for production. The car was however fully detailed for sale and you would need to look at Silverstone Auctioneers' pictures to see the condition the car is in.
There is a long thread of about 34 pages about this car on PistonHeads when it was first put up for sale with the Classic Motor Hub in December 2020 at a price which took into account the fact the 60's Griffiths, on which it is based, were advertised regularly for £100K; uniquely styled hand-built steel-bodied cars like this regularly sell for about 50% more than the cars on which they are based.
Sadly that turned out not to be the case with this beautiful exceptionally rare car as the market decided it was not worth that much. The reason? It's a TVR. The guy writing on a US website who couldn't believe such a beautiful rare car was so cheap got it right: if it had the badge of some exotic low-production Italian car on the bonnet it would have a price tag of at least £250K and maybe lots more.
The lucky buyer does have a terrific bargain. As one of the only three Italian-bodied Griffith 400s ever made it is fantastic to drive (like a Griffith) and utterly unique. Not everyone likes unique cars of course, but if you do then it was a steal.
As a case in point when talking about the value, like the guy on the US website was, a Monteverdi Hai 450SS sold a few years ago in the USA for around a million dollars.
Plenty of people will never have heard of a Monteverdi Hai and probably not of a TVR Trident either, but the two cars shared many similarities.
Both were 2 seater coupes of a similar size; both were designed by the same person, Trevor Fiore; both were built by the same coachbuilder, Carrozzeria Fissore; both were one of only 3 built; both were built of a mixture of aluminium and steel (although my particular TVR Trident was all-steel, unlike the other two); both were powered by American V8 engines; both were built by manufacturers now defunct (TVR have yet to prove that they're not..); and I could go on.
OK, the Monteverdi is Swiss rather than Italian and is powered by a mid-mounted Chrysler Hemi V8 rather than a Ford 289 V8 like the AC Cobra and original Ford GT40, but why is it worth 10 times as much? It's no better looking, no rarer, is somewhat faster but is, at the end of the day, remarkably similar in concept and execution.
But it's not a TVR.....
When you also see the rather ordinary-looking AC MA200 prototype, just one of which was built as a replacement for the AC Ace but which was never developed because a certain Carroll Shelby dropped a Ford 289 into the Ace instead and took AC in another direction, which was For Sale recently at the Salon Prive for £800,000, why exactly does anyone think my TVR Trident was not worth the price I was asking?
Because it's a TVR.....
Plenty of people will never have heard of a Monteverdi Hai and probably not of a TVR Trident either, but the two cars shared many similarities.
Both were 2 seater coupes of a similar size; both were designed by the same person, Trevor Fiore; both were built by the same coachbuilder, Carrozzeria Fissore; both were one of only 3 built; both were built of a mixture of aluminium and steel (although my particular TVR Trident was all-steel, unlike the other two); both were powered by American V8 engines; both were built by manufacturers now defunct (TVR have yet to prove that they're not..); and I could go on.
OK, the Monteverdi is Swiss rather than Italian and is powered by a mid-mounted Chrysler Hemi V8 rather than a Ford 289 V8 like the AC Cobra and original Ford GT40, but why is it worth 10 times as much? It's no better looking, no rarer, is somewhat faster but is, at the end of the day, remarkably similar in concept and execution.
But it's not a TVR.....
When you also see the rather ordinary-looking AC MA200 prototype, just one of which was built as a replacement for the AC Ace but which was never developed because a certain Carroll Shelby dropped a Ford 289 into the Ace instead and took AC in another direction, which was For Sale recently at the Salon Prive for £800,000, why exactly does anyone think my TVR Trident was not worth the price I was asking?
Because it's a TVR.....
To NormanEH I have no dog in the fight as it were…..but I think it is a fantastic looking car. The price achieved at auction will always be contentious as If as others have said it bore an Italian super car badge and with its rarity it would surely have fetched £250+.
I hope its new owner will enjoy it for what it is and lavish attention on it and you will cherish the memories of having owned such a unique car.
I hope its new owner will enjoy it for what it is and lavish attention on it and you will cherish the memories of having owned such a unique car.
"why exactly does anyone think my TVR Trident was not worth the price I was asking?"
Market value is defined as the price agreed between a willing buyer and a willing seller. The more willing buyers you have for any rare item, the higher the price will be.
As an off-topic example, the British Guiana 1856 one cent stamp is unique, and often misdescribed as the world's rarest stamp - although there are several other unique items. It recently sold at auction for £7 million, and set auction records several times in the past ; because it is very famous, and there were many willing buyers. My late father discovered a similar unique item when collecting Scandinavian shipping stamps - but when he sold his collection some years ago, the whole album including the unique stamp sold for around £6000. There were very few willing buyers, because it was a niche subject with only a few collectors around the world. Supply and demand.
Your plaintive cry of "why wasn't mine worth more" fails to take into account two major factors at this end of the market :
1. the huge number of buyers around the world seeking classic rare Ferraris, Cobras, Mercedes, etc : compared with the few people willing to spend megabucks on a rare TVR. And
2. the fact that those more famous cars will often increase in value substantially, so the pool of willing buyers includes investors as well as car lovers.
BOB
Market value is defined as the price agreed between a willing buyer and a willing seller. The more willing buyers you have for any rare item, the higher the price will be.
As an off-topic example, the British Guiana 1856 one cent stamp is unique, and often misdescribed as the world's rarest stamp - although there are several other unique items. It recently sold at auction for £7 million, and set auction records several times in the past ; because it is very famous, and there were many willing buyers. My late father discovered a similar unique item when collecting Scandinavian shipping stamps - but when he sold his collection some years ago, the whole album including the unique stamp sold for around £6000. There were very few willing buyers, because it was a niche subject with only a few collectors around the world. Supply and demand.
Your plaintive cry of "why wasn't mine worth more" fails to take into account two major factors at this end of the market :
1. the huge number of buyers around the world seeking classic rare Ferraris, Cobras, Mercedes, etc : compared with the few people willing to spend megabucks on a rare TVR. And
2. the fact that those more famous cars will often increase in value substantially, so the pool of willing buyers includes investors as well as car lovers.
BOB
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