TriumphTR4

Triumph TR4 Images

The TR4, the TR4A and the Dové GTR4 in pictures: the cars, their hardtops and Surrey tops, dashboards and engines, colours as they look today, and a rally TR4 photographed in 1964.

Through an open car door, the walnut dashboard of a Triumph TR4 with its round gauges and a sprung three-spoke steering wheel.
Seen through the open door at the Oldtimermuseum Nottuln, Germany, in August 2021: a TR4's walnut dashboard, gauges and sprung steering wheel.Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0

Giovanni Michelotti's body changed little between the first TR4 of 1961 and the last TR4A of 1967, so what separates the cars in a photograph is detail: the grille and its lamps, the badges, the strip along the side, the dashboard. The pictures are grouped by what they show, from the cars themselves to their roofs, cockpits and engines, their colours and a few in competition, and each opens a larger view.

A caption's date is the photograph's, and where the version rests on what the photographer said, the caption says so. Some cars carry later parts, which the captions name where they show.⁠1​2

Three cars, one body

The TR4 and the TR4A are told apart most easily from the front, as identification explains, and each caption below says which car it shows. Early and late TR4s differ in smaller things, among them the longer bulge that the bonnet (hood) gained in 1962, and the dashboard, which Interiors describes. None of the three TR4s below shows enough to say whether it is early or late; the painted dashboard under Interiors belongs to an early car.

A TR4A's rear suspension shows only from behind: a car with independent suspension has an IRS badge beside its TR4A badge on the boot (trunk), like the car in Michigan, and a live-axle car, built for North America only, has none. The TR4A page has a film of one on the road.

The Dové GTR4 began as a TR4, or now and then a TR4A, and kept its front; Thomas Harrington Ltd of Hove gave it, for L. F. Dove of Wimbledon, a fixed roof and tail of glass fibre. In a photograph the fastback roof line and the small script badge set it apart.⁠3​2​4​5​6​7​1

TR4 3

  • A pale blue Triumph TR4 with its hood folded and wire wheels, front three-quarter side view on a grass show field in front of a hedge. Opens a larger view

    1 Little Waltham, Essex, June 2026: a pale blue TR4 on wire wheels, parked on a mown lawn before a hedge with its hood (soft top) stowed.

  • A red Triumph TR4 roadster with chrome wire wheels, hood down, seen from the front three-quarter on the wooden floor of a classic car museum. Opens a larger view

    2 Nottuln, Germany, August 2021: a red TR4 on display in the town's Oldtimermuseum, its hood down.

  • A red Triumph TR4 with its black hood up and chrome hubcaps, front three-quarter view, parked on a town street outside a shopfront. Opens a larger view

    3 Warwick Classic Car Show, August 2019: a red TR4 on disc wheels at the kerb on double yellow lines, its black hood raised.

TR4A 3

  • A white Triumph TR4A with wire wheels and its black hood up, parked at the kerb in front of an old limestone town house. Opens a larger view

    4 Angers, France, June 2021: a white TR4A with its hood up, outside a limestone town house.

  • A red Triumph TR4A with wire wheels and its black hood up, parked on brick paving in front of a whitewashed village house with geraniums. Opens a larger view

    5 Texel, the Netherlands, June 2017: a red TR4A with a luggage rack at the back, outside a whitewashed house.

  • A dark green Triumph TR4A with its black hood up and plain steel wheels, seen from the rear three-quarter in a store car park. Opens a larger view

    6 Gaylord, Michigan, August 2023: the TR4A and IRS badges at the back of a dark green TR4A IRS, whose twin exhaust tips are not original.

Dové GTR4 2

  • A pale blue Dové GTR4, a Triumph TR4 with a fixed fastback roof, wire wheels and spotlamps, seen from the front three-quarter on a grass show field. Opens a larger view

    7 Bicester Heritage Scramble, Oxfordshire, October 2024: a pale blue Dové GTR4, its fixed fastback roof running down to the tail.

  • A close-up of the chrome 'dove GTR4' script badge on the orange bodywork of a Dové GTR4. Opens a larger view

    8 Classic Motor Show, NEC Birmingham, November 2025: the chrome script on an orange Dové GTR4, spelt dove without an accent, with a GTR4 tag.

Picture credits (8)
  1. 1 kitmasterbloke, CC BY 4.0
  2. 2 Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0
  3. 3 Vauxford, CC BY-SA 4.0
  4. 4 Pom', CC BY-SA 2.0
  5. 5 Joachim Kohler, CC BY-SA 4.0
  6. 6 Elise240SX, CC BY-SA 4.0
  7. 7 MrWalkr, CC BY-SA 4.0
  8. 8 Andrew Bone, CC BY 4.0

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Roofs: the hardtop and its insert

Below, two cars have only the hardtop's rear section in place, the roof open above the seats, and a third, at Lytham Hall, has the factory's vinyl Surrey top clamped between that section and the windscreen (windshield). The Surrey top page explains the parts of the roof and the confusion over the name.⁠8​9​3

Panel out, Surrey top on 3

  • A red Triumph TR4 with its hardtop rear section fitted and the roof panel out, seen from the front left on a grass show field. Opens a larger view

    9 Hoghton Tower, Lancashire, June 2014: a red TR4 open to the sky, with only the rear section of its hardtop in place.

  • A red Triumph TR4 with wire wheels, its red hardtop rear section fitted with the black vinyl Surrey top, on the grass at a country-house car show. Opens a larger view

    10 Lytham Hall, Lancashire, August 2014: a red TR4 on wire wheels on the grass, the black vinyl insert closing the gap over its seats.

  • A dark green Triumph TR4A with wire wheels, its hardtop rear section fitted and the roof panel out, seen from the front three-quarter on a grass show field. Opens a larger view

    11 Leighton Hall Classic Car Show, Lancashire, July 2018: a dark green TR4A with its hardtop's rear section fitted and nothing over the seats.

Picture credits (3)
  1. 9 SG2012, CC BY 2.0
  2. 10 SG2012, CC BY 2.0
  3. 11 Steve Glover, CC BY 2.0

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Interiors

A painted dashboard came first, on the early TR4s, and walnut became common later, standard on the TR4A; many early cars have had walnut fitted since, and the identification page explains what that means for dating a car. Both cockpits here have later steering wheels, as their captions say.⁠10​11​2

Painted and walnut 2

  • Looking into the cockpit of a pale blue Triumph TR4 from behind: ivory painted dashboard, wood-rim steering wheel and blue seats. Opens a larger view

    12 Sparkford, Somerset, October 2018: an early TR4's dashboard, painted ivory, with blue seats and a later wood-rim wheel.

  • The cockpit of a red Triumph with a walnut dashboard and wood-rim steering wheel, seen from behind over the folded hood. Opens a larger view

    13 Dorset, May 2016: looking over a folded hood at a walnut dashboard, a centre console and a radio in a right-hand-drive car with an aftermarket wood-rim wheel.

Picture credits (2)
  1. 12 Andrew Bone, CC BY 2.0
  2. 13 Andrew Bone, CC BY 2.0

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Engine bays

One engine served all three cars: a four-cylinder with wet liners, the same in the Dové as in the TR4 and TR4A. SU carburettors came first, Zenith-Strombergs took over on the TR4 during 1963, and TR4As were built with both. A picture of the engine alone cannot tell a TR4 from a TR4A, so the captions give each version as its photographer did.⁠8​12​7​6​13

Under the bonnet 3

  • The open engine bay of a red Triumph TR4, with a polished rocker cover and twin SU carburettors under chrome air filters. Opens a larger view

    14 Catton Hall Classic Car Show, Derbyshire, May 2014: twin SUs seen from above in a red car its photographer calls a TR4, their chrome filter covers and the polished rocker cover later additions.

  • The engine bay of a green Triumph TR4 with its chrome rocker cover and twin Stromberg carburettors. Opens a larger view

    15 Photographed in June 2012: round air cleaners on twin Zenith-Strombergs, in a green car its photographer describes as a late TR4 built for the United States.

  • The engine bay of a green Triumph TR, showing the chrome rocker cover, twin SU carburettors with round air filters and the distributor. Opens a larger view

    16 Mülheim-Kärlich, Germany, May 2009: twin SUs, with pancake air filters among other later parts, on an engine its photographer gives as a TR4A's.

Picture credits (3)
  1. 14 SG2012, CC BY 2.0
  2. 15 Akela NDE, CC BY-SA 2.0 fr
  3. 16 Lothar Spurzem, CC BY-SA 2.0 de

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Colours

When the TR4 reached America in 1961 the importer offered it in six colours. A photograph is a poor guide to any of them: light, cameras and repainting all change a colour, so the captions give each car's colour as it looks in the picture, and the specifications give what is known of the factory's colours and trim.⁠14​10

As they look today 4

  • A pale blue Triumph TR4 with its black hood up, seen from the front right on a gravel yard beside vintage buses. Opens a larger view

    17 Ruddington, Nottinghamshire, October 2025: a pale blue TR4 with its black hood up and plain steel wheels, among the buses of the Autumn Transport Rally.

  • A red Triumph TR4 with wire wheels and a black hardtop, seen from the front three-quarter in a gravel car park among trees. Opens a larger view

    18 Spring Transport Gala, Ruddington, March 2026: a red TR4 on wire wheels, with a black hardtop.

  • A dark blue Triumph TR4A with its hood down, seen from the front right on a grass show field. Opens a larger view

    19 Marks Tey, Essex, June 2025: a dark blue TR4A, hood down, between a red car and a gold Jaguar on the field of the Aldham Old Time Rally.

  • A dark green Triumph TR4A with its hood down, seen from the front left in a circuit paddock among other classic cars. Opens a larger view

    20 Zandvoort, the Netherlands, September 2009: a dark green TR4A, hood down, with a club badge on its grille.

Picture credits (4)
  1. 17 Aethonatic, CC0
  2. 18 Aethonatic, CC0
  3. 19 kitmasterbloke, CC BY 2.0
  4. 20 Alf van Beem, CC0

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Racing and rallying

Only one picture here was taken while the TR4 was being built: an Anefo press photograph from Zandvoort, during the Tulip Rally of April 1964, of a TR4 entered by a private British crew after the works team had stopped rallying TR4s in Europe. The other two are recent, a hardtop wearing one of the works team's registrations and a TR4 racing on the Nürburgring. Racing tells the story of the works team's cars and the Sebring cars.⁠15​16

In competition 3

  • A black-and-white photograph of a rally TR4 with a hardtop and race number 16, its bonnet raised, with five men around it: three young onlookers at the left, and a helmeted man and an official at the engine, a dune-backed circuit behind. Opens a larger view

    21 Zandvoort, 23 April 1964: onlookers and an official at the raised bonnet of TR4 No. 16, a private hardtop in the 16th Tulip Rally (Anefo press photograph).

  • A pale blue Triumph TR4 rally car with a matching hardtop, seen from the rear three-quarter at a show. Opens a larger view

    22 Classics at the Castle, Sherborne, Dorset, July 2016: a roll cage, rally stickers and a lamp on the boot lid of a pale blue TR4 hardtop wearing 3 VC, a works registration of 1962; whether this is the team's car, the frame cannot say.

  • A dark green Triumph TR4 hardtop racing on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, panned side view. Opens a larger view

    23 Nürburgring Nordschleife, 2008: a dark green TR4 hardtop, race number 36, sharp against trees streaked by the panning camera, in the ADAC Eifelrennen.

Picture credits (3)
  1. 21 Unknown photographer (Anefo), CC0
  2. 22 Andrew Bone, CC BY 2.0
  3. 23 Reinald Kirchner, CC BY-SA 2.0

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Sources

Every source the site cites is on the sources page.

  • Primarymade at the time, by the maker or by people who were there
  • Referenceserious later work: clubs, specialists, magazines, books
  1. Aaron Severson, "Grandfather's Ax: The Many Evolutions of the Triumph TR4, Part 1: TR4 and TR4A", Ate Up With Motor, 22 Oct 2012, one body, 1961–67; the Dové sidebar: the glass-fibre roof and tail; the TR4A cars. ateupwithmotor.com/model-histories/triumph-tr4-tr4a/view-all Reference
  2. TR Drivers Club, "Early Cars: The TR4A", the TR4A's grille, lamps, strip and badges; the TR4A's wing lamps, chrome strip and IRS badge; the TR4A's walnut dashboard. trdrivers.com/earlycars/tr4A.html Reference
  3. TR Drivers Club, "Early Cars: The TR4", the TR4's grille lamps and plain flanks; the Surrey top: the vinyl insert and its frame. trdrivers.com/earlycars/tr4.html Reference
  4. Revington TR, "TR4: Technical Specification Change Points", CT6429, the longer bonnet bulge. revingtontr.com/the-tr-series/tr4/technical-specification-change-points Reference
  5. Graham Robson (essay "15 Years of Evolution"), Triumph TR2 – TR3/3A, TR4/4A – TR5, TR250 1953–1968 Parts & Accessories Catalogue, Rimmer Bros, edn 2.1 (source code TR2512), Part 1, p. 7: CT6429 among the numbers of 1962. rimmerbros.com/images/PDFs/TR2-5_Part1.pdf Reference
  6. Vintage Triumph Register, "TR4A" (history, change points and yearly output, buyer's and spotter's guides, numbering), the live-axle cars for North America; SUs again from CTC62191; Strombergs on some later cars. vintagetriumphregister.org/tr4a Reference
  7. Autocar, "Dové GTR4 2,138 c.c." (Road Test No. 1926), 7 Jun 1963, pp. 993–997, L. F. Dove and Thomas Harrington Ltd, Hove; the change from SU to Stromberg, 1963. Primary
  8. Dennis May, "Technical Report" on the TR-4 (cover story), Car and Driver, Oct 1961, pp. 19–23, p. 20: the two-piece hardtop; "surrey top" in factory parlance; pp. 19–21: the wet-liner four. Primary
  9. Bill Boddy ("W. B."), "The new Triumph TR4", Motor Sport, Sep 1961, p. 17, the Vynide "Surrey". motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/september-1961/17/the-new-triumph-tr4 Primary
  10. Arthur Kelly (the VTR's TR4 consultant), "TR4": "A Historical Overview of the TR4" and the TR4 commission-number page, Vintage Triumph Register, the painted dash; walnut later, and fitted to earlier cars since; the TR4's colours; codes on the plate from 1963. vintagetriumphregister.org/tr4 Reference
  11. Goodwood Classic Solutions, "Buyer's guide: Triumph TR4", 1 Nov 2024, painted dashboards. insurance.goodwood.com/buyers-guide/triumph-tr4-2 Reference
  12. TR Drivers Club, "Triumph TR4", the Stromberg change. trdrivers.com/articles21/triumphtr4.html Reference
  13. Revington TR, "TR4A: Technical Specification Change Points", the carburettor changes. revingtontr.com/the-tr-series/tr4a/technical-specification-change-points Reference
  14. Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, September 1961 (TR-4 special issue), Sep 1961 (vol. VII no. 9), the six launch colours. vintagetriumphregister.org/tsoa/TSOASep61.pdf Primary
  15. Nationaal Archief (Anefo), via Wikimedia Commons, "16 Tulpenrallye, L. Bertorelli-R. Doyle (GB) in eem Triumph TR 4." (press photograph), Bestanddeelnr 916-3431, 1964, Anefo, 916-3431: a British private crew. commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:16_Tulpenrallye,_L._Bertorelli-R._Doyle_(GB)_in_eem_Triumph_TR_4.,_Bestanddeelnr_916-3431.jpg Primary
  16. Julian Balme, "TR4: Triumph's rally underdog", Classic & Sports Car, 4 Aug 2021, the works team, 1962–64; 3 VC to 6 VC. classicandsportscar.com/features/tr4-triumphs-rally-underdog Reference

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