Rare, one-year-only model with factory Racing Kit installed, 1953 Triumph 498cc T100C

Rare, one-year-only model with factory Racing Kit installed
1953 Triumph 498cc T100C
Registration no. not registered
Frame no. 39846
Engine no. T100C 39846
• One of fewer than 600 T100Cs built
• Recently restored in the USA
• Present ownership since January 2016

'In 1953 and for one year only, Triumph produced a factory hot-rod, the 500cc T100C Tiger. This was street-legal but with the previous year's optional Racing Kit now factory fitted... In all, the mods brought output to 42bhp, a useful 10bhp increase over the standard T100' – Ian Falloon.

The Tiger 100 sports version of Edward Turner's trend-setting Speed Twin was launched in 1938, reappearing in 1946 with telescopic forks in place of the original girders, and separate dynamo and magneto instead of the pre-war version's magdyno. Produced almost unchanged for the next three years, the Tiger gained Triumph's distinctive headlamp nacelle in 1949 when the range was restyled. A die cast alloy cylinder head and barrel were adopted for 1951, these and other engine improvements boosting power to 32bhp. For Tiger owners who wished to go racing, Triumph offered a kit of performance parts that included high-compression pistons, 'hot' cams, up-rated valve springs, twin carburettors, megaphone exhausts, etc. For 1953 the racing kit was dropped but most of the parts found their way onto a new competition-orientated production model: the T100C. Produced for that year only, the T100C is one of the rarest and most collectible of post-war Triumphs.

Works records show this particular matching-numbers T100C, one of fewer than 600 built, was dispatched on 28th April 1953 to the Sculthorpe Air Base in Norfolk, home to the US Air Force during the Cold War. It was later brought to the USA by some lucky American airman. The current vendor purchased the Triumph at Bonhams' Las Vegas auction in January 2016. At that time it had recently undergone a compete restoration by BFC Cycle (British Cycle Factory) in Kirtland, Ohio to factory-correct concours condition using new-old-stock parts and fasteners throughout. This ultra-rare machine is offered with State of California Certificate of Title, purchase paperwork, and a beautifully illustrated report by motorcycling authority, Ian Falloon.