1:43 PROTEA TRIUMPH

Geoff Sear's latest 1:43 hand built resin model, made in South Africa, is the Protea Triumph sports car. Never heard of it? Not surprising, only one of the true-life vehicles exists, and the owner, namely Alan Grant, is a member of the TSSCC. Geoff's model records this little chapter in South African motoring history. The model is fairly well made and detailed. A nice feature that Geoff includes is the hand-made paper box that the model is packaged in, as can be seen from the pictures. For more information, contact him at 7 Dryden Place, Umbilo, Durban 4001, South Africa.
 

A little history about the Protea Triumph It took nine months to build, and was completed in April 1959, with a tubular chassis and Triumph TR2 engine and running gear. The front suspension was from a 1940s Ford commercial vehicle, and the steering box was from a Ford Anglia-Prefect, but fitted upside down. The very pretty body was in hand-beaten aluminium. The car's name came from the Protea, South Africa's national flower, and the car survives today in virtually concourse condition. It won the South African Six Hour Race in 1959, on its first outing, driven by its builders, John Myers and John Mason-Gordon.
 

The latter retired from racing, but originally intended to fit a Chevrolet V8 engine for more power. Instead it soldiered on under other ownership, crashed at Kyalami in 1961 and had to be rebuilt. It eventually took part in Historic Races, winning the local Championship in 1980.

In 1995 Alan Grant bought it, and continued to race it, in spite of major handling problems, but he had a major crash, once again at Kyalami, this time in 1997. This necessitated a more major rebuild, which established why it handled so badly. Rebuilding the suspension and steering has resulted in the car now fulfilling its original potential.

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