Ran When Parked

1947 Triumph Grand Prix - From the Bobby Sirkegian collection.

 

Estimate

$40,000 - $50,000

Highlights

• From the Bobby Sirkegian Classic Motorcycle Collection
• Less than 200 Grand Prix were made by Triumph and used for racing only. Only 25 were made for AMA class "C" racing and sent to the U.S.A.
• This Grand Prix was one of the 25 used for AMA class "C" racing from 1950 to 1953, flat track and road races.
• Johnson Motors sold these only to Triumph dealers.
• Sirkegian Triumph ordered two Grand Prix, but only received one and a box of spare parts.
• Raced at Daytona Beach FL 200 mile national in 1951 and finished in 4th place with Expert Rider Don Bishop aboard, prepared and maintained by master mechanic Fred Ford and entered by Sirkegian Triumph of Los Angeles CA
• Total restoration done by Bobby Sirkegian to AMA Daytona Beach 1951 specifications.
• Only 3 of these class "C" Grand Prix racer are still in existence, Very Rare.
• Frame #TF27551R
• Engine #47 T100 83990R 

It’s thought between 150 and 200 Triumph Grand Prix racers were delivered between 1948-50, and all were very special machines, each hand-tuned by the factory experimental department. A few – perhaps 25 – were built up for the US, to race in AMA Class C racing, which allowed only catalogued production machines to race, limited to 500cc for OHV motors, and 750cc for sidevalve bikes. They did well too, winning the 1950 Amateur Daytona 100-mile race in 1950, with Rod Coates aboard. This 1948 Triumph Grand Prix is one of those ‘AMA’ machines, and was raced between 1950 and ’53 by Sirkegian Triumph of Los Angeles, one of only two dealers to receive racers from US distributor Johnson Motors. Sirkegian ordered a pair of racers, but got only this machine and a box of spare parts. This Sirkegian bike was raced in flat tracks and road races, and most notably at the 1951 Daytona Beach 200-mile National, where it finished in 4^th place, with Don Bishop riding, and mechanic Fred Ford keeping it together. Bobby Sirkegian totally restored this machine to its 1951 AMA Daytona Beach specifications, and it is one of only 3 known surviving ‘Class C’ Triumph Grand Prix motorcycles. As such, it is an extremely rare version of the most rare and desirable of all postwar Triumphs.