Lot 324: 1963 Triumph 490cc T100SS

Introduced for the 1962 season, the Tiger 100SS replaced the T100A as Triumph’s half-litre sports roadster. A comprehensive restyle saw the ‘bathtub’ rear enclosure of its predecessor replaced by an abbreviated version and the headlamp nacelle by a separate chromed shell. Sports mudguards were fitted, wheel sizes increased and the engine gained a few more horsepower courtesy of redesigned camshafts and a Siamesed exhaust system. Top speed was now within a whisker of the magic ‘ton’. Tested by Motor Cycling magazine in 1961, a T100SS managed a highly creditable 98mph maximum while returning an impressively frugal 82 miles per gallon. The T100SS was revised again for the 1964 season, losing its partial rear enclosure, and today examples of the 1962/63 model are quite rare. This well cared for T100SS has enjoyed only two registered owners from new, the last of whom acquired the machine in 1996 and spent the next 12 years restoring it to its current condition. We are advised that the tinware is all original and that the engine and gearbox have been fully rebuilt. A pleasant and road usable middleweight Triumph, the machine is offered with sundry restoration invoices, current road fund licence, MoT to 29th July 2009 and Swansea V5C document.