1971 Trident Venturer Coupé

• Rare British-built sports car
• Ford 3.0-litre V6 engine
• Long-term enthusiast ownership (1988-2021)

The Trident Venturer was a development of the Clipper that had started out as a Trevor Fiore styling exercise commissioned by TVR and first exhibited at the Geneva Salon in 1965. When the Blackpool-based sports car maker went through one of its many financial crises, the Clipper project was sold to Ipswich-based Bill Last, one of its dealers. Early Clippers used the TVR Grantura chassis before Last switched first to the Austin-Healey 3000 frame and then to that of the Triumph TR6 for the related Venturer and Tycoon models. Ford's 3.0-litre 'Essex' V6 engine was used in the Venturer, and the 2.5-litre fuel-injected Triumph TR6 unit in the Tycoon. Introduced in 1970, the Venturer was built on a lengthened TR6 chassis and thus featured independent suspension all round. The model would undergo numerous detail styling changes over the years, the most significant being the adoption of an opening tailgate in 1971. It is estimated that Trident built approximately 225 cars of all models between 1967 and 1978, although production in later years appears to have been minimal.

Well known in Trident and TVR circles, this Venturer formerly belonged to a prominent member of the Trident Car Club, who acquired the car in January 1988 and owned it until his death in 2021. According to the deceased owner's hand-written account of its history, the Trident had been owned from two years old by an Essex-based millionaire. 'YRP 333J' is available as a scale model by Esval.

The car comes with a most substantial history file containing bills, invoices and photographs, some of which relate to an extensive restoration carried out in the mid/late 1990s. In 2022 the former owner's executors offered the Venturer for sale at auction where it was purchased by the current vendor. The latter describes the car as in generally excellent condition, its engine recently checked over by The Jag Workshop in London. The transmission is said to be working well, with no noises, while all the electrics are functioning, including the just-refurbished electric windows.

Offered with a V5C registration document, this Trident Venturer represents a wonderful opportunity to acquire what must be one of the very best surviving examples of this rare British sports car.