1952 Triumph 498cc T100 to T100C Specification

• Factory Racing Kit installed
• Restoration completed in 2018
• Last run in January 2023

"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.

Documentation on file recounts how this T100 was purchased in 2009 by former owner Bill Matthews and fully restored by him as a T100C complete with factory Racing Kit, with rare parts being sourced from all around the world. (Apparently, the machine showed signs of having had the Race Kit fitted in the past.) Completed in 2018, the Triumph last ran in January 2023. The machine comes with all the standard road parts that were removed during restoration (list available). It also comes with a substantial file containing an original Triumph instruction manual; original Triumph tuning guide; marque related literature (two magazines); two old MoT certificates; old/current V5/V5C documents; and copies of a photograph of the racing kit and the conversion information sheet.