The Triumph Southern Cross ("SX") Spotter's Guide
Two things conspire to make hazardous any firm estimates of prewar Triumph production numbers. The first is that Triumph itself did not publish its production figures. This was perhaps due to its rather perilous financial circumstances in the thirties. Second, Herman Georing's Heinkels, Junkers, and Dorneirs bombed Coventry in 1941 and managed to destroy all of Triumphs records (a pre-emptive strike for Porsche?). Our only consolation is that the rebuilt factory was used to manufacture the ultra fast Mosquito bombers...
According to the Pre-1940 Clubs estimates, there were a total of 12,000 Climax 4 engined Triumphs made between 1932-1937. It is safe to assume that most of these were Super 9/10 and Gloria Saloons. Some unknown subset were the SX 4 of those two types (see History page). There were an additional 2000 Gloria 6 of all body types, inlcuding SX. Surprisingly, up until the early seventies, Glorias and other prewar Triumphs were still worth little, and were scrapped in great numbers.
The Pre-1940 Triumph Owners Club membership now includes eleven 1932-34 SX 9 & 10, twenty 1935-37 Gloria SX 4, and 2 1935 Gloria SX 6. The Club will shortly publish a list of all cars believed to still exist. The body number on my 1936 SX says "35 SX 69", indicating that at least 69 SX bodies were made in 1935. Assuming an equal number were made in 1936 and 1937, the total SX production was under 200. Roughly one in four Glorias was a six cylinder.
Prewar Triumphs all seem to vary somewhat in small details. Along with the other Glorias, the 1935 Southern Cross was supplied with 17" wheels, changing to 16" for '36, and back to 17" for '37. The Gloria SX 6 was produced in 1935 only. The specification and appearance of the Gloria SX 4 remained the same throughout the run, with the limited exception of the few fitted with the 14/60 1787cc OHV engine as noted above. The Pre-1940 Club believes that none of the original 14/60 SX survive, and that the four SX 14/60s in the club, including mine, were all uprated to this specification using engines from Vitesse and Dolomite Saloons.
Above information provided courtesy of Dale Will, dalew@ci.aspen.co.us
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