An Unhappy Pilgrim - Triumph Mayflower
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- Опубликовано: 23 июл 2021
- Hello there! :D
Something very obscure this week, we cast our eyes over the Triumph Mayflower, the company's attempt to make it big in America after the end of World War II, but, much like the Triumph TR7 three decades later, would fail just as spectacularly.
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References:
- Triumph Mayflower Club (and their respective sources)
- Autoexpress (and their respective sources)
- Wikipedia (and its respective references) 
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I took one of these for a test drive in about 1963, while looking for a first car and not having the money to be choosy. I had driven some poor performers before (and have done again since), but nothing has ever compared to this for sheer gutlessness. I'm now in my mid seventies and I reckon I could still beat it from a standing start on a push bike.
I haven't a doubt.
Cruel but fair.
@@martintaper7997 Don’t like to be cruel, even to a car, but it just wouldn’t get going. Having said all that, I would actually have one now simply for the fact that it’s a bit different, but would not drive it much outside town limits to avoid being a nuisance to other road users.
@@alancampbell1161 All small cars back then were mostly gutless.
@@martintaper7997 Most were fairly howling trying to maintain highway speeds, if they could even do it. But most were really designed for British roads of the time, so in Oz we wanted our Holdens or some lump of Yank hardware.
My grandfather owned one of these from pretty much new, in a very light blue... he was still driving it up to the late 1990's. Won a few classic car club trophies with it and it took him and his family on road trips around the Lake District pretty much every year. Horrendously slow and archaic mechanically (not just the sidevalve engine, but exposed brake cylinders under the floor, mechanical blinkers rather than indicators ... just loads of stuff that you would look at and say "why?", when compared to it's contemporaries). It did, however, have a very unique number plate: OPT8 ... which I believe lives on to this day.
My mother learnt to drive in a Mayflower here in Australia in 1953. I remember distinctly one day she and her instructor drove past Dad and I in the main street of the small town we lived in. Mum was waving at us as she drove past.
If Hyacinth and Richard Bucket were into classic cars this is what they would have.
Deep cut right here.
"That's Bouquet"..😄
My late wife could channel Hyacinth...
Perfect for the “Lady of the house”!
I have always been surprised that the producers of Keeping up Appearances didn't give the Buckets an Allegro Vanden Plas. That car is SO Hyacinth!
as opposed to the rover they used?
bout onslow's cortina
I learnt to drive in a Triumph Mayflower. Our family had three of them. I thought it was a lovely looking car because at the time all cars that were built shaped with curves. Happy memories :):)
Amazing that it was unitary construction . Triumph must have really struggled to make something that modern look so out of date.
Those of us that learned to drive in the late '60s/early '70s had reason to be grateful for cars like this. By that time you could pick them up for a song. I paid £15 for one in '69! Later I swoped it for an Armstrong Sidley Sapphire which lasted for almost 200 miles before throwing a rod....
Happy days.
Ta.
The Mayflower had a big brother, the Renown. Nice looking comfortable car. "Renown" was also the model name for the AEC three axle bus supplied to LGOC in 1929 and the chassis design for London trolleybuses.
My dad was going to buy a second hand Renown untill the salesman told him the fuel consumption 😂
And also the AEC low-height bus that took over from the Bridgemaster in1962. A nice bus, but it didn't sell as much as they thought.
Yeah, I see how it went ...No American at the time would buy a "luxury" car with 38 horsepower...
At the time an export Ford Anglia had 30 hp and a VW 25. They were siginificantly cheaper than the "Low-Priced Three" American sixes/V8s though. Neither set the US sales charts on fire in the early '50s, at that (the bug's day came later, after Chevy/Ford/Plymouth grew into finned monsters). Conventional wisdom, which early-postwar British cars did nothing to dispel, was that you needed a reserve of power so you could travel long distances at highway speeds in potentially hot weather (think LA to Vegas in midsummer) without overworking, overheating and seriously damaging your engine. Aussies bought these cars strictly for in-town use.
@@nlpnt I see what you mean but the problem is that this isn't an Anglia or a Beetle, it tried to be a luxury compact which is a bit of an oxymoron. Especially in the land of the small-block.
What I am trying to say, if you loose the chrome and just sell it as a Morris Minor it would have probably sold well... Looks set expectations.
The one sedan Standard Triumph had, that could have succeeded in North America was the Vanguard. Don't laugh, it was big enough to be practical family transport, yet offered a smaller alternative to the big Detroit iron, and had a reliable long lived, 2 liter OHV engine. If they could have backed it up with a good dealership network and sold them for a little less than a Ford or Chevrolet they could occupy the market niche Volvo has today.
I remember in 1966 there was one dumped on the side of the road with the keys in it. No one would touch it. Some school kids would just drive it up and down the road. No adult would consider driving one. It stayed there till the local council took it for scrap.
I've always liked the Mayflower's unique styling, it certainly stood out from the crowd...
I must be very strange, because I like the Mayflower, a lot.
Dr.stevenrey. yes, that's right! Strange people like us who like these things DO exist. That's why they design STRANGE cars, for US!
Nope you are Ok, i almost bought one a couple of years ago, unfortunately it was not the condition the seller said it was. its still on my list of to do's
I loved it and did the hell of a lot of miles in them. They were very reliable.
I once worked with with a fellow who had perhaps a dozen of these contraptions in various states of dereliction scattered around his property (Queensland , Australia). One actually worked reasonably well and he commuted to his job every day in it. He was something of a nutter, and its unlikely he ever did much with his collection. Also unlikely he ever would have sold one, which is typical of hoarders everywhere.
A bushfire probably finished them off eventually, or the local Council might have bulldozed them into a pit.
He seemed to have an ambition simply to own every Mayflower he could track down, thereby depriving genuine restorers any chance of obtaining one.
Ernie Wise's first brand new car was a Triumph Mayflower. His wife learned to drive in it.
Alec Guinness' Family also owned one when he was growing up, along with a Triumph Renown.
A great video - thank you. I've always loved the Triumph Mayflower - instantly recognisable !
I as a young child in 1956 I can remember seeing one of these parked in my street and thinking what a ugly car.
I remember a few of these being around in the late 50's and early 60's. With their dated styling they were considered as something of a "jalopy". Even at that time, when owning *any* car was considered a luxury, they exuded an air of someone being down on their luck.
I love that Triumph roadster - what a beautiful car!
I gotta give the Brits credit for having the will to make classic car clubs out of the most obscure flops in automotive history. They're pretty much the museums for museums.
We Brits _love_ a flop, at least retrospectively. That's what makes it interesting and worth restoring and caring about. Somehow akin to cheering for the underdog I think.
To me as a kid and my friends they did look like a distinctive mini Rolls Royce even when the cars were ten years old.
But nine year Olds were not the target audience.
At a young age we were less aware of the mechanical deficiencies.
The mechanical deficiencies weren't really deficiencies, in a time BEFORE motorways, and the "performance" was similar to Morris Minors. Incidentally, those were steadily updated till they got it right, so I suspect the Mayflower would have been made more powerful, if it had been commercially successfully, and stayed in production longer. The only cars that WERE commercially successful, and persisted with inadequately powered engines, were the Citroen 2CV, and the Fiat 500.Both of which DID go out of production, when the E.U. banned underpowered vehicles that were dangerous, because they couldn't get out of the way quickly enough, if someone tried to cut them up.!
More like a Daimler not Rolls Royce.
Yep that is how I viewed them in 1958/59 bit of joke on the road in Canada compared to a Chevy and qnot looking very goodl on uk roads either, this must have been a prewar design by Edwardian people?
@@dp-sr1fd like a Daimler? YES that's IT!
@@nygelmiller5293 Very similar to the Daimler Conquest
I grew up in Moffat, Dumfriesshire (from 1953); a small town to which many people running the British Empire, retired. The Mayflower suited some of those retirees very well. It was what they could afford. It reflected their sense of self; and for their needs was practical. None of such owners were looking for performance. As a child, I didn't find the car odd or ugly; just different. It represented persons and times that were passing into history; ironic that this car was then pointed at the USA market.
A interesting documentry with a few howlers like the shot of a OHV engine , and not enough was made of its good points such as its longevity , however it was nice to see this car again.
I had one 50 years ago. Loved it like a genteel, old lady. Very comfortable, solid, glided along at 50mph. Two tone, marron below with grey upper works. A carriage, not just a car.
Only 50? What would the engine explode at 51??
@@thetman0068 It was normal before motorways appeared in Britain, and you weren't going faster in America either. Also, it was the age of leaf springs, safety as suggestions and drum brakes. Most engines were actually capable of speed with proper gearing, but stopping and turning right were whole different matters
It looked 10 years out of date when it was launched !
22AJ55 didn't everything British look out of date at that time?
@@nygelmiller5293, I’d have to disagree ! The Jaguar MK5 ? The Jaguar XK120 ? The Austin A90 Atlantic ? Even the little Morris minor with its full width styling was very modern then especially with its 12 volt electrics 4 speed gearbox unitary construction hydraulic brakes all of of which were missing from the contemporary offerings from Ford !
@@AJ-qn6gd from Nygel Miller, okay, there certainly WERE exceptions that were indeed modern ( including my favourite, the Jowett Javelin - a "proper" Volkswagen Beetle with REAL legroom.It also had a 1500 engine, which took till 1967 to achieve on the "real " Beetle. And 4 doors, NEVER achieved on the OFFICIAL Volkswagen Beetle. EXCEPT that the coach builder Rometsch, in Berlin brought out a stretched Beetle, with REAL legroom, and 4 doors, to use as taxis in Berlin, after Jowett sadly went out of production. But I meant firms like ROVER weren't ready with all-new cars in time for the 1948 motor show, and more or less recycled pre-war models, till they could pick themselves , BECAUSE they couldn't produce anything during war years, other than bombs and bullets! Stands to reason!
My parents bought one when I was born in 1960 to replace their 1932 Austin 7. I was the third child and a larger car was required. They thought it was the height of luxury and did not look like every other car at the time. Our neighbours had one too, which given the sales figures must have been unusual to have two in the same village. The column gearshift had a habit of falling off, so Dad replaced it with mole grips. It was replaced in 1965 with a Vauxhall Victor Estate.
I vividly remember our mayflower my father purchased it second hand from his brother , who was probably glad to get rid of it . The hills were steep around parts of Sydney , our family called it a “rolls can hardly “ , rolls downhill can hardly get up the other side . The sixty three MPH claimed top speed was a joke , my father let it have it’s “full head of steam” Downhill could only get up to the high fifties due to its aerodynamics , definitely not a hoon’s vehicle , but it sure had character .
Hubnut capitulated to request and bravely took to the streets in NZ reviewing a marvelously glacial lurching sluggardly shuddering example which exceeded my expectations and confirmed acceleration, hill climbing, cornering or braking were not among its strengths. A triumphantly sub-standard machine in my view and always on my bucket (Bouquet?) list.
If they'd lengthened it by about a foot and given it more power they might've been onto something
They did David……it was called the Renown! Well, not strictly true. It is true that the Renown was a bigger car with a 2000cc engine but it was based on its forerunners the 1800cc upgraded to 2000cc Town and Country.
@@rivaest38
Thanks for the info Mark! Something for me to find out about!
I first saw one of these in an old issue of Motor Trend I found at a swap meet in the early 90's. I fell in love with the styling and obtuse utter Britishness and decided to own one someday. That day may be coming soon!
I had two mayflowers here in Australia. A very comfortable car but a rust bucket.
At certain angles, it looked more like a shrunken hearse.
Yes, a hearse crossed with a London cab.
@@borderlands6606 luxureh!
Maxim, "a shrunken hearse?" Perfect for transporting the deceased to their funerals, IF THEY WERE SMALL.
Hahaha... true 😄
A pal of mine owned one back in the late 1950s. I remember Jim going to a car dealership to trade it on a 56 Zephyr, the dealer advised him not stand too close to the Mayflower as he may cut himself on the sharp edge panels.
my friends mother had a blue one when I was a kid. We went everywhere in it . It was a fun little car.
This is a quirkily charming car. It looks like a miniature hearse
That was my first thought too
An old friend bought the Mayflower that the last British hangman used to own with original log book and when he opened the boot to show me, there was a rope curled up in there, I told him he was sick.
Is that a true story ?
@@dennis2339 yes It's True it was owned at one point by the last British hangman Albert Pierrepont and my mate who bought it showed me the old logbook with Albert's name on it and we went out in it to a few country pubs and he showed me and quite a few others the boot where there was a rope about the right size?????. John
@@johnallright6847 That's amazing !
Ernie Wise's, you know Morcombe and Wise - the wee one, his first brand new car was a Triumph Mayflower
Alec Guinness's Family had one when he was growing up.
Thanks for sharing your story !
I thought the Mayflower's styling was based on the Triumph Renown.
Just compare the styling of the Mayflower with the postwar Chevy and Ford. There was no way for it to succeed in the US. Perhaps budget buyers in the UK liked the look of a Rolls that someone went after with a buzz saw, but US buyers just didn't have those same class aspirations. They wanted relatively large four door family cars or two door sporty models, especially the first hardtops. The Mayflower looked like a prewar car and, of course, it was. If British automobile companies weren't throttled by the demands of the government to only produce export models, there was a chance of the Mayflower appealing to Brits who liked the look of a shrunken Rolls, but only having what to Americans was weird looking car that only came in two doors and a rather take it or leave it attitude, it was doomed from the start. Brits who wanted one would often have to wait two to six months for delivery while Americans could get one within a couple weeks, except they just didn't want one. It was expensive, slow, and had poor gas mileage from its side valve four cylinder engine, exactly the opposite of what the market wanted.
It does look like a mini pre-war Packard, but Packard also did themselves no favors with their first post war redesign. But you weren't going to sell any car with Model-A level power outputs in the US in 1949. Even the most basic Plymouth's Fords and Chevy's had at least 90 h.p. by that time.
"Perhaps budget buyers in the UK liked the look of a Rolls that someone went after with a buzz saw"...they still couldn't afford it. It wasn't a budget-priced car in the UK, it cost half again as much as a British Ford or a Morris Minor. Even in the UK buyers in the Mayflower's price class wanted more room and power, alternatives at its' price had 4 doors and 2 liter engines.
Mrs Richards: "I paid for a room with a view !"
Basil: (pointing to the lovely view) "That is Torquay, Madam."
Mrs Richards: "It's not good enough!"
Basil: "May I ask what you were expecting to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically past?..."
Mrs Richards: "Don't be silly! I expect to be able to see the sea!"
Basil: "You can see the sea, it's over there between the land and the sky."
Mrs Richards: "I'm not satisfied. But I shall stay. But I expect a reduction."
Basil: "Why?! Because Krakatoa's not erupting at the moment ?
My uncle had one of these I remember going for trips in it as a lad.
It is ALSO my ambition to have a ride in a Mayflower.
I remember seeing these still lumbering around in the early 60s .....looked incredibly dated even then.
I remember a neighbour had one in the mid-sixties - and despite my youth I wondered what that weird looking car was.
Me too! They were everywhere - must have been cheap by then...
As a youngster with pretentions, I loved the Mayflower. That was until I actually drove one in the late 1980s. It was dreadful and dangerous.
This is such a beautiful Classic car.
From what angle??
@@notroll1279 Lol. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that..
@@notroll1279 the idea that these
My grandfather had one of these for quite a number of years in Western Australia. He loved it and we enjoyed riding in it. Sadly it was severely damaged when an out-of-control motor cyclist came over a rise directly in front of grandad and removed much of the front of the car and tore the roof back! Grandad was only slightly injured but I think the motor cyclist died.
My uncle had a Triumph Renown and thought it was the best car he ever had. As a child I rather admired the appearance of its smaller brother the Mayflower and thought it very stylish.
I'd love one of these. Shares a lot of parts in common with the '47 Triumph Roadster I'm restoring.
One in the side of a garage forecourt over near Studley, Warks. Needs a little tlc
I hink it shares parts with a Fergusson tractor.
" . . .perfect storm of unappealing qualities . . ." Well said.
I like these concise, precise and to the point vids.👍☘️
I am from Malaysia. My father had one in the 60s. Remember clearly the pop out & in signal indicators at the centre pillars.
I probably shouldn't tell this story, but when I was 16 a pal of mine's uncle used to garage his Triumph Mayflower in my pal's dad's garage that had doors at both ends. We used to wait in Ian's bedroom until his uncle left, then open the doors at the other end of the garage and drive the car out into the backstreet, and then spend maybe half an hour or so both taking turns to drive around town. His uncle always left the keys in. Yes I know this shouldn't have happened but this was in the early 1960's when there was hardly any cars on the road in the evening!
One competitor not mentioned was the original Nash Rambler. About halfway between the Mayflower and the Chevy/Ford/Plymouth in size it had the same market positioning intended for the Mayflower with less challenging styling - the cabrio-limousine was a bit of an oddity, but there was also a 2-door hardtop and a wagon, both super-fashionable in 1950, and otherwise the most unusual feature was the still-futuristic hidden front wheels - along with the capability expected in an American car.
The Rambler was another iconic car design. And don't forget the Sunbeam Alpine.
My English master at school in the 60s had one , Mr Pendlebury , registered EFV 27 in a dull grey metallic.I recall he set us a task in homework to compose a formal letter to the Police to say we had witnessed a serious accident involving a car and bicycle.Smugly, I involved his Mayflower and gave the details of his registration, 58 years later still useless information embeddied in my memory .On marking the work , he gave me 8 out of 10 , but said he was not guilty and nowhere near the road mentioned at the time !.
Most cars of the time had lever arm shockers, the Mayflower had telescopics all round. The TR sports cars used parts from the Mayflower and Vanguard parts bin.
I loved this car when I was a young'un. I still consider it an iconic design.
When the black one was shown towards the end, all I could think was to call out for a Taxi. It just looks like a proper Taxi.
Never wash your clothes and Rolls Royce car at 90 degrees, they shrink.
I'm old enough to remember the Triumph Mayflower and was insanely jealous of those who had one as my father had an Austin A30.
In Australia with the distinctive styling these stood out. I can remember them very well. Perhaps because we had a shortage of any cars and also because we had petrol rationing a more luxurious car with good fuel economy had a definite place until well after petrol rationing was lifted.
They were quite popular for a while. I remember seeing them regularly in Adelaide.
Get rid of any old crap to Australia! Lol
Nought to sixty in 27 seconds has a ring of sense about it in today's world and also if someone stole your car you could always catch them up just running lol
I only recently sold the car you feature "RHT 193" after my Father's death. Loved it to bits but I had nowhere to store it. 😞
I really enjoyed this video, but did a double-take @ 5:40 where you said it "was a significant failure for Triumph". I salute you for being able to say that without cracking up. 😂
It is a pity that the narrator did not tell us how many Mayflowers still survive, whether on the road or not. I would love to see pictures of the convertible and pick-up versions, if any survive.
Excellent video - and I see a couple of the other cars (Minor at 4.46 and Chev sedan at 4.52) are in New Zealand (there's no mistaking our number plates).
Another fine effort on a very unique topic.
My dad had a silver grey Mayflower. He always loved English cars and he kept the Mayflower for many years. I remember it as being very reliable and we took it on some long trips in Southern Ontario. Some good childhood memories for me.
I'm from Southern Ontario too, we had one as a family car when I was a small child (about 1955?) I remember it was maroon with biscuit brown fake leather upholstery and a banjo steering wheel. It didn't last long before something went wrong with the engine. Dad took it apart, it had a Micarta timing gear, made of a brown bakelite type material. It never ran again but it sat in the back yard for a time, it made a fun play house for us kids. I always like them as much for the quirky looks as anything but they probably were a dreadful car. If they really sold new for more than a Chevrolet sedan I'm surprised they sold any at all, they should have sold for half that.
I love it! It looks so quirky!
Loved the razor edge body design which really suited the Renown being larger.
A local business man had one this was NE Oregon in 1960. Didn't know that they were that rare in the US.
Probably would've been dirt cheap as a used car if you could find one.
Aw, poor Triumph, losing their motorbike arm just before it got good.
That's probably why it got good.
I remember seeing one of these parked on a street on Manhattan's Upper East Side in 1975 when in my teens. Already a vintage/classic car buff, having never seen one except in pictures, I was fascinated by it....have never seen one since ...
A neighbour had one of these, just couldn't,t get it going, it sat on his frontage for years, presumably going for scrap. RIP.
How could they think it would sell in America??
Does anyone think the Mayflower ship would have been called that, if THIS would have come out first?
Those edges are soooooo sharp ! Otherwise quite hackney cabish.
I quite liked the looks of those! I think the abjectly poor performance completely killed it though.
Mot cars of that period had very little power, it was about torque, engine longevity and fuel economy
@@russthebiker True, though I don't think the Mayflower had much of those either! It wasn't a big engine, so you'd have had to work it hard to get anywhere! I don't think engine longevity & reliability was anything like we have now - reborings and decokings were frequently undertaken, even with the extremely frequent oil changes and other servicing that was required. My Dad's old Hillman Minx needed the oil changing every 1,000 miles! These days engines will go on to do huge 6 figure mileages if you change the oil now and again, whilst in the 50s, getting anywhere near that was an achievement. Better materials, better lubricants etc.
It was the Appling handling that really let them down
In 1953 my dad, to my great regret as a little kid, sent our 1936 Riley Nine Kestrel to the scrapyard. He was going to buy a new Morris Minor, a car that I detested. I suggested he bought a Triumph Mayflower but he mocked it saying it was well known for growing mushrooms in its rear carpets. ( Serve him right for buying the Morris Minor. On a trip to France, it broke a connecting rod which poked a hole in the side of the engine.()
Good God, how DIFFERENT the
Mayflower looks in modern colours, like sky blue, or bright red with black! One of those cars that are bold true originals, and take a long time to get used to! Once you get over the shock of something being so DIFFERENT, it opens your mind to how clever it really is! Later Triumphs managed to get the balance more right, designing more ordinary cars, just with luxury touches, like thick carpets, and wood trim.This was in contrast to these "baby limousines", that would have only correct for the nobility, to drive round their estates! Just perfect for lady so- and- so to drive, because a smaller car would not have such heavy steering for women! By the way, in this most informative video, I have found out what happened to Triumph, regarding change of ownership, bankruptcy, etc. Keep up the good work!
I always thought that they may have been designed by a carboard box manufacturer!
My first car in 1967, it cost me 20 pounds. When I drove it home my father saw the rear spring shackles were rusted through and it was just 'sitting' on the leaf springs, we took it straight back and made sure we got the 20 back.
A new Rory! 😘😘
I remember reading in my Dad's AA magazine in the 60s that this would be a future classic, buy as investment. I think they called it wrong.
I remember seeing one of these at poynters road garage as a kid , it was turned inside out following a head on.
This is what you get when you substitute arrogance for proper research when entering a foreign market. That said I love the Mayflower. It gives you luxury in miniature.
Growing up in Canada, one neighbour had a Mayflower and the other a Vanguard. Guy down the street had a Mini Cooper with a Union Jack painted on the roof
Rory is a national treasure.
Always liked the styling.
No pictures of the INTERIOR and dash! Serious oversight!
My Old Man bought one, second hand in 1961, I'd often asked him if the hand brake was still on, and he'd double check. Scary on bends too, even at 25 mph.
Sure looks classy to me,,,,,i liked it when i was a kid in london......thanks again
i bought a Triumph Mayflower in 1971 for $10 I was 14yo and used it as a paddock car, it was gutless compared to my brothers Singer SM 1500.eventually we chopped it up with a hammer and chisel to take the roof off...it had thick metal but even chopped down it still had little power
I remember seeing these in the street as a child and also distinctly remember everyone thinking they looked like ridiculous mini-rollers for the terminally pretentious.
Can't everyone just see onsloand daisy stopping at our hyacinth and Richards home boom.lol.
we used to go play in the dead forest and near there every day an old man and his reliant three wheeler pulled up to his yard com work shop and he had loadsa old tractors trucks cars in a wooded yard behind and there was a lil car xcactly like the may flower but it was four door we could not find a way in to play in all them vehicles would hav been cool that all over grown trees covering all them ace vehicles we went to ask him to sell us an old pop but he wouldnt .
Remember the Head master in my school used to own one of these cars , it was black , his name was Mr, Top , that was that was 60 years ago .
I think it's adorable!
Spent my childhood in this car
I nearly bought one of these about 1965 but could not believe how slow it was, I thought it was just this particular vehicle. I was always under the impression the bodywork was aluminium. In the end I bought an A30 (803cc) and eventually replaced the engine with a 948cc from a Morris minor. Happy days.
An A35 was a sprint car compared to a Mayflower.
Mayflower and Renown both bloody awful things.
Their only saving grace was they didnt rot as quick as the Vauxhall Victor
The engine shown in this film is not the standard unit fitted in the Mayflower. Your description is correct but the engine shown looks like the Triumph Herald unit which became a popular upgrade in later years. Bearing in mind that the Mayflower ceased production in 1953 and the Herald wasn’t launched until 1959, this engine could not have appeared in a Mayflower until the early 60’s but as the car looks to have had a ground up restoration I suspect this engine was fitted instead of the original unit for more power and probably because the original side valve unit was beyond economical repair. Unfortunately, I can’t find a way of attaching a photo of the original engine in my car. The sales figure I have for cars exported to America is 503. This low number is not in the least bit surprising as following the end of WW2 America was awash with money and first class engineers so a ‘Small Luxury Car’ in 1949 would have had a minimum of a straight six, if not a V8 so the little 1249cc side valve unit was not going to cut it!
Is the badge near the bottom of the radiator a cover for coupling a cranking handle?
They are odd looking things, particularly being 2 door and not 4 door which makes them look too short. The space was given to the front passengers in prefence to the rear which is like a lot of modern 2 door cars.
There was a bigger version, the Renown.
See also; Toyota Yaris circa 2010. They lavished masses of space in the front passenger compartment, both to sell Americans on such a small car and to sell Japanese home-market buyers on the upgrade from a Kei car.