Last updated on November 26, 2025
Today’s car is a 1957 Triumph TR3 owned by Shannon Corsaro, which I photographed at the Manhattan Beach Cars & Coffee event at The Point in El Segundo, CA. This 1957 TR3 was manufactured in England and, like all of them, shipped to the United States. When new, it arrived in Southern California and has stayed here ever since. Shannon is the third owner. The first owner kept the car for a year before a job transfer forced a sale, and that’s when Shannon’s mother purchased it, just a year after it arrived in Manhattan Beach.
Shannon’s mom had a home on Rosecrans, west of Sepulveda. She was a modern woman, way ahead of her time in 1958, independent, stylish, and proud to be driving her little Triumph around Manhattan Beach. The car stayed with the family ever since. Shannon shared a photo of her sitting in the passenger seat as a baby, tied in with a rope, an early “seatbelt.” It’s one of those memories that perfectly captures how long this little Triumph had been part of her family.
The car came from the factory painted white with a black interior. In the 1970s, Shannon’s dad began using it as his daily driver. He was an L.A. City firefighter stationed at LAX as a fire captain in the airport firehouse, first in for emergencies, plane crashes, and whenever the president came to town. He drove the Triumph to work every day and eventually decided it was his car now. He repainted it yellow, and Shannon nicknamed it “The Bumblebee” because of its yellow-and-black colors. She hated it at the time and thought it was the ugliest thing she had ever seen.
When the time came for Shannon to take possession, her mother had passed away, and Shannon bought the TR3 from her brother. It then went through a full restoration at British European that lasted two years and two months, bringing the car back to its full glory. After all those years, it wasn’t just a car anymore, it had become a piece of family history, carrying the stories of both her parents and every memory tied to it.
The Triumph TR3 captured everything pure about driving in the mid-1950s, that irresistible mix of freedom, simplicity, and connection to the road. Designed under the direction of Sir John Black, managing director of the Standard Motor Company, and shaped by Triumph’s chief stylist Walter Belgrove, the TR3 carried forward the honest, muscular lines of the earlier TR2. Belgrove widened the stance, sharpened the look, and gave it that unmistakable small-mouth grille, the kind that seemed to grin back at you every time you slipped behind the wheel. This wasn’t a car built for luxury or flash. It was built for feeling. The sound of the twin-carb engine, the vibration through the gear lever, the way the chassis spoke to you, every bit of it was meant for the driver. You didn’t glide down the road, you felt it.
While Detroit was busy turning out big, chrome-laden cruisers with V8s and automatic transmissions, Triumph went the other direction, smaller, lighter, and utterly mechanical. American cars were made to float; the TR3 was made to play. You had to work the clutch, read the road, and make every shift count. But once you found that rhythm, it was magic, inviting you in and bringing a smile to your face.
In postwar America, the TR3 felt like a breath of fresh air. Returning servicemen remembered the nimble roadsters they had seen in Europe and wanted that same sense of freedom back home. The TR3 delivered. It wasn’t a status symbol, it was a driver’s car, the kind of machine that made every trip, no matter how short, feel like an experience. It wasn’t perfect, and that’s exactly why people loved it. The TR3 was honest, direct, and alive in a way few cars have ever been. It didn’t just move you, it reminded you why you loved to drive.
This particular TR3 stands out with its custom burnt-orange finish, all-white interior, sisal carpets, and chrome spoke wheels wrapped in wide whitewall tires. Power comes from a 2.0-liter inline four-cylinder OHV engine producing 100 horsepower, equipped with twin H6 SU carburetors and mated to a four-speed manual transmission with electrically operated overdrive and a 3.70:1 rear axle. Stopping power comes from upgraded front disc brakes and rear drums. The independent front suspension uses double wishbones, manganese-bronze trunnions, coil springs, and telescopic dampers. At the rear, a beam axle rides on semi-elliptic leaf springs and lever-arm dampers. Factory options included seatbelts, overdrive, wire wheels, a glass-fiber hardtop, occasional rear seat, radio, heater, and leather upholstery.
The TR3 was built between 1955 and 1962 with total production of 75,017 cars. Of those, 13,377 were produced between 1955 and 1957, with only 1,286 sold in the UK and the rest exported mainly to the United States. All were built at the Canley Works in Coventry, England. Early cars, like this one, featured the original small-mouth grille, cowl vent, and no exterior door handles. That makes this TR3 one of the last “pure” TR3s, a bridge between postwar British simplicity and the improved drivability brought by front disc brakes and export-focused engineering. The original MSRP was £950 or $2,625, US with a published top speed of 110 mph and a 0–60 mph time of 10.8 seconds.
This beautifully restored TR3 is truly something special, full of family history and decades of memories. It is the perfect car for British shows, local car meets, Cars & Coffee events, or simply cruising around Manhattan Beach the way Shannon’s mother once did.
Thanks for coming along for the ride.
Frank
