Wayne Bickley’s 1952 Electric Triumph Mayflower “Dudley”
I recently purchased a non running 1952 Triumph Mayflower. They were known as the poor man’s Rolls Royce. Since the motor was literally non operational and the wiring and brakes were totally non-operational. So I started on the journey to bring “Dudley” into the 21st century.
Originally Dudley was powered with a 38 HP 4 cylinder gas engine with 57 lb-ft of torque and a 3 speed transmission. The 0-60 mph was a scorching 23 seconds! So as part of the upgrades, and I wanted to retain some of the classic nature of the car.
With all project cars, they never seem to end, but thus far is has been a good journey. I removed the gas engine transmission and rear end. I installed a Ford 9” 3.00 rear end and added disc brakes all around to help with the stopping power. I installed a Netgain Hyper 9HV-D motor that is rated at ~120 HP and 167 lb-ft of torque which is about 4 times the power of the stock car. It is coupled to a Torque Trends Torque Box which is a single speed gear reduction with a 1.9:1 ratio. The top speed is about 85mph, (if I dare take it that fast) and 0-60 is estimated to be about 8-9seconds.
The battery pack is made up of 6 Tesla Model S85 modules that are mounted in the space where the rear was located to balance out the weight distribution. The pack is about 33.6Kw and is expected to get the range of about 120 miles. The vehicle weight is about 2300 pounds as mentioned before has 4 manual disc brakes and the accelerator is a “fly by wire setup to the Netgain Controller.
The parking and turn signals have been converted to LED lights and the car was rewired with a Painless wiring fuse box / wiring. The original wiring was cloth insulated and was a 12 positive ground system. I converted it to a 12 negative ground system which is charged by the high voltage battery pack through a DC-DC controller charging the 12 battery which powers the lights wipers etc.
The tires and rims were updated to Chevy 5 bolt Rally wheels. I have been working on the paint, interior and suspension.
More to come!
Pictures below are pictures during the project upgrades…
