Triumph Herald 13/60 Review

Overall Rating

Fun to own, cheap to run, useable as everyday car
Probably the only small British sixties saloon that doesn't make you look a plonker
Your Granddad will know how to fix it

Not very well designed or made when new
Performance a culture shock for modern car owners

The Herald 13/60 was the final development of Triumph's small 1950's saloon. Seriously outmoded and outclassed by its rivals even when new the 13/60 still sold well as a niche product on economy, an attractive interior and a sporty image (not backed by reality!), exactly the same qualities that attract buyers today.

At the risk of offending some enthusiasts, I'd recommend avoiding the earlier cars. The first 1-litre cars are now over 45 years old and are really too slow for everyday traffic, whilst the 1200s still came with drum brakes.
Though it's a matter of opinion, I think Michellotti's facelift for the whole Triumph range was a brilliant design coup, giving the cash-strapped company's ageing line (Spitfire, 2000, Herald, Vitesse, TR, GT6) a new lease of life at almost no cost and the resulting 13/60 Herald was one of the most successful.

How should you rate a Herald for performance now? A second-hand 1.2 Corsa is so far away in terms of go, handling and comfort that the poor Herald should get a zero but in the context of the time it was regarded as quite lively. Adjust your driving for the fact that the traffic around you has vastly better standards of handling, braking and safety and it's usable everyday. For compensation, a Herald has far more style than the smoky ten-year old you could have bought for the same money, and it's not going to stuff you with a £500 bill when the ECU packs up.

The ultimate Herald for sheer fun has to be the 13/60 convertible. You'll pay rather more for one than a saloon, but it has the kind of style that none of the small contemporary saloons posses. 13/60 convertibles evoke a swinging London and Mary Quant image where a Morris Minor softtop is Women's Institute and, well, Hattie Jaques.

Think carefully before you buy a convertible for everyday use as the hood bears little resemblance to the ones on modern cars. Are you really prepared to live with a single, flappy, leaky, noisy layer of fabric between you and winter? Some aftermarket glassfibre hardtops were made, but they are very large, heavy items to store during summer.

The interior of the Herald was a big selling point when new, with a nice veneered dashboard and floor carpets compared to the painted tin and rubber mats of its rivals, but it may look rather tired by now. A refurbishment can be done but parts like real moulded transmission tunnel carpets are expensive, so a car with good interior and scruffy exterior is the better buy.

Rust will always be lurking but, unlike most of its contemporaries, on the Herald it is rarely terminal. None of the body panels on the Herald are structural, most simply unbolt (though "simply" is relative with 40-year-old threads) and there are repair sections available for just about everything. The chassis has some simple bent-metal outrigger sections that can corrode, but replacement is a simple and cheap job, well within the scope of amateur welding.

One nasty trap lurks under the driver's seat where the brake pipe passes through a hole in a chassis outrigger, which fills with wet mud and corrodes. Unless your brake pipes have been changed for modern copper alloy ones, the hidden pipe will also rust where it passes through, a potentially lethal fault with single-circuit brakes.

The Herald is exceptionally simple to maintain and fix. It shares many parts with the Spitfire, Vitesse, GT6 range so almost everything is readily available at very reasonable cost. Routine servicing is well within the scope of an absolute beginner, but remember that cars of this age need much more frequent, though simple, attention than any modern(ish) hatchback. Even major repair jobs are straightforward - it is, for instance, possible to change a clutch with no more than two flat spanners and a screwdriver, sitting inside the car!

With all the small Triumphs, suspension joints at both ends are a potential weak point. Simple to fix until neglected, worn joints, especially the rear trunnions, turn a Herald from an easy drive into a very dangerous machine.

You can tune and modify the Herald as much as your budget, taste or insurance company will allow as there's a huge choice of performance possibilities for engine and suspension. For cars in regular use, use a lead-free cylinder head conversion is a desirable modification. If any cars are left with the original sealed-beam headlights, halogen replacements are an immediate safety essential.
Modern replacement brake pads and shoes have raised pedal pressure over the original asbestos ones, so adding a brake servo is a wise move.

A big improvement can be made if you can find or improvise an electric radiator fan to replace the engine mounted one. Not only do you gain a little power and some economy but the engine noise decreases by an amazing amount.

So is a 35-year old Herald a viable alternative for budget motoring compared to a not-very-new Citron, Renault or Vauxhall? A qualified yes - if you can take the culture shock of 1960s heaters, wipers, seats and lights and almost constant maintenance you'll be rewarded with cheap insurance, low running costs and fun of ownership that's difficult to match at the price.