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| The Harrington Le Mans was introduced at The Earls Court Motor Show in October 1961. The Le Mans name was taken from the "The Index Of Thermal Efficiency" win at Le Mans in April of the same year by the Harrington Alpine registration number 3000 RW. The Le Mans introduced some radical new coach work that chopped the top off the rear wings and the rear fins from the car. Drumming up on publicity from the win at Le Mans, Rootes targeted American buyers and sent as many as half of the 250 car production to the US shores. While the standard line of Harrington options were still available, the Le Mans did have more standardized production and was not offered on a per-order basis like the Harrington Alpine. This meant that they were offered as a Rootes product and not a "official conversion" and could be found on showroom floors... if a dealership was lucky enough to even get one! The Le Mans does not carry the Alpine name and is identified by it's unique finless design. All Harrington Le Mans cars were built on Alpine Series II bodies. |
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| The pictures above show the LHD American Promotional Harrington Le Mans. This car was sent to the United States to appear in auto shows and promotional displays. Notice the unique characteristics of this Le Mans. Not only does it have unique tail lights, but it's fitted with the very early coarse Microcell seat coverings. The rear seat interior trim is more in common to a Harrington Alpine and not a Le Mans. Notice that the rear seat cushions don't have pleats, the rear side interior panels are two piece like the Harrington Alpine and the B-post caps are more like the Harrington Alpine. This car also doesn't have inner sill trim plates. This must have been a very early Le Mans to have such unique features. Perhaps the first one? Enjoy the very rare colour picture with Harrington Executives. |
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| The pictures above are of the RHD Home Market Le Mans TH 1962 which was also used for promotional exhibits. Notice the tail lights on this car. They are the standard tail lights used for final Le Mans production. The interior in this car is unknown to us at this time. |
There were 3 styles of rear-quarter panel over the course of production. Early cars had a "shark gill" moulded panel. Later cars had a chrome/steel cover plate. The later cars had a simple flat panel. You can see this as you progress through the registry by VIN number. There are some exceptionns in the sequence which we can't explain but they may be explained by variations in restoration. |
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