Triumph TR6, 1974
For sale: R370,000
The TR6 was the last of the great British sports cars.
Triumph developed the TR6 from the TR5, with which it shared the straight six, and contracted German designer Karmann to do the bodywork. Somewhere north of 94,000 were built, of which about 90% were much less powerful models, fitted with carburettors to comply with the emission rules of the US market. The injection models got a clever but fiddly mechanical fuel injection from Lucas, and 125 BHP in later models like this one.
This 1974 TR6 PI (petrol injection) was built in July 1974 and despatched to South Africa in March 1975 as a personal export delivery. It was shipped with disc wheels, overdrive, hard top and static seat belts listed as extras on the Heritage Certificate. I bought the car in 1999.
Originally magenta, the car was resprayed red long before I acquired it, with black on the inside of the engine bay, presumably for practicality’s sake. The car has had some other upgrades and modifications from original spec, mainly aimed at making it more practical:
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Minilite road wheels – these are original period Minilites, allowing wider tyres and filling out the arches nicely.
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Moto-Lita steering wheel, also a common period addition, seen on many classics, slightly smaller than the original allowing for longer legs.
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Leather gear knob – much nicer than the original.
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Bosch fuel pump, to replace the notoriously unreliable original, which was a converted wiper motor.
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Rear shocks – the original lever arms had been replaced by telescopic shocks when I bought the car, and I subsequently upgraded these to a model that doesn’t attached the shock to the body, helping handling and reliability.
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There is a modern(ish) radio in the glove compartment, although I rarely use it.
I still have the original “pepperpot” wheels, the original steering wheel and a few other bits & pieces – these will go with the car. There is a tonneau cover as well as the hood bag designed to cover the hood – the one designed for use with a hard top too.​I have done a lot of work on the car over the years, and have a comprehensive service history, as well as the factory workshop manual, Haynes manual and various other documents and notes.
I have finally decided to sell because I just don’t drive the car as much as I should, and as much as it deserves to be driven. It runs beautifully, and everything works except the speedo. I had the gearbox replaced a while back, and the drive from the new box doesn’t spin the speedo fast enough. I just haven’t got round to fixing this – life gets in the way.​
Other points:
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Bonnet recently resprayed after an incident with a bike in the garage
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Spare injector included (these are like hen’s teeth)
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Miscellaneous other spares and parts, and several service manuals
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Full & detailed service history since 1999
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History file and heritage certificate
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Some more details...
the engine bay:
The interior:
Some more details: a crack in the dashpad, and the hood cover with the hard top on:
The original steering wheel, and one of the original rims: 5 included, one of which is the spare.
The interior of the boot, and a selection of manuals and notes:
Is the price fair? I think so:
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The Triumph Club of South Africa has 27 TR6s on their register, so these cars are rare in SA.
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Autotrader in the UK has several TR6s priced between £16,000 and £25,000, so about R368k to R578k.
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The Classic Valuer has a median price of £15,667, or about R360,000.
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Practical Classics lists a project TR6 at £7-12k (R160-280k), a Good one at £13-18k (R300-414k), and an excellent one at £18-26k (R414-600k).
This car may not be excellent - it needs some cosmetic work, but it runs very well - so I would put it somewhere in the "good" range. On top of that are the extras, spares, manuals, and original parts. Based on the above, the price is a fair one.​
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If you still need convincing, watch this on YouTube.
