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Triumph TR6 - Group History

Since I went out and implored the "non-members" to join thought I'd take my turn at providing a condensed history...

I've loved open cockpit cars as far back as I can remember. Had an aunt/uncle that had MGA's that were great fun to ride in. I lusted after TR-250's (among other things) that were in the ads in my dad's Playboys in the late '60's .. Had to be a Bond thing...

My first manual tranny driving was in a MGA (cousin had the car then) on Daytona Beach. The cousin was a life guard and let me tkae his car. I learned how to use a clutch in about 5 minutes - it was great crusing the beach in a nice car - even though I didn't have a license....

Owned a VW Beetle in HS, but my best friend had an MGA. Of course I drove it a time or two.

Bought a '71 MGB while in college to replace the VW - it was a great car. That was 1979. Kept it until I was married and had kids 6 years later - not really a family car.

After 3 years, I got the "longing" back for a convertible. Bought my current TR6 12 years ago. A "Partial" restoration, but it was so much faster/better than an MG that I had to take it. Couldn't convince the wife that it wasn't a mid-life crisis, though. She's gone, the car has stayed. So Here I am.


Brent B

When I was 10 years old I read a book called "The Red Car", a story about a high school aged kid who bought and rebuilt a wrecked MG TC. It fueled a fascination for things with wheels,(specifically sportscars)that along with discovering Road & Track shortly thereafter. When I started junior high school 2 years later I had a teacher who was driving a 1967 BRG Austin Healey 3000 to school everyday many a day dream about that beauty took place looking out the windows of that school. About the same time I had an uncle who was using a sprite to commute back and forth to work. College years I had 2 German built Capri's one 4 cylinder and one V6 those were great fun but one friend had an MGB, and another a Spitfire great little cars and I wanted one bad. Then adulthood slapped me around got married at 22 father by 23 3 kids before I was 30. Mostly driving a succession of VW Jetta's GLI and GLX (and minivans-3). Sept. of 2001 I got divorced and realized that there was nothing holding me back from reliving my childhood dreams, found the car I lusted after in my late teens and early 20's a 1972 TR6 had my old junior high school teacher check it out with me and bought it.(he still has that 67'Healey amongst his flock) I've used the info here to strip bolts,skin knuckles and learn all the things modern cars can't teach us, but god is that car fun to drive. I just bought a new daily driver and I still can't wait for clear days to drive my TR (did 70miles on Monday). Best thing I have bought I already consider the accumulated smiles as payment in full.
Regards,
Keith
K.B.Dixon

I was a ski bum at 18 - 19 years of age. Some of my other friends had paper routes, money of thier own and British Cars. One good friend had a TR6, the other a Spitfire. Man did I want one of those cars. I'd ride in that six with my buddy and marvel at the sound it made and the handling, which at the time I thought was really good. The spitfire guy was always driving that thing to some all weekend party on some beach. Anyhow, I spent too much time on top of a ski mountain or in a bar to really try and own one of those cars and had to reach about mid life to decide it is time to get the car I always wanted. (I really want a car collection but don't tell my wife.) It should consist of the TR6 a TVR and a Pantera. I'll die happy and wealthy from the experience. My son will inherit all the cars anyhow so what the hell...

JP
CGY
John Parfitt

Brent great idea :)

I ramble a bit so I will try to condense before posting. Just posted because of this book. Read it as well.

Kieth the "The Red Car" by Don Stanford has apreciated along with the cars. Note this site.

http://www.vintage-books.com/cgi-bin/Perlshop/perlshop.cgi?ACTION=push&thispage=g58013&ORDER_ID=0605029423

Thats a long time ago memory woke up. Thanks :) With all due respect I still love the TC.

Bill
Bill Brayford

Nice to hear how people's love for English Cars develops. Muscle car nuts just don't get it. They come up to your car with one finger in their nose and another - well never mind -- and ask "duh, how much horsepower ya got." It's the whole experince, so much more than a big engine.

Brent
You ever use the crank to start the MGA?
I would get it out at the local A&W drive- in. It always attracted a crowd. Or my buddy and I would take the windshield off my TR3 ( easy job on a Three) and drive though the A&W with the windshield wipers on. Young and stupid.
Or something you probably wouldn't understand living in Memphis, driving an MGA though a Canadian Winter. Boy they are cold!!! Start great though -- go figure.

Doug
Doug Campbell

Hey Bill I found The Red Car at Amazon 29.95? It's amazing what that old book will bring should have walked out of school with it 37 years ago.
Regards,
Keith
K.B.Dixon

Keith
In a sense you did walk out with it. Carried it away forever.
You and I and many others. :)
Bill

Bill Brayford

I still remeber the first TR6 a began to lust over at age 13 or so. It was owned by a friend of my friends mother. We I was visiting and the TR was there I used to go study it. It was a later one with the bumper over riders and was a maroon colour (much later I found out the colour is called Damson I think). The colour was not my favourite but boy that car held my attention. The 6 was not about curves but porportions. Long hood (bonnet) long body, made longer by those over riders (some don't like the over riders, but in my mind its not a TR6 without them) those huge wheels and the sporty excessive neg. camber of the rear wheels. WOW.

A year or two later I got a peak under the hood of a spitfire. I remember thinking "Holy cow, what a puny engine!" I had never seen a car with such a small engine. From then I wrongly assumed all LBC's hab puny 4 bangers. It was until I was in college and saw a yellow TR6 with rekindled the passion all over again. I did some research on TR6's and discovered they had straight sixes in them. Well, I was hooked and drooling, but figured I would never own one.

Skip ahead a few more years, my wife sees me spying TRs on eBay and she thinks cool! Her Dad in his youth had a TR3, so she grew up listening to his TR3 tales and gives me the green light to searh for a suitable TR6, hopefully yellow. I told my Dad about my search, and he says a woman were he works is thinking about selling hers as she doesn't drive it much anymore. I asked what colour it was and he said yellow! I looked at it and it was perfect! They had owned it for 16 years, only drove it in the summer, never in the rain and had only driven it mabye 4 times in the last 2 years! The deal was made. It held huge sentamental value for them, so the deal wasn't the best, but I didn't care, I HAD to have that car!

Sometimes, when the weather is not nice enough to drive it, I go stand in the garage and just stare at it, pinching myself.

My wife says she wants a TR3. :)
C Wiebe

While in high school my best friends parents bought a new TR6. When we were able to liberate it from the parents we felt we were the coolest kids in town, and proved it by driving around in the winter with the top down.
Through the years whenever I saw a TR6 I was reminded of those fun and crazy times of youth.
So now I own my own, and it's just as good as I remember and better. The purr of the baratone exhaust, the wood dash, the long hood, big wheels, and chrome. A daily driver in the summer, and plenty of fun hobby work in the winter.
Now I realize that for me the TR6 is more than a just a car, it's always been an attitude on wheels.
--Tom
Tom

Boy we sure are products of our youth.
From 14 to 16 years old I worked at a car wash part time on the west coast of Canada that did contract cleaning of import cars. Triumphs, VW's that sort of thing. I learned to drive on those cars and left my
inexperience engraved on clutches and gears.
In grade 11 and 12 I had an auto mechanics teacher
that as a class project wanted us to drop a Ford
289 HiPo into a TR4 ( what he called a TRFord ).
We were in awe of this car, it had the best of American
muscle and European handling and class. I had completely forgotten about that car till almost three decades later when I found myself thinking about it again and wouldn't it be fun to try it one more time?
Well after three years of fiddling around and lots of
skinned knuckles, I now have a problem free Brit HotRod that I don't drive any different than the rest
of you. Honestly. But occasionally when some pimply
face youth pulls past me to get ahead of the old guy in the slow classic I bury the pedal and leave him
not only in the wrong lane with no one else around but with the his jaw in the opened posistion.I think it's
what fisherman call catch and eat.
I am looking forward to the next story to follow on
this thread.
Christopher Trace

This thread was discussed between 04/06/2003 and 10/06/2003

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