Here’s one that’s been idle since before the turn of the century! This 1972 Triumph GT6 Mk 3 is located in West Grove, Pennsylvania, and is up for auction here on eBay. At the time of writing, the bid had climbed to just over $3,000, with more than three days left and no reserve!
Plans for a six-cylinder version of the new Spitfire were in the works before the first of the wildly successful roadsters rolled out of the factory in 1962. For evidence, one need look no further than the official name of the first generation: the Spitfire 4. Yet the Spitfire would never receive the larger engine; instead, in 1963 Giovanni Michelotti would begin work on a GT version of the little convertible. It was found, though, that the extra weight of the GT body wrote checks that the 1,147cc inline-4 couldn’t cash. The GT project was shelved… until Spitfires equipped with a fiberglass version of the fastback body won their class at Le Mans in 1965. Pushed to strike while the iron was hot, the engineers at Triumph chose to revisit the steel-bodied GT, this time addressing the performance issues by equipping it with the 2.0L inline-6 of the Triumph Vitesse.
This car is an example of the third and last generation of the GT6– production would end in 1973. On the plus side, by this point, most of the kinks had been worked out. The early cars shared the Spitfire’s rear camber issues that could lead to sudden oversteer in corners, a problem only made worse by the GT6’s additional power. By the time the Mk3 came around, however, this had mostly been worked out. On the other hand, the later cars had to deal with the ever-changing requirements of U.S. safety regulations, and the bone-in-teeth bumper coupled with the rubber dagmars don’t do the front of the car any favors.
The paint and interior codes reveal that the car was originally sapphire blue with a black interior. But although it may be original, it would be a rare owner that wouldn’t opt to attend to the crazed and flaking paint, especially with evidence of rust in the rockers. A stunning automobile when in top form, parts– while not always common– are not so rare, and the GT6 enjoys a large community of devotees to either provide support or commiserate. Far worse examples have been brought back from the brink. Here’s hoping that this “Poor Man’s Jag” finds a new life, and new roads, with a new owner.
If the underside is good this will be a great project. These are fun cars and a very good looking design.
Thanks for the history lesson, but does it run? Crank, turn over, drive?
The GT6 is not a poor man’s Jag. An E-Type is an overgrown GT6. Proportions are much more attractive on the GT6 IMHO.
MAY have a Laycock de Normanville OD? Grt cars –
If it’s not a rust bucket go for it.
Bidding is up to $5,100. Still looks like a good value at that price. Appears very complete, and the rust (rockers) seem manageable. When shopping for a GT6 in the mid 1980, I found many that were not nearly as good as this. Most of them are probably parts or scrap now. The Mk3 styling grows on you and is probably the one to have if you intend to drive it.
VIN did not have the letter “O” suffix which would denote factory overdrive. The gearshift selector knob appears to be of wood and would not have the overdrive slide switch (for third and fourth gears) on the top of it…nor did there appear to be an earlier Mk I or Mk II stalk behind the turn signal switch for the same overdrive function. Likely no overdrive but photos of the transmission would show either the overdrive unit or the solenoid for the same if so equipped.
My stepfather had a twin of this car, or this might have been his!
He kept it in our garage when he was dating my Mom. I was a teenaged gear-head, and found the car to be too much of a temptation. I “borrowed” it many times, and kept getting caught (I never was real slick lol). I recall it being slow as molasses, not what I expected for such a small car with a 6 cylinder & stick shift.
Finally he sold it right around 1988.
If this is his old car, I don’t think I would buy it. It looked real nice, but there were severe rust issues with it back then.
All I remember from when he sold it was it went to the east coast. Makes me think this may have been his.