Imagine my surprise when I conducted my local craigslist (ok, several states worth) search early this morning and found an ad for 60, yes 60, Triumphs for sale. Wow! I don’t know a whole lot yet, but a good friend is going to see them later this week so I’ll share more then. The cars are located in two different lots around Aiken, South Carolina and are advertised here on craigslist. According to my friend, prices range from $2,000 to $8,000. In this picture, you’ll see some of the wedges (TR7s and TR8s).
Here’s a line of TR6s with more wedges in the background. This should be an early car based on the hinged door type vent at the base of the windshield rather than the plastic vent on the car behind it.
This TR7 looks like one of the nicer cars. There are a wide variety of wedges, including 44 (!) TR7s with two Spider editions, two Southern Skies editions and two Victory editions. There are 3 convertible TR8s and 4 coupe TR8s. That’s more wedges than there were at the national convention in 2014 (I was there).
This blue TR8 looks a little sad, but it is a TR8 after all. I’d love to have another TR8 coupe–I miss my five speed one–that was a sweet car to drive! It had plenty of power and a nice seats and ride to boot. My wife liked it too, which is never a bad thing when it comes to collector cars! Hmmm. Maybe I’ll tell her about this collection. She’s better at shopping than I am anyway (not being sexist, it’s true!)
Here’s one of the TR6s. There are six of them. That makes 57 cars; I’m guessing the other three are the two Stags and one GT6 I see in the pictures, but who knows? Once my friend takes a look I’ll update this post with more details. I wish I were going with him!
The frustrating thing for me is that with 60 cars for sale, the seller has only posted 10 photos in the ad. To me it feels like am attitude of: “I’m going to advertise my car for sale. I’ll only post a photo of the steering wheel in the ad. That should do it!” With this many cars, a bit of detail just wouldn’t go astray.
I’m hoping to get more info and pictures when my friend returns. I’ll share what I find out.
I think the seller’s attitude is fine, appropriate too – I never accept texts or emails when I’ve got something to sell on Craigslist – if you’re not interested enough to call, you’re not interested enough to buy. And quit whining about the photos – unless you are a complete moron – and anyone who buys based solely on seller supplied photos is a moron and shouldn’t complain if they “git took.” As a seller, my mantra is: Scammers text, time wasters email. Real buyers call.
Brakeservo,
No personal attacks please. If you dont agree with Adam that’s fine, but calling him a moron doesn’t make you look any better…..keep it professional.
Ah Brakeservo, what can I say? I was criticizing the fact that it is my understanding that when you list items on Craiglist, you can upload 12 photos at no cost. I was likening only uploading 10 photos when he could’ve uploaded 12 as a bit silly. I agree completely with the seller not wishing to be scammed or hassled. I have no issues with that part at all. It’s just part of good salesmanship. You post some photos to raise potential interest so that buyers look. If it didn’t work nobody would post photos.
I would also like to point out that I am NOT a complete moron. I have happily both bought and sold plenty of items in the past. I found from my own experience that the better the photos, the more interest it generated in any item that I was selling.
FYI: Since I left my comment, the seller has now uploaded additional photos, so maybe I was right after all. Just a thought….
I guess I would seriously disagree.
I have too many cars also and people asking ” can I look at everything ?”
I say “NO” I don’t do tours.
Go brows at Walmart
How does anyone end up with 60 Triumphs? I don’t think even the average TR dealer had 60 Triumphs at any one time. And it’s not as if the seller is in a large population center, or that the cars they are perfect and being kept until prices get to be sky high, which $2K – $8K isn’t.
Someone who really wanted to move the cars should start with the best ones, check them out for coolant and oil and at least try to turn the engines over. Maybe some would even start and run, and could then be yard driven. Take lots of photos and list them on Ebay with lots of photos each, and details of how they run and drive, presence/absence of rust, etc, etc.
And forget CL, that’s mostly local, and you need wide exposure. Heck, a TR nut with a bit of time on his hands could get more for these cars than the seller probably will, especially with the attitude he managed to convey in a very short CL ad.
Despite the attitude, I like a guy with a lot of sportscars, so my advice is free. Good luck with all the sales.
Agreed on all points!
And not a single Spitfire or Herald? That seems rather ofd given the number of cars involved.
The red TR6 is a 69, you can tell by the body colour on the windshield frame. Flooding the market like this will only bring prices down!
TR8’s are so very cool…always loved them.
Forget the Wedges, the TR6 was the last good Triumph ever made! Green with red wall tires was and still is my choice.
when my wife and I used to go to the Roadster Factory summer party out in Pennsylvania, there was a guy there who had a V-8 tr-8 with I swear some sort of supercharger on it that ran 12 second quarter miles…what a screamer!!!
All you have to do is call the seller and talk to them. Speculation and guessing aren’t going to answer the question of why and what. British car people are cut from a different cloth anyway, yes?
@RX7Turbo II – as far as I know and intended, I didn’t call anyone a moron, but pointed out that ANYONE who would make a major purchase like this solely on the basis of a few seller provided photos is in fact a moron. Think about it – 60 cars, if price averages to $4000 ea. that’s nearly a quarter million, plus the logistics , cost and effort to move and store them. Would you really spend that much without a personal inspection?? And I don’t blame the seller for wanting calls only – when I’m selling something and I get a bunch of emails in the middle of the day I know nearly all of them come from guys wasting time at work, not serious prospects. Try listing something sometime yourself – you will find scammers texting, time wasters emailing and only real potential buyers calling.
Brakeservo,
I don’t have to wonder what it’s like listing/ selling something to have people be flaky, ask stupid questions, be rude, don’t follow through what they promise Etc because I have been selling on eBay since 1999 and Craigslist since 2007. I have 6000 Plus feedback on eBay and have run into just about every type of person out there… if you didn’t mean to call Adam a moron, I apologize but it did come across that way and I think he thinks it was a direct statement towards him too since I see he just responded as well…. just trying to keep things professional and positive around here. Thanks!
RX7 you are a class.act …as reflected by your responses and tone!!! An email handshake to you!!!
Brakeservo…I think you missed this ads intention… you don’t have to buy ALL the cars…Call and he’ll sell you what you want
Pictures and good phone contact is all I have ever needed…and more than 90% of the 350 cars I have bought and paid for on the internet, I never saw until they arrived at the shop…… and only a handful were much less than I expected. Most were much better than expected. And , most of them were resold around the World the same way…
“You don’t run. You don’t sell. Sounds reasonable?”
It doesn’t take too much these days to take a decent photo of what you’re selling. To counter the scammers text mantra, I think sellers who aren’t sellers take bad photos. I know this is from the “fancy” website that often trolls BF for interesting ads to post but this was a good article: http://bringatrailer.com/2017/04/02/pacific-northwest-bmw-buying-adventure-part-4-visiting-cascadia-classic/
I think people here are getting carried away with the comments, almost like they’re commenting on the comments, not the cars. I, for one, may not use the correct words, and I didn’t do well in school, but let’s stick to the cars. That’s universal here.
In response to Dolphin question, these collections were probably acquired when nobody wanted these cars, especially the 7’s and 8’s( imagine my surprise, when an old friend said, he just got a vintage Triumph. Really? what kind, I asked. A TR7 , he said,,,oh, that’s nice) There was a period of time, when there were a glut of British roadsters, especially when Triumph went under. ( 80’s) This person probably bought these for pennies on the dollar, or got several at once. ( just get the whole lot out of here) I agree, these have to be sold cheap, because many of the ideas about British cars still ring true to some, and not a lot of people will go out on a limb for these. I would, but that’s another story. Think there’s an overdrive in this bunch? Great find, I’d probably have a hard time making up my mind in this lot.
I don’t judge anybody on how they want to communicate. I’ve sold many items on CraigsList and in my business by every means of communication. Why would you alienate a potential sale just because the customer prefers to communicate by text, email, fax, or smoke signal. For me and my business, the most important thing is the sale. What’s the difference how you get to it.
The 3rd photo, blue TR7, has a ’70 Cutlass in the background.
I can visualize how this collecting went down as he brought them home. The first one rolls in and his wife says ‘what’s that?’ A Triumph!
When the 2nd one comes in, his wife says ‘Another Triumph !’
The 3rd ‘Another Triymph !!’
The 4th ‘Another Triumph !!!’
The 5th ‘Not another Triumph?’
The 6th ‘you didn’t buy another damn Triumph?’
The 7th ‘you fool, that’s not a Triumph that’s a tragedy!’
The 8th ‘I’m outta here!’
Etc
LD71😄
Jamie, Thanks for having someone go look at these. Waiting for an update. Here in Ohio they all rusted.
I live in Aiken county my dad owned a tr7 my brother has it now in Charlotte. If any of wants pictures of all the cars I can go by and picture them all.jagguargreen1@gmail.com
When I worked at my uncles foreign car dealership in the late 70s early eighties we always had Triumphs on hand. But we learned quickly to stay away from the TR7. I can still recall a TR7 trade in we got. I attempted to drive it and every wheel bearing made noise. The Transmission made noise. None of the dash gages worked, and on and on, This got taken strait to Bay Cities Auto Auction in Milpitas. A “red light” special for the brave or foolish!
Good find, Jamie,
I had this number in my phone, the owner Rusty had called about my TR8 I had for sale a while back, he lost one of his mechanics, and another got injured so he is liquidating his projects. I told him if it was fairly solid I wanted the TR8 conv body shell in pics, blue/red hood, factory alloys, it had an engine fire and came from TX, I’ll be going to check it out. The rear suspension mounts are the critical spots for suspension rust.
When I clicked on the ad – was hoping to see a Triumph TR4 or TR4A – can’t afford a TR250 – and forget about a Triumph TR5…Oh well…
I’m going to race down and get one of those Stags. Someone had one on base, MCAS Beaufort, when I was there. It was in 1971 when my buddies had GTX’s, Torino’s and 455 Pontiac GP’s. What did I drive, a wide tired, a 69 VW coupe corner carver ha, ha. Next best thing to a 911.
Big Ed, Where did you see Stags? I can’t see any and the original listing seems to have been pulled.
I get where the seller is coming from. On CL ads you get some sorry people trying to make contact. They want to trade garbage for what you have for sale, they try to dicker over the phone or text. I’m old school. Show up in person, look at the car and wave cash in my face, that I can take seriously. I need to sell some of my cars before I go buying more. However this fella sure has some interesting cars for sale that spark my interest. I am only a couple of hours from where these cars are. Although I see via the comments there are people closer willing to get eyes on them for anyone interested. I do see the Butthurt showing up on this thread and I like it. LMAO.
Hey Pete this is green out of the valley I have met you before you just don’t remember me probably it’s been a while but I live in Aiken so I’m just trying to be helpful.i really would like to buy the tr8 myself or a tr7 but like you said money talks I live by in God we trust also.have a great day.
Hello Big Ed and all the others the triumphs are in Aiken,SC across from Honda cars of Aiken and Johnson Cadillac there are alot of triumphs there there was are a few stags there but wedges are numerous.
I talked to the lister for a long time last week, and he was being inundated by calls – 60 in 2 days. He had a well-known name in Brit car circles promise to visit, but then he didn’t show up or even get in touch to explain or apologize. That’s the kind of thing that drives sellers to put in variations on “no time-wasters” in their ads. He values his privacy and didn’t want to just have hordes of people showing up to gab about the cars (which he knows a LOT about) and take pictures, then go away without ever being serious about buying anything in the first place. He got his mass of cars gradually, the way it’s so easy to do – a parts car here, a restorable one there, until he finally got overwhelmed and realized he needed to clear the decks.
There are some of the cars appearing (I believe by the original lister) separately on craigslist for what I would call reasonable prices.