This 1973 Triumph TR6 has just hit the market in Cincinnati, Ohio, priced at $16,000 or best offer. The seller posted it here on Facebook Marketplace today, and for fans of classic British roadsters, this one looks worth a quick call. We appreciate Pnuts for sending us the listing. The seller says the car runs and drives great with no rust, and that a previous owner had a reputable British car specialist do considerable work. The current seller recently replaced the fuel tank and cleaned out the hard lines, and he discloses a slight drip from the clutch slave cylinder rather than glossing over it. He’s parting with the car simply because he has two toddlers at home, which leaves little time for weekend drives.
The photos back up the clean-and-honest description: deep burgundy paint with no visible rust or filler, chrome bumpers with the black rubber overriders standard on US-market TR6s, a folded black soft top, and factory-style alloy wheels rather than wire wheels. The tan vinyl bucket seats and wood-trimmed dash show light, honest wear, and the Smiths speedometer in one of the photos reads 63,351 miles, essentially matching the 63,354 the seller quotes. A look under the hood shows the dual round air cleaners of a pair of Zenith-Stromberg carburetors rather than a fuel-injection setup, confirming this is a correctly configured US-spec car rather than something re-imported from Europe. Triumph built more than 94,000 TR6s over its run, and the substantial majority, north of 86,000 cars, were exported to North America rather than sold at home in Britain. Every US-market TR6, this one included, came with a carbureted 2.5-liter inline-six fed by twin Zenith-Stromberg carburetors, rated at roughly 106 horsepower to meet American emissions requirements. Buyers in the UK and Europe got a very different engine in the same body, a Lucas mechanical fuel-injected version of that same six good for as much as 150 horsepower, though a milder camshaft brought that down to around 125 horsepower on later 1973 cars. That fuel-injected engine was never federalized for US sale, so American TR6 shoppers always got the carbureted version regardless of trim.
Triumph built the TR6 from 1968 to 1976 as a stopgap, and a swan song rolled into one. Needing a new body for the aging TR4/TR5 platform but lacking the budget for a full redesign, Triumph handed the job to Germany’s Karmann, who reskinned the existing chassis and running gear with a squared-off, more aggressive shape. The result kept the traditional front-engine, rear-drive, body-on-frame sports car formula alive for one more generation before Triumph moved on to the wedge-shaped TR7. For American buyers especially, the TR6 became the default image of the affordable British sports car through the first half of the 1970s.
Triumph’s early-1970s color chart for the TR6 included several maroon and red shades, among them Damson and Carmine, and this car’s deep burgundy looks great. The tan vinyl interior shown in the photos was also a genuine factory-correct pairing for the era. Disclosed flaws and all, a clean, honestly described, correctly specified TR6 like this one is exactly the kind of car that tends to sell quickly, especially at this price.
Not sure I’d call it a bargain,but nowadays it could be
considered a fair price.
Only 1974 to 1976 TR6s had the large rubber overriders,
& if I remember correctly,only had 105 horsepower,with a lot
of torque.
I had a ’74-1/2 & took off the front overriders that were
easily unbolted.The rears were a little more involved,so I left
them on.
Hre’s the TR6 that I owned.
Screaming Yellow Zonkers!
Nice one, angliagt.
$16,000 asking price they are going to have that $5,000 a long time
From what I can see and read, this TR6 is a great looking car. I’d probably talk a little turkey on the price though. I have the feeling the seller would too.
I remember reading an article on these in Car Craft or Hot Rod magazine back in the day. It said,” the engines in these were more suitable for a tractor”. I always thought they looked good though.
A smooth, nice sounding tractor…
Interesting take. Through the years I’ve had several of these that customers owned I’ve serviced and I have made that comment more than once when they’re sitting there in the shop idling or when you rev them up. “Sounds like a tractor.”
Never really used a clutch on a tractor except starting and stopping.
TR would start in second and idle like cruise control, in a boulevard traffic joy jam.
Tractor like torque for the win.
I have the twin to this car (which I will not part with) and this one appears to be unmolested…the seller even kept the originality utilizing the green cooling system hoses. Unsure what is going on with the rear end as it is WAY too high–almost as if it was sitting on jack stands. If one wants the analog experience, the TR6 is hard to beat!
Having set a couple of 6s up for autocrossing I can tell you that any fast curve driving will not end well in this car.
That’s where the Spitfire and GT6 excel, in my opinion. Have those in my collection as well and as strange as this may seem, the Spitfire is probably the favorite one to drive.
Agree on the odd rear stance on this car… something is off there.
I didn’t notice the jacked up rear end until I read your comment and I agree, that’s too high. I will say though that I am not a fan of saggy bottom cars so I’d be inclined to split the difference between this and the stock stance. I think that would look great.
Noticed the tire gap in the rear also. It might just be the slope of the driveway, but hard to tell from the pictures.
“the blokiest bloke’s car ever built”
– James May.
I’ve always liked these. And they’re still a bucket list item.
I been in them and driven them that belonged to friends, and they are amazing cars to drive.
I also remember a few guys building these inline 6’s and outrun Porsches with no trouble. So they can be nice little hot rods as well. This one looks amazing. The asking is high though. GLWTS