BF Exclusive: 1968 Triumph TR250

The TR was a generational evolution, starting with the 20TS, then the TR2 and working it’s way on to the TR8. While most of the names followed that simple convention, right between the TR5 and TR6 was the TR250. While it is just a TR5 minus the Lucas fuel injection, these are quite sought after. Reader Rick H found this TR250 late last year and has decided to list it here on Barn Finds as an exclusive! The car is located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with an asking of $12,000, but will consider all offers. You can email Rick here.

From Rick – Restoration project. This TR250 has been in the same family since 1970, owned by the son since 1989. 85,690 miles. All matching numbers. Engine/ transmission not rebuilt. Good compression. Starts with starting fluid. Original interior needs to be replaced. Some rust in frame and body. Has been sitting since about 2009. Rolls easily. Has been repainted once in the 80’s in original color, left off the stripe.

Mechanical work done in last 10 years – brakes, shocks, suspension, new painted wire wheels, new 28 08 produced Coker Classic Redline tires, new rear wire wheel adapters (original wire wheel car), clutch and brake master cylinder, alternator, gas tank – driven very little last 20 years.

It does have some typical Triumph rust. Body very solid, rockers, sills, bottoms of doors, bonnet, boot lid, fenders, dog legs – little to no rust (see pictures). Some fiberglass in driver’s floor pan and bottom of boot, and in the corners behind the battery tray. Rust and several holes along the inside of the rear fender seams.

Frame rust – driver’s side trailing arm box section has holes on the bottom in the two areas where the trailing arm attaches (see pictures). The frame pieces on each side from the T-shirt area to the rear bumper have holes just below the axles (see picture). Two good spare IRS frames are available if interested.

External body straight, no wrecks or repairs. Parking lot ding on right front and left rear (see pictures). Bumpers in good shape for rechroming. Many more photo’s available upon request.

You can view more photos here as well! Special thanks to Rick for giving us the opportunity to find a good home for his Triumph. If you have a barn find that needs a new home, please read more about listing it here!

Comments

  1. Avatar Howard A Member

    Aw, c’mon, this is clearly hitting below the belt. Jamie, help me out here, I’m not made of stone, you know. Just kidding, what a find. Rick, I urge you to reconsider. ( if possible) The 250 is even more sought after than the TR6 for me.( the Riley is just a pipe dream) The fact that there’s like 7 in the states, 8 including this one, pretty much puts the kabosh on a 250 for me, and this is worth every penny, further distancing me from a 250. ( I know, I had my chance 30 years ago when there were $1500 bucks) I thought the TR4 styling was so much nicer than any other Triumph. Again, hate to sound like a broken record ( that dates me) but, no mention of O/D. The “starts on ether”, sounds like a choke ( fuel enrichener) problem, you really shouldn’t start a gas motor on ether. ( although, I do too) This won’t be here long, I’m sure.

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    • Avatar Jamie Staff

      Howard, I’m going to work on finding an extra TR OD transmission for you…the J type will bolt into any TR if you use the late brackets and I can make an A type fit a late car as well… you don’t even have to change out the driveshaft like you do with a Spitfire. Electrical is easy as well 🙂 I’ll let you know when I find one!

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      • Avatar Howard A Member

        Thanks, but to be perfectly honest, I won’t make $12g’s on SS for the whole year, so I, reluctantly, will have to pass on this, the Holy Grail ( I feel) of modern British roadsters. Do you have a 250, Jamie?

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      • Avatar Jamie Staff

        I have had one in the past. I have two TR6’s and a TR6-based kit car now, as well as a Triumph 2000 Mk. 1 estate that I’m going to repower with a TR6 engine…

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  2. Avatar Wilhelm Brauer

    Had a chance to pick up a one owner TR250 about 23 years ago for $1800 in Bakersfield. It came with an extra engine and 4 speed trans as well. It had the original BRG paint and a small bump in the nose where it touched something, but could have been eased out. The wife wouldn’t have it because I already had my TR3 (still have…). The seller (my bro-in-law liquidating a friend’s estate) sold it to TriumphsOnly.com who flipped it for a quick profit. I still think about opportunities missed… It kills me.

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  3. Avatar Wilhelm Brauer

    The have brand new & improved Triumph frames out there. I wouldn’t bother restoring the frame on this one.

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  4. Avatar Dale

    I am curious….I had a 68 Triumph TR4A IRS…how rare is that model?

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    • Avatar Rick H Member

      Dale- just under 8,500 TR250s were produced. Wikipedia says there are fewer than 600 left in the world.

      About 21,000 of the 28,000 TR4As were IRS cars

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  5. Avatar Rick H Member

    No O/D on this one. Used ether once just to make sure it would start. Gas tank is “new” but has bad gas smell, so didn’t put any more in it. Figured carbs were gummed up too. I’d keep it but my stable is full.

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  6. Avatar JMB#7

    Looks like a great find. A bit of love & attention to the carburetors and that ether starting will no longer be needed. I really enjoyed my TR4A. What I find interesting is that the bottom of this one is not coated with engine oil like my TR4A was (I joke that they were self rust proofing). I hope that it finds a good home.

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  7. Avatar Rock On Member

    Well Howard, if you can’t afford the whole car, you can shine up that OD tranny real nice and sit it down on your coffee table. Great conversation piece!

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    • Avatar Howard A Member

      :) I know, I hate to always make a big deal out of overdrive, but as a trucker, we always wished we could go a little faster, and overdrive was the key. For non interstate driving, a non O/D is ok, like I say, I put over 100K miles on my MGB without one.

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  8. Avatar whippeteer

    The TR5 was not sold in the US. Emission issues with the fuel injection. But why TR250?

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    • Avatar Rick H Member

      whippeteer – don’t know if i’ve read this somewhere, but like other European car makers have done naming car models after engine size, the 250 could be simpy indicating the 2500 cc engine in a slightly obtuse way. if anybody knows a better answer, please provide it!

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    • Avatar Warren Westbo

      The 1968 TR5 featured a fuel-injected 6 cylinder engine. To meet US emission regulations, TR250 was a US only version, featured twin Stromberg carburetors. The TR5/250 mechanically a TR6, used the Michelotti designed TR4 body until the redesign by Karmann was ready for production. The TR6 was introduced in 1969.

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph_TR5

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  9. Avatar Chad

    What am I missing here – considering it will need to be frame off, drivetrain out, floorpan, frame, etc, these can be bought in the $30k range – 5 in hemmings right now …

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  10. Avatar Van

    The TR250 is my favorite. How hard or expensive is it to add fuel injection? Didn’t the home market TR6 have petrol injection also?

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    • Avatar Rick H Member

      I had a friend with the fuel injection set up – long ago my plan was to buy a TR250 and while restoring it, converting it into an O/D TR5 spec car with 150 HP. Unfortunately, my friend passed away, and so lost with him was the FI and his know how to get it done. If he had still been with us, he and I would have done that with this car. A bittersweet sale. The frame and rust repair work is beyond my capabilities, and as Chad says, if you have to pay to have it done, you can buy one that way already.

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  11. Avatar 57WayneT

    I bought two, both dark blue, from a junkyard in 1982, for $250, delivered. Only thing was they picked up the better one through the top and bent the bows and ruined the top. Ended up parting them out; still have the engine with original harness and hoses from the running one, though I’m not sure for what reason!

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  12. Avatar Joseph Block

    I had a TR6, we re ringed, berreled the pistons . (from my motorcycling racing days) 2 thousands, milled the head to 12.3 to 1, open the head to TR6 racing spec, and add a hot custom cam. It would scream from 3000-6500 rpm climbing, figures it was bumped to 180-200 hp fom the old stock 100hp. sweet ride after that.

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  13. Avatar JagManBill

    looks like we all had one or coulda had one. I had mine in the mid 80’s. Bought it for $500 with a possible blown clutch. Turned out, it was just the master cyl. Traded it for a 59 Mk1 Jag about 6 months later. Very cool little car.

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  14. Avatar stillrunners

    An old school buddy has one….he has the money….but the last time we talked he didn’t really think he get to it…..still working on him…..he was never really a car guy – but he knows what he has.

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  15. Avatar Bryan Cohn

    From memory the Lucas Injection on the TR5 wouldn’t whatever emission standards there were in California so SUs for America. Cali was a big market for the cars in that era so they had no choice.

    I know of one person who could make Lucas Injection work, Pops Wilson who installed it in son Denny’s TR6 race car and they ran CP and GTU a few times in 1977. I’ve never seen one since. Love, love TR250’s, you get the best of Micholetti styling, IRS and the hp/torque of the big 6. What is not to love? I do wonder about that 600 number though as it seems low….

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    • Avatar SarahW

      @Bryan – As the owner of a TR250, I know that they came stock with a pair of Stromberg carbs. While I still have the stock carbs, mine now has twin Webers installed instead. The TR4s came with SUs, while some of the TR4As came with Strombergs as an alternative, depending when the car was produced. My 66 TR4A came from the factory with SUs and still has them, although are now rebuilt and running just fine.

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    • Avatar Kevin Kelly

      Hi all- the Lucas injection can easily be tuned to pass emissions requirements, however, the TR5 has a much hotter camshaft and higher compression to make that 150hp (along with differences in the distributor, exhaust system and cyl. head). So the overall tune of the car is the problem, not the injection system. Why would Triumph add a costly and complex fuel system to a car (TR250) that had to be detuned in order to pass emissions standards and make only marginal power gains?

      Like 1
  16. Avatar Rick H Member

    Hi Everybody,
    Thanks BarnFinds and all of you for the great comments and all the contacts and offers. This has been a great first experience, and a great place to market and sell a car. I’ve currently accepted an offer, and if the money shows up in my account on Monday I’ll call it SOLD! Can’t beat that kind of action. If for some reason that falls through, I’ll start contacting those of you who have sent me emails in the order I received them. If anybody else wants to communicate about the car, please continue to email me – I love all the comments and questions from the little British car community.

    Like 0

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