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Needs A Doctor: 1973 Triumph TR6

1973-triump-tr6

This 1973 Triumph TR6 was in regular use until 1993 when the owner moved and left it behind in Utah. They have since returned to the area and pulled their old car out, but it is now suffering from the effects of long-term storage. Rust has started to rear its ugly head and the engine has developed a bad cough. The owner doesn’t want to mess with fixing it so they have listed it here on craigslist for $1,500.

1973-triump-tr6-interior

The interior is rough and we don’t know where the passenger seat went, but a hardtop is in place so we are hopeful that minimal grime got inside. The upholstery is the least of our concerns though. You will want to take a peek under those mats to make sure they still have floors under them. We can spot rust in the rockers, so you will want to inspect everything to see what you are getting into.

1973-triump-tr6-engine

The seller hasn’t been able to get the inline-six going. They claim that it turns over and coughs, but won’t stay running. We would go through the fuel system first. Stale gasoline doesn’t burn well and it can wreck havoc on the tank. All that corrosion can clog the filter and pump making it impossible to start. Who knows, after a little housekeeping it may just fire right up. The engine was rebuilt and modified a bit before being parked so you might be pleasantly surprised. It needs work but we can think of worse ways to spend $1,500.

Comments

  1. Avatar hawk

    Well priced and looks like a great project. I would lose the battering ram bumpers though.

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  2. Avatar Robert J

    This looks like a great deal.

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  3. Avatar scot

    ~ $1500 plus transport leaves a whole of money to give it the attention it needs!

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  4. Avatar DanaPointJohn

    $500 max on this car.

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  5. Avatar Dolphin Member

    “The motor has been rebuilt once and I slightly increased the bore size at that time and modified the cam just a bit.”
    —————————————–
    That should be reassuring, but I’ve seen (and sometimes bought) too many cars that have been ‘rebuilt’, often with ‘improvements’, where the work was done badly. Ask for receipts, talk to the owner to see if he knows engines—-otherwise you’re rolling the dice.

    There are a lot of TR6s for sale out there that owners have spent time and money on that aren’t rusty, look great and run well. $1500 for one like this with lots of needs that you can see and maybe some you can’t vs. $5 to 7K for a very good driver, well, I know which deal I would go for.

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    • Avatar Robert J

      Good point.

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    • Avatar Horse Radish

      Sorry, but at that price the owner is cutting it lose and doesn’t want a knit picking , hold-my-hand kind of deal.
      First with the cash get’s it,(maybe a FEW questions allowed).
      Just my experience.
      Car looks like it’s decently priced, and with any car, you might want to know about the model, when you get into it.

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    • Avatar Dolphin Member

      Horse,
      Nobody’s going to be holding my hand…or sell me a POS engine job, even for cheap. Seen too many of ’em already, and they often cost more than the car to fix right.

      So what does “modified the cam just a bit” mean?
      He advanced it one tooth on the chain? …retarded it one tooth?…filed the lobes down with a double cut file? I don’t know, but I sure would want to know before parting with any $$.

      One thing is for sure: He didn’t put in an Isky full race cam kit, otherwise he would have known it, and said so.

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  6. Avatar Richard V

    Looks like ’74 bumpers. I owned a ’74 and did perform a few engine mods but I knew what I was doing. I loved that car but they are very prone to rust. Unfortunately I lost it in a divorce.

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  7. Avatar jim

    i see more then the asking price in parts, i think. the dash looks real good ( in the picture on CL ) and so does the top. yet another winter project that is to far away. but someone else might just make a driver out of it.

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  8. Avatar Richard V

    Also those sixes love to eat crankshaft thrust washers which, after spitting the remnants into the pan, begins to chew into the thrust surface of the block. Big expense there! Always check the crank end float before purchase. If excessive, pass!

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  9. Avatar Tedd

    Just looking at the car here, in the picture it looks like it doesnt have a passenger side seat.Also did this model come with 2 tops,a cloth one and removeable one?

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  10. Avatar ClassicCarfan

    I agree with general comments above. I like to restore and rebuild Triumphs for myself and would always prefer to start with a worn-out-but-untouched engine that one which has been “rebuilt” by unknown persons to an unknown standard. You have no idea what was done, how well and if something was done that may have caused more trouble than good.

    Also, as others have pointed out – TR6s are still fairly affordable cars in complete and good running order. It seems to me that down here (SC) you see plenty of decent usable clean TR6s around the $6-8K range. Not necessarily concours show cars or 100% original, but good driveable “oily rag” condition cars that you could use without sinking a lot more money into them. Unfortunately, as with many of these old cars the cost of restoring the featured car here to “good clean driver” condition may easily exceed the $7k you’d pay to get one already in that condition? Of course, assuming you can do most of the work yourself then restoring one can make more sense and the project is fun in itself.

    I’d also agree that for $1500 you can’t go too far wrong with this one. I see at least $1500 worth of savageable parts in this car. Not that I would encourage anyone to scrap a perfectly viable TR6 when it could be restored – but it is always a last resort for someone who takes it on and gets overwhelmed.

    I sometimes wonder where the prices of TR6s will go? They do seem like rather undervalued bargains at the moment. I feel that they will get dragged upwards sometime in the near future. It seems to me like good E-types have gone into the stratosphere, followed by the big Healeys, MGAs getting very expensive, and good early TR2 and 3s, TR4s getting more expensive, TR5 and TR250s have their own special rarity value – so will TR6s eventually take a significant hike too once the supply of “good ones” shrinks? I am tempted to try and pick one up while I still can !

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  11. Avatar twwokc

    Too many nice ones out there to mess with this one unless thats your thing.

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  12. Avatar Larry

    You can all say what you want but someone thought it was worth the $1500, ad was pulled by owner.

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