Triumph GT6..

They called it the ‘poor man’s E-Type’. By the time it made it to Mk III version, it was one of the best looking cars to ever roll out of the Canley plant.Why didn’t it sell very well?

Maybe because:

• It was developed from the Spitfire which in turn grew out from the Herald. Do I hear ‘Girl’s cars’? It was actually a Vitesse chassis and engine with Spitfire panel bolted to it
• It was always overshadowed by it’s ‘TR’ cousins, a problem that the better selling MGB GT never had, because the B didn’t have any illustrious cousins.

OK, so rear three quarter vision was not particularly good, but look at it. Can you tell that the car was a bit nose heavy because the straight 6 engine weighed more that the Spitfire inline 4’s did? Not with uprated front springs, you can’t..

In 1972, the year before Triumph dropped the GT6, 112 mph and a 0 – 60 in 10 seconds wasn’t bad and comfortably better than  ‘B’ GT could manage.

In the end, safety laws and emissions limits killed it off. Where the MGB was adapted and was the worse off for the changes, Triumph let the GT6 go. Personally, I am glad that Triumph dropped it. To overburden this beautiful little car with rubber noses, jack it up to get the headlight height to conform, and add weight to get the safety features incorporated would have killed it off anyway.

As it is, one can still find the GT6 in various states of restoration, and it still looks every bit as good as ever it did.