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During Spring Break my daughter and
I drove 1050 miles down to San Francisco to look at and then purchase a 1973
Triumph GT6. This was the final year of the GT6 before production stopped
due to continued sales pressure from the Datsun 240Z. The GT6's are
quickly disappearing and I've now reached the point in my life where I figured
it is time to do the things I put off in my youth. Thirty one years ago
when I was 17 years old, I was driving down a quiet country road and a Mk3 GT6
pulled up fast behind me and then quickly overtook my '73 Mazda Rx3 Rotary (The
Rx3 has the power of a V-6). The exhaust note of the Triumph has always
haunted me, I feel it is the best sounding exhaust note of any production car
with the exception of Italian exotics.
This is the last year of the GT6, so
it has the least amount of horsepower (due to emission regulations) and the most
safety features. The big safety feature in the US version of the GT6 in
1973 is the addition of impact side bars in the doors (something not found in UK
models, although UK GT6 owners are importing used US spec doors to retrofit
their cars). The GT6 is basically a fastback Triumph Spitfire with a
straight 6 cylinder 2 Litre motor. Horsepower is a bit below 100HP and if
rust doesn't kill the car, then Spitfire owners buy them and remove the motor
and bulged hood to install on their Spitfire. Because the GT6 isn't a
convertible......it is overlooked by car collectors and it's resale value is
very low.
Click on
images below to see larger images
This is not an expensive car or the
fastest car or the best made car. The frame off restoration and original
purchase price will cost more than what the car is worth once restored, but that
is not the reason I bought it. I bought the car to restore and then attend
the many British car shows in my area and throughout the Pacific
Northwest. The car spent it's entire life in California, so it is very
rust free, but it is also seriously damaged by the oppressive California heat
and sun. By the looks of this 62,000 mile, 35 year old car, I suspect it
spent most of it's life sitting outside unused. The interior needs to be
fully gutted and replaced. The engine runs very well although the
transmission is very noisy and might be replaced by an overdrive equipped
transmission.
It does still have it's original
factory Magenta paint job and earlier photos show this paint job thoroughly
faded to a flat pinkish colour. The owner before me spent months
waxing the car to bring the paint back to life, but the paint job really is
tired and needs to be replaced. Most British cars in this colour were
repainted to another colour......so very few Magenta cars exist. I plan to
keep the car this colour as I find it looks pretty good on the GT6. I'm
only aware of 2 or 3 Magenta GT6's left in the world.......I suspect there might
be more, but I have not found proof of any......I've been told there were only
150 Magenta GT6's originally produced.
The wheels are interesting. It
seems American buyers had an interest in wire wheels on British sports car many
British cars sold new in the US had wire wheels up to the end of the
1970's. In Canada where I live, steel wheels were more common and wire
wheels were phased out on new cars in the late 1960's. This car has bolt
on wire wheels instead of the more classical wire wheels with the centre knock
off spinner. So fitting the more common steel wheels will be easy to
do. I plan to restore the wire wheels and possibly use them at car shows,
although I do prefer the look of the steel wheels and will probably fit a set of
them with beauty rings and centre caps for Sunday drives. The car has 2
very good points.....it is very original and almost totally rust free which are
the 2 most important things for me if looking for a car to restore. The
engine oil leaks on British cars also help to save them from rust.
The wood on the dash is badly
damaged in areas that can't be seen in the below photo and will also need to be
replaced. The carpet in the cargo area is factory original and you can see
in the photo below it is falling apart due to the California sun.
Click on
images below to see larger images
Restoring a GT6 is fairly easy
although it is overlooked by many restoration suppliers due to it's low numbers
and low value.....basically very few people are willing to restore a GT6, so
businesses don't put much effort into supplying restoration items for the
GT6. Because the GT6 shares many parts with the very common Spitfire,
parts are easy to find to restore a GT6.
My goal is to restore this car back
to factory specs and make it as original as possible with the exception of using
the higher quality modern paints and powder coating the frame for more
protection.
Steve
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