Triumph TR6 - Devil May Care

Along with worn out 1960's Chevrolets, Buicks, Fords and Plymouths that adorned the lower middle class block I grew up on was, of all things, a Triumph TR6 of the same vintage as this stunning red head. Based on the massive battering rams fore and aft, this is a 1974-1976 TR6. I found it in the parking lot of the cheap ass dump of gym I frequent on Cleveland's west side. The owner obviously spending their money on things like this rolling money pit rather than on a membership at a more chic health club.

Triumph was a British manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles. After World War II, the oft financially maligned company began producing a series of fascinatingly designed sports cars they dubbed, "TR". The TR6 we have here was part of the most successful run, at least in terms of number sold, of the "TR's" most of which where exported to the United States. Today, these little cars are quite valuable and this plum cherry would no doubt command an asking price of nearly $30,000 if it were for sale. It's not for sale far as I can tell.

Most Triumph TR cognoscenti are drawn towards the subjectively more handsome 1967-1968 TR6's with their rounded, "bug eye" headlights inboard of the fenders that protrude visually from the hood. Those TR's, incidentally, all but identical to the TR5 save for a six cylinder engine. Since my childhood bike rides almost always included my skimming by the house that had a TR6 of this vintage in front of it, I'm drawn to them exclusively. The days that the car was parked out front with the top and windows down were particularly delightful. Even with the top and windows up these cars cut a handsome profile. Many came with a removal hard top.

Most people find two passenger sports cars like this alluring and compelling but it's the rare breed that actually owns one. They're certainly not ideal daily drivers although the person who drove the Triumph in my neighborhood used theirs as their primary ride. Then again, growing up in extremely over developed south Nassau County, you needn't travel far for employment or essentials. Even in the 1970's, if you didn't commute to the city, most people had a short jaunt to work so time spent in painful restraint in one of these was blissfully truncated. Same for getting sundries and what not. Back then, sports cars like this rewarded drivers with a uniquely brisk driving experience that they couldn't get from ordinary automobiles like they can today. A sporting driving experience from an automobile that also made a powerful fashion statement. I've never been into fashion or what's popular; I just like the car.

Owning one of these beauties takes an extra special person if for no other reason they're notoriously unreliable. Parts and service are astonishingly expensive so I hope they have a full set of metric tools to go along with their driving gloves and scarf. This car and its owner screams, "The Devil May Care!"  what people think and they really mean it. That is until the brakes fail and they crash into the rear of a big Dodge demolishing the thing and nearly killing themselves. Demolishing the car, nearly killing themselves and leaving nary a scratch on the Dodge. Still, I wish I had a smidgen of the savoir faire owners of these cars have.

 

I don't care to meet the person who owns this car just like I never met the person who owned that TR6 in my neighborhood when I was a kid. There's no way the swash buckling debutante of a person that I envision them to be and wish I could be could live up to that auspice. How could they with my knowing that they lived in my god forsaken neighborhood growing up and attend the shit hole gym I go to now. Perhaps, they could...but...it's doubtful. As are many of the best things in life, who they are and who I want them to be are best left to my imagination.