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Triumph TR6 - Small glimmer of hope for mankind

Did anyone out there read Nuts&Bolts in Classic Motorsports this month? Tim SToddard writes that he was talking to the head of BMW North America and that he seems interested in placing the Triumph name on a car built on the Z4 platform. Sounds far superior to the Mazda and much less expensive that the Z4. Almost too good an idea to believe. Great Editorial. It's in the Sept. 2005, Classic Motorsports. Maybe there is hope for mankind after all.
Joel

A BMW with a Triumph badge! well they have RR, Bently , Mini and there was me thinking we had won the last war!!!!
Clive P

Joel-Sorry to disagree, but I think it is better to let some things die with dignity. To me, Triumphs and other British cars of the same era, were a place in time in addition to being a machine. A new Triumph would certainly be superior to the TR6 in performance, comfort, and reliability. But it would also lose the characteristics of simplicity and "repairability" that define a Triumph-might as well rebadge a Miata/BMW/Honda, etc. At the risk of being a negative old fart (61), I have noticed that driving is not as fun as it used to be,thanks to the price of gas, crowded roads, and a "road warrior" mentality of many drivers. I will now yield the soap box.
Berry Price
BTP Price

I guess I'd have to see the car first. With fairly common examples of Austin Healeys going for almost new car prices, it seems a 3000 remake with none of the bad habits might be a real hot seller. A TR6 remake might be good, too. There's a lot of interest in retro right now, and at least one cool looking PT cruiser type/size rig made by GM (Heritage High Top?). The Thunderbird looks good. I like the Mini. I think the (not so new now) Beetle is wierd, but still sells. I'd like an S2000 Honda, couldn't be cleaner in my opinion.

Saw a Lotus Elise the other day, I think I could be talked into one as a gift..

I think they'd have a hard time improving on the TR6's design. But there are some good stylists out there, if they put their minds to it, they could make a beauty. And BMW has some nice inline 6's to power it.
Tom

I agree fully with you Berry.

Coming out with a new Triumph would be like make a new version of an old movie...it is just not the same.

We in Ontario just got our first taste of high fuel prices (not to say it was not already high). We are now at $1.04 for Regular gas PER LITER...so you guys down south just multiply by 4 and you see what I am talking about.
Rick C
Rick Crawford

Berry, I heard a kid ask his mum one day; What kind of car is that mum. She told him it was an old Miata. They were looking at a 68 MGB. My point is that just because a 2005 Ford is not a 1957 T-Bird, it doesn't mean they shouldn't make Fords anymore. It's a matter of how it's done. Maybe because the 2006 Impala isn't a '57 Belair(my favorite) that Chevy should curl up and die. There's no reason we can't still have stylish, tough, fun British cars. IMHO.
Joel

I'd have no problem reviving the Triumph name, just don't do what the Big Three did.
Remember the 60's Nova and what they called a Nova in the 80s? As long as they let the model name die with dignity, I'm good with it. Start with TR9 and go from there. A revival of the name may stir up more of an interest in the older models and help our cause.

My 2 cents (2.87 Canadian)

Don from Jersey
Don from Jersey

Don,
Only you...or Steve would do the conversion:) Just returned from lunch behind a BMW Z-8. Now there's a stylish roadster!
db
Doug Baker

I was thinking about the same thing last nignt. I always thought the TR6 was prety modern looking for a LBJ but would be prety cramped to put airbags in. What to call it? If it were a retro TR6 then it would be ok to call it a TR6 like they do on the new Mini Coper S. If it were a different design then it would have to be a TR9. Of course I always like the idea of a Spitfire MK6 with a BMW 6 cylinder. That body would be easier to modernize. Scale it up to TR6 size.
skikir

Okay Doug,
you said " behind a Z8", does that mean you got to drive it or were you following it ? If you got to drive
it lets hear all about it. The Z8 is my dream car,
the Angelina Jolie of the road.
As for a new Triumph, well they own the name so if they think it will sell they will build it.
I doubt I would line up to buy one.
But if you ask anyone who drives a bug, a mini,
a 57 T-bird or an old mustang which version,
the old or the new one turns the most heads they will tell you.
Chris
Christopher T.

Chris,
I was in my Jeep Cherokee!! The Z-8 was in front of me...then a long ways in front of me, once we hit the freeway:)
db
Doug Baker

Joel I feel you are missing my point, I an not comparing new Ford to old, or New Chevys to old Chevys, What we are looking at is BMW (Germany) cashing in on an old treasured name long gone, and I agree with you that there is no reason that we cant have stylish, tough, fun british sportscars Providing they are just that! Clive
Clive P

Clive; we can but hope and keep repeating these words to ourselves; "Morgan aero 8, Morgan aero 8, Morgan aero 8.
Joel

Joel I have fond memories of my old TVR back home, Sadly the company was purchaced just recently by a Russian teenager! I think the only truly British manutacturer these days is Reliant and as you mentioned Morgan, Long gone are the days of Healey,MG,Jensen,Lotus,etc
Clive P

Clive
Yes long gone are the days of your mentioned legends. TRiumph is also part of that legend.
The world is a better off place because of us guys keeping them alive.
Chris, you hit the nail on the head on your last statement. I highly doubt though, we will ever see a TR9.
Rick C
Rick Crawford

Joel-Even if Triumph had stayed in business and the current TR had evolved into a Miata/Honda type of modern roadster, many of us dinosaurs who jumped off the automotive train in the TR6 era would not be lining up to purchase one. The retro/repro bandwagon that has produced the PT Cruiser, T bird, and even the BMW mini have not captured the personna of the originals. Better cars, but not the same. Modern manufacturing techniques,safety, and comfort considerations have made it impossible. The quality control and sophistication of todays vehicles have made them almost maintainance free, but have also produced cars that are perfect enough to be boring appliances. Perhaps some future generation will look back at todays cars as classics and will fondly remember these times as the "good old days".
Ironically, you mentioned GM&Ford "curling up and dying". That is very possible. If you will excuse me, I am late for a meeting of the Flat Earth Society.
Berry Price
BTP Price

Hey guys..went to my local TR club a couple of weeks ago and someone there heard that rumour. That person knows someone at BMW so he contacted him about it and he confirmed that nothing is going on with the Triumph name on any car. Like BTP said, at our meeting we all concluded none of us would go out buying a new one which I think they realize. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what I heard.
MB Mike

Who will spend 25 to 30k for a retro TR6, when you can get a real one for much less? not me.
Paddy
Paddy Kan

At the risk of sacrilege, I am not so dismissive of a new "Triumph." If a car was made that was strictly in retro-mode or made into some sort of big money rocket, I would not be interested. On the other hand, if the spirit of the earlier iteration was maintained I would think they were at least worth a look. Build a nice modern, well balanced sports car at a reasonable price with a decent support network and there will be a market. Not necessarily a big seller, but a market all the same. Given the level of cars these days, it would not be too difficult to go to the parts bin (just as BMC and Standard did) and to come up with a sports car that shares a huge percentage of its bits with a company's other cars to help keep cost down.

Besides, when I am truly in retro-grouch mode I can always take out one of the toys built using the very latest of 1950's and 60's technology......
SteveP

That's exactly my point Steve. There's not one of us olde retro-nuts that wouldn't jump at a Morgan Aero 8 if given the chance. Technologically totally different but in spirit and soul, identical to the 72's. Another point, how about if it was built and designed in the UK? How about all those jobs? What a dreamer, eh?
Joel

Hi Folks,
Firstly, for a 40 year old I have been lucky to have owned a few classics. I feel reviving the name and even the model in question would only extend the life of what we all praise. Unless a few of you enjoy the obscurity of the car more then the car it self. Kind of liking that underground band purely because they do not seem so commercialized. I have no problem letting Gen X know what was involved in our past. If it gets them into "Googl-ing" TR6, so be it.

I have owned a 1935 Chev (new GM is not to be compared)
I have owned a 1948 Ford (new Ford not to be compared)
They may carry the same name but must be treated as a different child in your extended family.

On the flip side if they decide to "PT" cruiser the idea (I hope I do not offend any owners) with a crappy engine, lame performance and killing the entire roadster agenda, then leave it in the history books.

If this was Ford or one of the other big three I would worry. I drive a 740 BMW I do not see these folks doing anything half ass, so lets wake up this gem.
Marcello

Joel/Rick:

I went on a Sunday run with a bunch of sports cars including a couple of Miatas. The Miata guys kept raving about their rides and admittedly their cars are superior performance-wise but none of them can work on their cars - too complicated, although they do argue that they don't break anyway. Where's the fun in that?. However, it was the TR6's that got all the looks, hoots and hollers in the small towns we passed through. I don't think I'd want a BMW-version TR6. Our cars are unique and I like it that way. BTW - gas is now $1.15 per liter in Newfoundland for Regular and I didn't even look at the Supreme price. That's 4.5 liters to a gallon guys and I was in South Carolina last week listening to a bunch of guys complaining about $2.50 per gallon. Even at 1/2 liter less per gallon that's still a pretty good deal. We can thank that SOB Trudeau for our exorbitant gas prices. He fixed prices like he "fixed" a lot of things. That's his legacy along with the wacky metric system. Oops, that's a rant!

Cheers,
Bob
'76-6
Bob Evans

Whats the word on the new Triumph retro bikes.
I'm looking at a 1969 TR6 bike at the moment. Needs some TLC.
Bryn

Bob, come on Bob you can't blame old (dead)Pierre Eliot
for what we're paying now for gas. Katrina had not even stoped blowing before the big multi national oil companys were boosting the price by 20 cents per litre.
That is called profiteering in my book. Weather the
Liberals, Conservatives or Reds are in power there will never be a reconing because they all benifit from higher gas prices. Sorry, rant rant rant.
Time to put a disel in the TR.
Chris
Christopher T.

If they "Aero 8" the TR6 design, it'd never sell. I think that's the ugliest updated car I've ever seen!
Tom

Bryn
"I'm looking at a 1969 TR6 bike at the moment. Needs some TLC."
could you please 'splain to me what a 1969 TR6 bike looks like?

Bob E; could not have said it better myself...very good. The worst thing PET (Pierre Eliot Trudeau)
did for us was the metric system. I have always (as I compare gas prices) multiply what I see at the pump buy 4.5 then I know what I am REALLY paying.
It never ceases to amaze me how eager the big oil companies are to post their last quarter earnings (profits).

Just a question...if Canada blew up tomorrow do you think gas prices would go up in Louisiana?

This increase in gas prices up here in Canada is a 100% gouge! How does gas go up $0.10/leater ( 45 cents a gallon!!!)
Rick Crawford

OOPS, sorry some how hit submit. That should be leter
Rick Crawford

This thread was discussed between 22/08/2005 and 02/09/2005

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