Triumph TR6

Triumph TR6 at a glance

Why Triumph asked Karmann to reshape the TR5

The TR5 and its American twin, the carburettor TR250, were on sale for only about 15 months, with 2,947 TR5s and 8,484 TR250s built. Their Michelotti body went back to the TR4 of 1961, and the chassis traced its lineage to the TR2 of 1953. To refresh the car, Leyland signed a contract with Karmann of Osnabrück in 1967.

Karmann changed the wings, bonnet, boot lid, front and rear panels and the external trim, and the result could be readied for production in less than a year. The doors, windscreen and much of the inner body tub carried over, together with the chassis, engine and running gear. The new nose and tail are the most visible result. Triumph showed the car at Brussels on 14 January 1969 at GBP 1,334 (GBP 1,333 19s 1d), or GBP 1,380 with the hard top.

Chassis, gearbox and the Lucas injection

Underneath, the TR6 kept a body-on-frame layout with independent suspension at both ends, including aluminium semi-trailing arms at the rear. Steering was by rack and pinion, with disc brakes at the front and drums at the rear. The four-speed gearbox had synchromesh on all forward gears, and Laycock de Normanville overdrive was an option. The early A-type unit worked on second, third and top with a 22 percent reduction; the later J-type worked only on third and top, with 28 percent.

European cars used the Lucas mechanical petrol injection that Triumph had introduced on the TR5. It is a low-pressure system working at 110 psi, and the rev counter is red-lined at 5,750 rpm. Hagerty UK calls the system largely fit-and-forget, although vapour lock in hot weather can stop a car.

PI, CR and the American carburettor cars

Triumph used commission number prefixes to separate the versions. Injected home-market cars were CP until 1972 and CR afterwards, when lower compression cut power to 93 kW (125 bhp); Classics World gives the compression change as 8.5:1 to 7.75:1. A front spoiler arrived for 1973 too. American cars kept twin Stromberg carburettors and were coded CC, later CF. The injected version ended in 1975, so the last year of production went entirely to the US.

The split comes from the TR Register's TR6 registrar via Hagerty UK; it adds up to 91,849, one car short of the usual total. Power figures vary between sources. Wikipedia EN gives 112 kW (152 PS DIN) for the early injected engine, while Wikipedia DE quotes 105 kW (143 PS), and Wikipedia DE also lists a different total of 91,310 cars.

How Autocar, Motor and Motor Sport saw it

Autocar timed an early injected TR6 at 8.2 s from 0-97 km/h and recorded a top speed of 193 km/h (120 mph). Motor's 1969 test returned 188 km/h (117 mph) as a two-way average and 8.5 s to 60 mph, with 13.6 l/100 km (20.8 mpg) overall and about 10.1 l/100 km (28 mpg) when touring. Motor called it "probably the best value for money in open top terms".

Motor Sport ran a mimosa-yellow TR6, registered PGN769L, for a year and 11,300 miles and reported in November 1973. Clive Richardson listed many faults early on but said he came to love the car after 5,000 miles. In the US the TR6 faced a new Japanese six-cylinder from 1969, the Datsun 240Z, while in Britain the Austin-Healey 3000 had left the market in 1967 and the MGC lasted only until 1969.

Why the TR6 ended in 1976

The last carburettor cars were built in July 1976. The TR7, with its wedge-shaped monocoque and four-cylinder engine, had already taken over, so the TR6 closed nearly 25 years of Triumph sports cars on a separate chassis and was the last convertible of that kind from the company. The history of Triumph covers the marque from bicycles to the TR7, and the Triumph catalogue lists the other models.

Triumph TR6 today: what to check when buying

Start with the chassis. Practical Classics and Classics World point to rot just ahead of the rear wheels, where members meet between bracing plates, at the trailing arm mountings and in the T-shaped pressing over the axle. A chassis that sags in the middle shows itself through door gaps that open at the top. On the body, check the front wings around the headlamps, the base of each B-post where it meets the sill, door bottoms, sills, floor, the rear deck seams, rear arch lips and the spare-wheel well.

The straight-six can cover about 120,000 miles with regular oil changes. Check crankshaft end float by pushing and pulling the bottom pulley: excessive movement from worn thrust washers can scrap the engine if ignored. Layshaft bearings rumble in the intermediate gears, clutch release bearings may last only 12,000-20,000 miles in hard use, and differential mounts can fail and mimic driveshaft clunks. Injected cars that smoke black under load are running rich, and the Lucas pump can overheat; a Bosch replacement is a common fix.

Prices for the TR6 draw on the hammer results that britishclassiccars.co.uk collects from public auctions, with each GBP sum multiplied by about 1.15 to give euros at the autumn 2026 rate. In August 2026 the median TR6 sold for about EUR 15,900 (GBP 13,850), with typical results from EUR 11,900 to EUR 21,100. The same August 2026 page puts the best restored UK injected cars at about EUR 28,800-40,300 (GBP 25,000-35,000), while US carburettor cars dominate the records and set the median. Practical Classics adds that converted US cars sell for about 15 percent less than genuine right-hand-drive cars. More British roadsters of the era are listed in our classic cars section.