Earlier this week, we looked at broad swathes of the market as measured through our 11 collector car indexes. One of those swathes was the classic British car market, made up of vintage favorites from Jaguar, Austin-Healey, MG, and Triumph. For those mainstream British classics, the market in recent years has been sleepy at best. In fact, Hagerty’s British Car Index is down 6% from where it was just a year ago. Nobody told TR6 shoppers this week, however, because this blue ’74 model sold online for $63,130.
That’s more than 12 grand over the car’s condition #1 (concours, or best in the world) value in our price guide, and the sixth highest price ever paid for a TR6 at auction. That doesn’t mean old Triumph roadsters are the next hot thing, though, as this TR was exceptional.
Introduced in late 1968 and built until 1976, the TR6 was one of those cars that marked the end of an era. With its body-on-frame construction, narrow cockpit, wood dash, minimal weather protection, and bellowing straight-six engine, it was the last of the traditional English roadsters that had enchanted so many Americans just a generation earlier. Buyer tastes and expectations changed in the ’70s, and the British sports car industry collapsed just a few years after the TR6 ceased production. Ironically, its replacement—the more modern, wedge-y TR7—was beset with problems from the start and has a much smaller following today than its more old-fashioned ancestor enjoys.
Triumph sold nearly 92,000 TR6s. Most of them went to the United States. It’s been nearly 50 years since the last ones arrived, and they’ve been part of the classic car hobby for a long time, so all types of examples are out there, from scruffy projects to perfectly preserved originals, from concours queens to customs. The TR sold this week falls somewhere in between those last two. A 1974 model, it has had an over-the-top restoration and been fitted with nearly every imaginable upgrade.
As one of the later, ’74 TR6s, it would have been fitted new with the fatter bumpers festooned with rubber overriders. Those appendages have been removed. The remaining list of changes, most of which are tasteful, is huge: The stock Zenith-Stromberg carbs for its 2.5-liter straight-six were ditched in favor of fuel injection (the European market TR6s were also injected), and it retains the standard four-speed gearbox with desirable optional overdrive. The engine also has a MicroSquirt ECU, MSD ignition, performance header, dual exhaust, an upgraded wiring harness, and an aluminum radiator with stainless steel coolant lines. And that’s just the major stuff under the hood. There were also upgrades to the axle hub, suspension bushings, and brakes (Wilwood discs front and rear), as well as new Minilite wheels and red line tires. The interior has custom upholstered and heated Miata seats, a roll bar, SportComp gauges, and a RetroSound stereo.
A body-off restoration wrapped up in 2015, with lots of more recent work conducted, too. While there aren’t any bills attached to the listing, the seller clearly put more into this car than even its exorbitant sale price. The blue headlights are silly, but for someone looking for a TR6 in excellent condition that’s been carefully upgraded to make it faster and more usable, this is pretty much the perfect car.
TR6 values did see some growth during the boom of the early 2020s, and their #2 (excellent) value peaked in 2023. Then they quickly dropped and haven’t done much since, though they’re still slightly ahead of where they were pre-2020, even when adjusted for inflation. TR6 prices have generally been stronger than those of many other mainstream British roadsters, but they nevertheless face an uncertain future, as the typical buyer is much older. About 71% of Hagerty insurance quotes for TR6s come from baby boomers or older, even though this cohort makes up just 35% of the market as a whole.
That said, we see time and again that no matter what the market is doing or how a specific make or model might be struggling, an exceptional example of something can always find a buyer willing to pay up for it. That’s exactly what happened here.
Just an example on how auction prices are not always the bedt guide.
Great looking car though.
Other than the blue headlights it looks nicely upgraded and maintained.