Replacing the TR5 and TR250, Triumph assembled the first TR6 models in late 1968, and they marked an improvement in power, ride, and reliability. The design was brilliantly updated by Karmann, and was defined by sharp, flat edges to the hood and trunk, an engaging new front-end design, and an inset rear panel which recalled the beautiful Triumph Fury prototype of 1964. A spirited yet affordable, pure yet practical sports car, and the marque’s most successful model to date, nearly 92,000 TR6s were built over a seven-year production run, with over 76,000 arriving on US shores.

The beautiful Java Green TR6 from 1976 presented here has led a particularly sheltered life, having been retained in a small collection of sports cars in Southern California from 2006 through 2021. This beautifully preserved TR6 showed just 12,150 miles at the time of cataloguing, and has benefited from recent mechanical attention, which included rebuilding the twin Stromberg carburetors, cleaning the fuel tank, flushing the brake system, and addressing minor electrical details. Featuring deeply dished steel wheels with redline tires, accessory Lucas driving lights, and its optional razor-edged factory hardtop, this highly original TR6 still presents much as it did when it was sold new in 1976, the model’s final year of production. “The shape of things to come,” the subsequent TR7 would bring the end of the dashing British roadster.

Among the most memorable and admired British sports cars of its era, a survivor-status TR6 is a hit at nearly any automotive gathering. This low-mileage example, one of the last thousand built, presents in its factory stock form and has a bright future ahead with its next caretaker.