Well, I suppose you've heard it all before. Some old geezer on the verge of retirement decides to recapture his lost youth, which usually means one of two things. Either he's going to ditch his wife for some nubile, busty, gold-digging nymphette, or he's buying a classic car.
Now, I can't talk from experience, but I have a sneaky feeling that the latter option is probably the less expensive. Anyway, that's the one I chose. I started looking for an affordable classic, and was initially tempted by that British classic of classics, the Austin Healey 3000. Most of these ended up across the pond, and as such many escaped the ravages of British winters and the attendant rust issues. Unfortunately, anything half-decent is getting beyond affordable, and anything affordable is in need of a great deal more that a lick of paint and some TLC.
Then I looked at the 'poor-man's Healey', the MGA. Almost as beautiful, a lot more affordable but with one unfortunate drawback - I can't get in it. I tried at a dealer in LA, and sadly they weren't built for blokes who are 193cm tall (that's 6'4" in old money).
Then a friend of a friend in Dubai imported a TR6 - from Spain of all places. Apparently Spain was a good place to look. So, since I intended to use it in Spain, I started looking. And just before Christmas 2015, I found one on Ebay that sounded worth a punt. Now, most of the LHD TR6 models on the market are USA specification, which means carburettors. The full-fat, fuel injected version sold in UK and Europe had to be put on a severe diet to meet USA regulations, losing a significant amount of bhp in the process. So the European spec is the one to go for, but LHD versions are a bit thin on the ground. However - this one was an original European spec model with the original 150bhp fuel-injected engine. Result! And it was red, which is of course a proper colour for an old man's fancy.
So we made the 500km trek to Madrid to see the red TR6PI, and of course I fell in love with it. Alfredo, the vendor, is a TR6 enthusiast, and had two others in his garage. I suspect his wife had decided that three was too many, and the last one to arrive had to be shown the door before he became too emotionally attached to it. We did the deal, and he trailered it down to our place in Val de Galinera on boxing day. I had a TR6PI!
This particular vehicle was the only TR6 to be imported into Spain in 1972. It belonged to someone in Mallorca, as evidenced by the PM (Palma de Mallorca) prefix on the original registration, and it must have been someone pretty well-heeled. Back then, import controls in Franco's Spain were designed to prevent the masses from buying foreign cars. But this one came in, and it arrived from Belgium.
'From Belgium?' I hear you cry. 'Beer and mussels come from Belgium, but Triumphs?' Yes, dear reader, and Triumphs. Back in 1972, the UK was outside the Common Market, as the EC was then called. So to improve access to the Common Market through reduced import tariffs, British Leyland set up an assembly operation in Belgium. Standard Triumph in xxxxxx assembled from CKD kits some 3600 TR6's over the years, and enjoyed a stellar reputation for quality, unmatched by any other British Leyland operation. Most of these ended up in France, Germany and the Benelux countries. But since Spain was outside the Common Market, only a handful of TR6's were ever imported during that model's production years.
Being a PM registration meant she had to be called Pamela. She had all the top-of-the-range options, including Laycock overdrive on 2nd, 3rd and 4th gears, and the 72-spoke knock-off wire wheels. She'd had several owners over the years, and had been fairly well cared for. The body showed no obvious sign of rust, a big plus-point on a vehicle of this age, and had been resprayed at some point. A Kenlowe electric fan had been added, a common upgrade to address overheating, and the original Lucas fuel pump had been replaced by a Bosch unit - another common upgrade. However this latter 'improvement' had been done without a full understanding of the different characteristics of the two pumps, so I knew this needed to be addressed. But overall, she was in decent condition considering I wanted to use her as a reliable runner, rather than as a concours showpiece.
But of course, once you start to dig a little deeper, you find all the gremlins which lurk in any 40+ year old car. All the plastic and rubber parts which have passed their sell-by date, and all the electrical additions which have been bodged into the circuit over the years. That, however was part of the fun of owning Pamela. It was to be my Retirement Project!
Now, I can't talk from experience, but I have a sneaky feeling that the latter option is probably the less expensive. Anyway, that's the one I chose. I started looking for an affordable classic, and was initially tempted by that British classic of classics, the Austin Healey 3000. Most of these ended up across the pond, and as such many escaped the ravages of British winters and the attendant rust issues. Unfortunately, anything half-decent is getting beyond affordable, and anything affordable is in need of a great deal more that a lick of paint and some TLC.
Then I looked at the 'poor-man's Healey', the MGA. Almost as beautiful, a lot more affordable but with one unfortunate drawback - I can't get in it. I tried at a dealer in LA, and sadly they weren't built for blokes who are 193cm tall (that's 6'4" in old money).
Then a friend of a friend in Dubai imported a TR6 - from Spain of all places. Apparently Spain was a good place to look. So, since I intended to use it in Spain, I started looking. And just before Christmas 2015, I found one on Ebay that sounded worth a punt. Now, most of the LHD TR6 models on the market are USA specification, which means carburettors. The full-fat, fuel injected version sold in UK and Europe had to be put on a severe diet to meet USA regulations, losing a significant amount of bhp in the process. So the European spec is the one to go for, but LHD versions are a bit thin on the ground. However - this one was an original European spec model with the original 150bhp fuel-injected engine. Result! And it was red, which is of course a proper colour for an old man's fancy.
So we made the 500km trek to Madrid to see the red TR6PI, and of course I fell in love with it. Alfredo, the vendor, is a TR6 enthusiast, and had two others in his garage. I suspect his wife had decided that three was too many, and the last one to arrive had to be shown the door before he became too emotionally attached to it. We did the deal, and he trailered it down to our place in Val de Galinera on boxing day. I had a TR6PI!
This particular vehicle was the only TR6 to be imported into Spain in 1972. It belonged to someone in Mallorca, as evidenced by the PM (Palma de Mallorca) prefix on the original registration, and it must have been someone pretty well-heeled. Back then, import controls in Franco's Spain were designed to prevent the masses from buying foreign cars. But this one came in, and it arrived from Belgium.
'From Belgium?' I hear you cry. 'Beer and mussels come from Belgium, but Triumphs?' Yes, dear reader, and Triumphs. Back in 1972, the UK was outside the Common Market, as the EC was then called. So to improve access to the Common Market through reduced import tariffs, British Leyland set up an assembly operation in Belgium. Standard Triumph in xxxxxx assembled from CKD kits some 3600 TR6's over the years, and enjoyed a stellar reputation for quality, unmatched by any other British Leyland operation. Most of these ended up in France, Germany and the Benelux countries. But since Spain was outside the Common Market, only a handful of TR6's were ever imported during that model's production years.
Being a PM registration meant she had to be called Pamela. She had all the top-of-the-range options, including Laycock overdrive on 2nd, 3rd and 4th gears, and the 72-spoke knock-off wire wheels. She'd had several owners over the years, and had been fairly well cared for. The body showed no obvious sign of rust, a big plus-point on a vehicle of this age, and had been resprayed at some point. A Kenlowe electric fan had been added, a common upgrade to address overheating, and the original Lucas fuel pump had been replaced by a Bosch unit - another common upgrade. However this latter 'improvement' had been done without a full understanding of the different characteristics of the two pumps, so I knew this needed to be addressed. But overall, she was in decent condition considering I wanted to use her as a reliable runner, rather than as a concours showpiece.
But of course, once you start to dig a little deeper, you find all the gremlins which lurk in any 40+ year old car. All the plastic and rubber parts which have passed their sell-by date, and all the electrical additions which have been bodged into the circuit over the years. That, however was part of the fun of owning Pamela. It was to be my Retirement Project!
