GRAN TURISMO

Once upon a time, the term GT designated a highperformance car with enough space and comfort-related features for famous personalities and wealthy elites to embark on a long trip. But since those Italianforged ‘gran turismo’ beginnings, just about every car company has used the GT name in one way or another – and not always wisely. For some it was a way of dressing up a humdrum saloon, while others have used it denote serious, stripped-out racing editions.

Back in the mid-1960s, however, MG and Triumph were amongst the early adopters in distilling the essence of those exotic prestige grand tourers and bringing it within reach. Thus, the MGB GT and Triumph GT6 were born, combining the pretty Italian styling you’d associate with much more expensive cars with the fairly modest underpinnings that you probably wouldn’t. It was little surprise that both cars soon gained nicknames – ‘poor man’s Aston Martin’ for the MG, and ‘poor man’s E-Type’ for the Triumph.