Our GT6 rolled off the production line on 31st August 1973, very near to the end of the model’s run. It was first registered in October, so it only took six weeks to sell even though it was being discontinued – I know that some GT6s hung around and weren’t registered until 1974. As effectively a runout model, Triumph were throwing extras at it – things like the overdrive, tinted glass and head rests would normally have been optional extras, but I think this car just came with them to help clear stock and get the cars out of the door.
I bought it in 1986, so when it was 13 years old. I was driving an MG Metro at the time, which I got because the Herald I’d restored was concours and too good to use in the winter. The Metro was a nice car, but I’d got a job in London and it used to sit on my parents’ drive five days a week. (The Herald used to sit in their garage over the winter – lucky mum and dad!) Anyway, I thought it was a bit silly to have a car that I used so rarely, especially as dad said that if I sold the Metro, I could share his car when I was home at weekends.
So that’s what we did, but the arrangement only lasted about a month before both of us decided it was not really working –you were 21 they would at least talk to you about insuring a sports car.
