1959 Triumph TR3A

The TR3 succeeded the TR2 in late 1955 as Triumph's flagship sports roadster. In late '57 several new features were added and the resulting car is called the TR3A (although the badges still just say TR3).

The features included such luxuries as exterior door handles, a locking latch on the trunk, as well as a wider grille which makes it distinguishable from earlier models at a distance.

Under the hood of this Litchfield Green example would be an undersquare 121.5 cubic inch pushrod inline four breathing through a brace of SU carbs. With a compression ratio of 8.5:1, the output was a claimed 100 horsepower, which was quite adequate for a 2200-pound car.

You can see how tiny this thing is relative to the parking space. It's about the same length and height as an original Miata, but almost an entire foot narrower.

It's a dictionary-definition real roadster, too. My BMW Z3 may claim to be a roadster... it actually says as much on the scuff plates in the door sills ...but it has a built-in folding top, which makes it a convertible by definition and the scuff plates stolen valor.

The TR3, on the other hand, is a true roadster: an open car with only rudimentary weather protection. Namely, it has a sort of pup-tent apparatus of bows and sheeting that can be erected and snapped down in order to, notionally at least, divide the world into the part where it's raining and the part where it's raining a little less...provided you don't drive too fast and have the whole thing blow off the car.

The driver of this one made it out of Fresh Market and motored off just in time to not wind up wishing he hadn't left the top at home. Well, it might be stowed in the boot, I suppose.

Ah, the towel in the passenger seat! A standard roadster accessory, usually slightly redolent of mildew. It serves a variety of uses, from drying off the driver's seat after an unexpected sprinkling, to emergency backup windshield defogger, to privacy screen for stuff you leave in the passenger footwell while running into the store.

When Motor Trend tested a TR3 in 1957, it returned a 9.2 second zero-to-sixty time and managed a 16.9 quarter at 82mph, while returning a test average 23.1 miles per gallon. Price as tested was $2,625, or a bit over $31,100 in inflation-adjusted dollars.

The top and bottom photos were taken with a Canon EOS R and an RF 24-105mm f/4L IS zoom lens in May of 2026 while the middle two were snapped with a Nikon D800 and a 24-105mm f/4 VR zoom lens in July of 2022.

1972 Triumph TR6

Another Triumph TR6, predating the gnarly bumper overriders. That and the Saffron color would seem to indicate a 1971 or 1972 model.

This one was photographed with a Canon EOS R5 and a 24-240mm f/3.5-6.3 IS zoom lens in June of 2026. 

1971 Triumph TR6

The lack of grotesque rubber bumper warts and Signal Red paint job mark this Triumph TR6 as an earlier car, unlike the later one we've previously seen on these pages.

Other than the Spitfire, the TR6 is the Triumph you're most likely to spot here in the Unites States, since over 83,000 of the roughly 92,000 built were shipped over here.

This one was photographed in September of 2022 using a Canon EOS-1D Mark IV and my trusty EF 24-105mm f/4L IS zoom lens.

1981 Triumph TR8

In 1975 the TR6, a classically styled British roadster, was joined by (and eventually replaced with) the TR7, featuring wedge-shaped styling that was very modern and up-to-date for the Seventies. What was also up-to-date for the Seventies was the lump under the hood: a 2.0L SOHC inline four with a pair of SU carbs that wheezed out 92 horsepower in EPA-compliant trim. It was very Malaise Era.

For the 1980 model year, though, it received that classic automotive heart transplant: a V-8 swap.

Buick's 215 cubic inch all-aluminum V-8 had been designed to power their first compacts in the early Sixties (and was also used in the original Olds and Pontiac compacts) but it had been expensive to produce and was dropped after 1963. The design was purchased by Rover in 1965 and had shown up in MGs and Rovers since and eventually it found its way into Triumph's wedge.

While a few hundred hardtops (or "fixed-head coupes" in Brit-speak) were produced, nearly all TR8s were convertibles like the tatty Pendelican White one in the photos. While 1980 imports in the US mostly were carbureted cars making 133 SAE net horsepower, California cars... and all 1981 models ...got Bosch-Lucas L-Jetronic fuel injection and made 148 ponies, a respectable total at the time for a 2,620-pound roadster.

Other than decals, the only real giveaway that it wasn't a TR7 were the dual exhaust outlets out back. This was a view a lot of cars would see, though. Car and Driver's '81 test car managed an 8.1 zero-to-sixty time and a 16.2 quarter at 87mph, which would handily show its taillights to a 280ZX or 924 or any other car in its price class that wasn't a Corvette. Top speed was 117 miles per hour and the only really disappointing part of the performance envelope was the braking, because the tiny un-vented front discs and rear drums took 228 feet to haul the car down from seventy.

Price as tested was $12,325 in 1981 disco-bucks, which is $43,600 in 2025 dollars.

This one was photographed with a Canon EOS R and an RF 24-105mm f/4-7.1 IS zoom lens in July of 2025.

1973 Triumph Spitfire 1500

Triumph's Spitfire was launched in the early Sixties as a competitor for the Austin-Healey Sprite. Like the Sprite, it was a teeny little thing. Unlike the Sprite, it was a little more plush, with features that made it more suitable as a daily driver.

It was what the British call a "drophead coupe", rather than a true roadster, meaning it had a permanently-attached folding convertible top. Rather than detachable side curtains, it had actual roll-up windows. And it had an actual trunk (or "boot"), which the first generation of Sprites had lacked.

Originally equipped with the 1,147cc four from the Triumph Herald, the motor in the Spitfire swole up until the the final variant's 1,493cc.

The U.S. version of the 91 cubic inch motor had a 7.5:1 compression ratio and sipped gas through a single Zenith Stromberg carb. Horsepower was rated at 53 SAE net, and that meant that performance was...modest. Road & Track clocked a zero-to-sixty run of 15.4 seconds and a 94 mph top speed.

If I'm not mistaken, the grotesque 5 mph front bumper and slim rear bumper tag this Leyland White Triumph Spitfire 1500 as a 1973 model. It was photographed in September of 2016 with a Nikon Coolpix P7000.
 

1975 Triumph TR6

It was a glorious June Sunday in 2023, with temps in the mid seventies and low humidity, complimented by gentle breezes. It was perfect convertible weather, and this gentleman was out making the most of it in his Triumph TR6, painted the shade known as Mimosa.

It's a later one, '74-'77 as attested by the grotesque rubber bumper warts required to meet U.S. safety standards.

While the relatively few TR6's of this vintage sold back in Old Blighty featured Lucas mechanical fuel injection, American market cars (by far the majority of TR6's sold) relied on a pair of Stromberg carbs to feed fuel-air mixture to the slightly undersquare, cast iron, pushrod straight six. This, along with a lower compression ratio to satisfy EPA regs, resulted in 105 SAE net horsepower from 152 cubes of displacement, down from the original's 150hp.

Acceleration, consequently, was hardly eyeball-flattening. Most tests reported 0-60 times in the ten-to-eleven second range, as opposed to the 8-ish second runs posted by Autocar. Still, everything feels zippy when your ass is only inches from the pavement. Ask any MG driver.

These photos were snapped with a Nikon D700 and 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6G zoom lens.

1968 Triumph TR250

For the 1968 model year, Triumph released the TR5, which was basically a TR4A with the 2.5L pushrod inline six developed for the forthcoming TR6 shoehorned into the engine bay. This bumped horsepower by almost fifty percent, to 150, versus the previous 105-horse 2.1L four cylinder, which had begun life as a propulsion unit for Ferguson tractors.

But 1968 saw the dawn of ever-tightening emissions regulations in America and the new fuel-injected, 9.5:1 compression, 2.5L straight six would be tough to bring into compliance. (To say nothing of the cost bump, estimated at as much as $600, on a car that cost under $3,500.) So the US market got the TR250, with a pair of Zenith-Stromberg carbs and an 8.5:1 compression ratio instead.

This cut horsepower from 150 to 111 on U.S.-market cars. Performance took a hit, understandably. While the fuelie motor in the TR5 would clock a 16.5 second quarter mile on its way to a 118 mph top speed, Road & Track only managed a 17.8 second quarter and clocked 107 mph on the top end with their test TR250.

The Triumph inline six was a big improvement over the four cylinder tractor motor it replaced, but it still displayed a very British quirk. With a 74.7mm bore and a 95mm stroke, it was decidedly undersquare. This is because motor vehicle taxes in the UK were based on piston area, so adding displacement by lengthening the stroke hurt customers wallets less than enlarging the bore would have.

Priced at $3,395, about $30,650 in 2024's money, Triumph managed to sell 8,484 TR250s before it was replaced with the TR6 for 1969. An estimated 1,300 remain roadworthy.

This example was snapped in Indianapolis in October of 2020 using a Nikon D7000 and 16-80mm f/2.8-4E VR zoom lens.

1972 Triumph GT6 Mark III

This '72 Triumph GT6 is an example of the last of the breed. On its third iteration at that point, the Spitfire-based hardtop coupe had Triumph's 1,996cc inline six in place of the original's four cylinder motor. (This is what necessitated the rather prominent power bulge in the center of the hood.)

Triumph developed the GT6 for the street following the success of the aero fastback tops that were applied to Spitfires racing at LeMans in 1965, where they came in 13th overall and first in class.

With a claimed output around a hundred horsepower, the UK domestic models would do 0-60 in about ten seconds on their way to a 112mph top speed. Alas, the 1972 U.S.-market cars had lower compression and a single Stromberg carb in place of the dual SUs, so horsepower was only about 70 SAE net and performance was proportionately stunted.

The photos of this Saffron Yellow 1972 model were taken with an Olympus E-M1X and Panasonic 12-60mm f/2.8-4 lens.