New Year's Resolution
One of this year's resolutions was to not buy any more Triumphs... unless absolutely necessary. So less than three weeks into the New Year, I bought a GT6 on eBay. It's a 1972 Mk3, US-spec left hand drive, and needs to be completely restored. I couldn't view it before bidding as it's in Adelaide, about 1700km away, but from the pictures, it looks to be pretty intact (although completely worn out), and the rust looks to be relatively minor, mostly confined to the tailgate.
Why? Well, I've lusted after them since I first got into Triumphs, but my Herald was $500, and no GT6 was for sale for less than about $8000. Low, fast sleek and with a wonderful 6 cylinder bark, they represent just about the best Triumph had to offer, ever. Soon after I started work the local Triumph specialist got a nice Mk3 in for wrecking. Nice apart from a huge dent in the back where someone had run into it, and a bent nose where it had in turn hit the car in front. It was written off, but could have been repaired. I made an offer but it was worth more as spare parts.
This week's eBay car is only the second I've seen for sale in Australia in the 2 1/2 years I've been here. There are usually several for sale at any one time in NZ, but add $4500 to freight it here, and the costs aren't worth it.
The next hurdle is to freight it up to Moranbah, which will hopefully just take a few phone calls and a credit card (ouch). And then see what condition it's in. A US-spec car is slightly different to your run-of-the-mill Trumpy, so it'll be exciting.
Why? Well, I've lusted after them since I first got into Triumphs, but my Herald was $500, and no GT6 was for sale for less than about $8000. Low, fast sleek and with a wonderful 6 cylinder bark, they represent just about the best Triumph had to offer, ever. Soon after I started work the local Triumph specialist got a nice Mk3 in for wrecking. Nice apart from a huge dent in the back where someone had run into it, and a bent nose where it had in turn hit the car in front. It was written off, but could have been repaired. I made an offer but it was worth more as spare parts.
This week's eBay car is only the second I've seen for sale in Australia in the 2 1/2 years I've been here. There are usually several for sale at any one time in NZ, but add $4500 to freight it here, and the costs aren't worth it.
The next hurdle is to freight it up to Moranbah, which will hopefully just take a few phone calls and a credit card (ouch). And then see what condition it's in. A US-spec car is slightly different to your run-of-the-mill Trumpy, so it'll be exciting.
posted by Nick Moore at 5:46 pm
1 comments
