Triumph TR6 in Popular Culture
A regular of American television in the 1970s, placed there by its importer, the car of a television star and a tennis champion, and on British television decades later: the Triumph TR6 away from the road test.
About the pictureA late TR6 photographed in Germany in 2012, not a car from any film or programme
In the 1970s the TR6 was a regular of American television. IMCDb, the database of vehicles seen on screen, lists about 250 appearances of the car, and the first page of its list runs from The Mod Squad and Adam-12 to The Six Million Dollar Man and Dallas. Some of that was by design. British Leyland's American company placed its cars with the studios and told its owners' club so, as when its newsletter announced in February 1970 that "MOD SQUAD moves out in a TR-6 also".source 1source 2
On screen
IMCDb files every TR6 on the page read as a "1969 Triumph TR6", in a series of 2016 as in one of 1967, so the year says nothing about the car on screen. The sources read include only the first of its nine pages, and they say nothing of how large a part each car plays. That page lists these, by the year each film or series began:
- 1967
Mannix
Television series, 1967–75.
- 1968
Here's Lucy
Television series, 1968–74.
- 1968
Adam-12
Television series, 1968–75; two entries.
- 1968
The Mod Squad
Television series, 1968–73.
- 1969
Love, American Style
Television series, 1969–74.
- 1969
Night Gallery
Television series, 1969–73.
- 1971
Midnite Plowboy
Film.
- 1971
How to Frame a Figg
Film.
- 1973
Detroit 9000
Film.
- 1973
Badge 373
Film.
- 1974
The Six Million Dollar Man
Television series, 1974–78; two entries.
- 1974
Freebie and the Bean
Film.
- 1975
S.W.A.T.
Television series, 1975–76.
- 1976
Black Shampoo
Film.
- 1976
The Bionic Woman
Television series, 1976–78.
- 1978
Return from Witch Mountain
Film.
- 1978
Dallas
Television series, 1978–91.
- 1979
Van Nuys Blvd.
Film.
- 1980
Gridlock
Film.
- 1980
Tribute
Film.
- 1981
Darkroom
Television series, 1981–82.
- 1982
T.J. Hooker
Television series, 1982–86.
- 1983
The Osterman Weekend
Film.
- 1983
The Star Chamber
Film.
- 1987
Three Men and a Baby
Film.
- 1998
54
Film.
- 2014
Halt and Catch Fire
Television series, 2014–17.
- 2016
The Get Down
Television series, 2016–17.
Moss Motoring's film quiz of 1985 adds The Clones, in which a scientist chases his clone in a TR-6. On British television, Wheeler Dealers took on a TR6; the sources read do not say in which series or episode.source 1source 3
Placements and owners
The importer recorded its placements in its newsletter, which shows where the cars were sent, though not what the films made of them. In February 1970 its note on The Mod Squad named the actors Michael Cole and Clarence Williams, and above it the newsletter showed Leonard Nimoy's red TR-6 in Mission: Impossible, Bruce Geller's series at Paramount. In May 1972 it described Triumph's own American television commercials, filmed with TR-6s at Laguna Seca: in "Obstacle Course" a stunt driver, Ronnie Walker, jumped a TR-6 off a ramp through a flaming hoop, and another featured Motor Trend's road-test editor, John Christy.
In August 1973 the newsletter reported a TR-6 "featured for the past several months" in the television series The Rookies, and the TR-6 Dyan Cannon was to drive on camera in Child Under a Leaf, a Canadian film; British Leyland Motors Canada had asked the racing driver Stephanie Ruys de Perez to introduce her to it in Montreal. In January 1974 it printed a photograph of another:
HOLLYWOOD loves Triumph sports cars: This TR6 was used in the motion picture 'The Daring Dobermans'
The newsletter followed famous owners too. In December 1973 it reported that Alan Alda, the star of M*A*S*H, a series Triumph sponsored on CBS, drove his own TR6, ordered with overdrive. A year later it reported that Chris Evert, awarded a Triumph for winning Wimbledon in 1974, had chosen a TR6 in Pimento from a dealer in Florida. No source read says that Paul Newman owned a TR6; he raced one, and won the D Production title in it in 1976.source 2source 4source 5source 6source 7source 8source 9
Sources
Sources are given as plain text; their addresses are on the sources page.
- Primarymade at the time, by the maker or by people who were there
- Referenceserious later work: clubs, specialists, magazines, books
- Databaseresults and listings, entry by entry
- IMCDb.org (Controgest SRL), "Triumph TR6 in movies and TV series", about 250 entries, 30 a page; page 1; page 1 of 9: titles and years; every entry filed as "1969 Triumph TR6". Database
- Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, February 1970, Feb 1970, "MOD SQUAD moves out in a TR-6 also"; p. 1, The Mod Squad, with Michael Cole and Clarence Williams; Leonard Nimoy's TR-6 in Mission: Impossible. Primary
- Bea Meyer, "Trivia Test: TRs at the Movies", Moss Motoring, 1985, The Clones: "the TR-6 a scientist used to pursue his clone". Reference
- Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, May 1972, May 1972, the 1972 commercials at Laguna Seca: "Obstacle Course", Ronnie Walker; "Motor Trend", John Christy. Primary
- Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, August 1973, Aug 1973, The Rookies; Child Under a Leaf, Dyan Cannon, Stephanie Ruys de Perez. Primary
- Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, January 1974, Jan 1974, "HOLLYWOOD loves Triumph sports cars …". Primary
- Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, December 1973, Dec 1973, Alan Alda's TR6, with overdrive; M*A*S*H on CBS. Primary
- Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, December 1974, Dec 1974, Chris Evert's Pimento TR6. Primary
- Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, September–October 1976, Sep–Oct 1976 (vol. 22 no. 5), pp. 1–3, Newman's D Production title. Primary