TriumphTR6

Triumph TR6 vs MGB

The TR6 against the MGB, the cheaper car that outsold it, and against the Datsun 240Z, the Jensen-Healey, the Morgan Plus 8 and the rest: prices when new, the figures from one magazine's tests, and who won on the race track.

About the pictureA Datsun 240Z, not a TR6 or an MGB

An orange-red Datsun 240Z coupe on mown grass in sunshine.
Stand-in The Japanese rival that mattered most in America: a Datsun 240Z of the type on mown grass, which its photographer dates to 1970.Charles01, CC BY-SA 4.0

Two cars defined the TR6's place in the market, and neither was a TR. The MGB was cheaper and sold in far greater numbers; the Datsun 240Z, which arrived the same year, set out, as Classic & Sports Car tells the story, to replace Triumph in America. Aaron Severson gives the reason in a sentence:

The rival Datsun 240Z felt much more modern and was faster than even an injected TR6.

Aaron Severson, Ate Up With Motor, 2012⁠1​2

The TR6 and the MGB

The two were sold side by side in British Leyland's American showrooms, and the MGB was the cheaper. On AROnline's list of American prices in March 1971 the MGB cost several hundred dollars less than the importer asked for a TR-6 that year, and the table below gives both. In Road & Track's table of its 1972 and 1973 tests, set out in approximate order of price, the MGB came 5th of 11 and the TR-6 8th, and the TR-6 stopped from 129 km/h (80 mph) in 85 m (280 ft) where the MGB needed 100 m (329 ft); the MGB took 13.7 seconds to reach 60 mph, and the TR6's times are in the specifications.

The MGB sold far better: by Severson's account, every TR built from the TR4 to the TR6 added up to a small part of the MGB's production. Once the MGC was discontinued, Moss Motoring writes, the TR6 was in a class by itself.⁠3​4​5​1​6

A red sports car with a black hood up, chrome bumpers, a vertical-slat grille and wire wheels, parked in a car park under trees.
An early MGB roadster, a car of the type with the first grille of chrome-surrounded slats, photographed in Dorset in August 2020.Andrew Bone, CC BY 2.0

The rivals table

Each figure below is the source's own, with its date and basis where the source gives them; prices from different years and markets are not comparable with each other.

CarWhere and whenWhat the sources give
Triumph TR6 PIBritain, 1971£1,453 in March (Motor Sport's test); £1,536 in 1971, basis not stated (Classic & Sports Car)
Triumph TR6America, 1971$3,595 at the East Coast port of entry (the importer)
MGBAmerica, March 1971$2,875 (AROnline's list)
Datsun 240ZBritain, 1971£2,288 in 1971, on a basis the magazine does not give; it counts 156,078 made from 1969 to 1973 (Classic & Sports Car)
Fiat 124 SpiderAmerica, 1972–73Dearer than the TR-6; 12.5 seconds to 60 mph, 97 m (319 ft) to stop from 129 km/h (80 mph) (Road & Track)
Ford Capri 2600 V6America, 1972–73Between the MGB and the TR-6 in price; 10.4 seconds, 84 m (277 ft) (Road & Track)
Ford Capri 3000 GTBritainSimilar money and, Severson says, more practical
Jensen-Healey and Morgan Plus 8Britain, 1973With the TR6, almost the only open cars under £2,000 (Motor Sport)
Triumph Spitfire, Stag and Jaguar E-type V12America, March 1971$2,649; $5,773 with hardtop; $6,950 for the convertible (AROnline's list)
Triumph TR7America, 1975About $5,100, about $200 less than the TR6 (Ate Up With Motor)

In Britain, Clive Richardson thought a Lotus Europa handled better than his TR6, and in America the Jensen-Healey, imported from 1973, was the nearest rival to it, Moss Motoring writes; the Jensen-Healey, like the TR6, left the showrooms early in 1977.⁠7​2​4​3​5​8​1​9​10​6

A red Jensen-Healey roadster with the hood folded, on a concrete apron below a grassy bank.
Open like the TR6, and its nearest rival in America from 1973: a Jensen-Healey of the type, photographed at Duxford in 2011.pyntofmyld, CC BY 2.0
An ivory Morgan Plus 8 with dark green wings and a luggage trunk on the rack, on grass beside a harbour.
With the Jensen-Healey, almost the only other open car at the TR6's price in Britain in 1973: a Morgan Plus 8 of the type, photographed in Greenwich, London, in 2024.Mr.choppers, CC BY-SA 3.0

On the track

The TR6 met its rivals on the track as well, and the racing went first against it, then its way. Among the C Production cars of the Sports Car Club of America, a Porsche 911 won the championship race of 1969, and Datsun's 240Zs took the first three places in 1970 and won again in 1972, with the TR6 2nd. In 1970 the importer could at least point out that of the three makes, its TR-6 had the lowest list price. When the TR6 moved to D Production in 1975, it beat Lee Mueller's Jensen-Healey, which had won the class in 1973 and 1974, and in 1976 it beat the TR7 that had been meant to replace it.⁠11​12​13​14​15​16

A dark blue Triumph TR6 with a hardtop and white stripes, number 234, at speed on the Nuerburgring.
A TR6 lapping the Nürburgring in 2014, standing in for the TR6s that raced their rivals in the 1970s.Justin LaBerge, CC BY 2.0

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
  1. Aaron Severson, "Grandfather's Ax: The Many Evolutions of the Triumph TR4, Part 2: TR5, TR250, and TR6", Ate Up With Motor, 7 Nov 2012, TR in twilight: "The rival Datsun 240Z felt much more modern …"; the MGB's tally; TR in twilight: TR production against the MGB's; TR in twilight: the Ford Capri 3000 GT. Reference
  2. Charlie Calderwood, "Datsun 240Z vs Triumph TR6: the battle for America", Classic & Sports Car, 1 Feb 2023, the battle for America; the factfiles: prices (1971), units. Reference
  3. Chris Cowin, "History: Exporting British cars to the USA – Part Two", AROnline, 31 May 2025, updated 21 Oct 2025, US list prices, March 1971. Reference
  4. Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, September 1971, Sep 1971, p. 2, the 1971 TR-6 at the East Coast port of entry; p. 2, the 1971 US price. Primary
  5. Road & Track, Road & Track, June 1974, Jun 1974, the table of 1972–73 test figures, in approximate ascending order of price: MGB and TR-6; the table of 1972–73 test figures. Primary
  6. Moss Motoring, "Triumph in America", 1 Mar 2001, the TR6 in a class by itself once the MGC was discontinued; the Jensen-Healey from 1973. Reference
  7. Bill Boddy, "Rumblings" (TR6 PI and 2.5 PI Mk II), Motor Sport, Mar 1971, p. 34, p. 34, the price in March 1971. Primary
  8. Clive Richardson, "The Tale of a TR6", Motor Sport, Nov 1973, p. 54, p. 54, the open cars under £2,000; the Lotus Europa. Primary
  9. Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, August–September 1975, Aug–Sep 1975 (vol. 21 no. 5), p. 5, a Datsun dealer at a show on the TR7: "Only $5100". Primary
  10. Aaron Severson, "Way of the Wedge: The Triumph TR7 and TR8", Ate Up With Motor, 5 Feb 2012, pp. 1–5, p. 3, the TR7's US price. Reference
  11. Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, December 1969, Dec 1969 (vol. 15 no. 12), the 1969 ARRC: the Porsche 911. Primary
  12. Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, December 1970, Dec 1970 (vol. 16 no. 12), the 1970 ARRC: the 240Zs. Primary
  13. Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, December 1972, Dec 1972 (vol. 18 no. 12), p. 2, the 1972 ARRC. Primary
  14. Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, October–November 1975, Oct–Nov 1975 (vol. 21 no. 6), pp. 1–2, Mueller's Jensen-Healey, champion of the two previous years. Primary
  15. Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, September–October 1976, Sep–Oct 1976 (vol. 22 no. 5), pp. 1–3, the TR7 2nd. Primary
  16. Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, August 1970, Aug 1970, the TR-6, the 240Z and the Porsche: the lowest list price. Primary