Fintastic Vitesse: 1964 Triumph Sport 6
Another day, another oddball car that you’ve probably never seen before and might not have known of its existence. At least, that’s what I thought when I stumbled onto this next car. It is a Triumph Sport 6, which was a convertible version of the Triumph Vitesse 6…and appears to be a combination of Triumph Herald mechanical bits with Giovanni Michelotti styling…not bad at all. Find this 1964 Triumph Sport 6 here on eBay bidding for $510 reserve-not-met with 4 days to go, located in Lompoc, CA.
From the seller:
1964 Triumph Saloon sports 6 Vitese convertible LHD only 10 made foe America 3 left. daily driver low miles 7383.6, stored from 1994 just put back on road car has not been altered survivor wright up on this car is If you ever see this car you just say the REAREST car ever made the only car the British museum doesn’t have this car. California car
Item specifics
Condition: Used Type: Vitese sports 6
Model Year: 1964 Make: Triumph
See a better way to drive something with fins? tips@dailyturismo.com
A Triumph I have never heard of? Well done, DT. I am amazed that they would upgrade the engine to a 6cyl, and yet provide such a minimal dash (Speedo, fuel gauge, and temperature). Very odd for a sporting Brit of that era.
Where else to better use the Spitfire GT6 engine?
it looks like a Triumph Herald to me. If it wasn't for California these things would have wasted into the rust bin a long time ago. They all used to run on the same BMC tractor motor, just with different displacements.
It's not quite so rare as the seller believes it to be. Some 679 of these, all convertibles, were built for the US market, and over 10% survive (that I know of; more keep surfacing all the time). It was known in the rest of the world as the Vitesse 6 in both convertible and "saloon" form. What really kept it from selling better than it did in the US is that approximately the same purchase price (around $2500) could also have bought a Valiant, Falcon (or, by 1964, Mustang) or Corvair convertible!
See triumph-herald.us
Actually these early ones had a 1600cc version of the later 2000cc GT6 motor. It wasn't a particularly good engine. The Vitesse was just a Herald with twin headlights.
Quite the contrary; it is considered by many Triumph enthusiasts as the smoothest of the Triumph sixes, although certainly not the most powerful. Later Vitesse 6s with the 1600 received dual Strombergs in place of the somewhat troublesome semi-downdraft Solex carbs on the original cars. That alone added about 10 hp and (arguably) a fair bit of reliability.
The best thing about this is that it is the donor car for the Sammio Spyder
I’ve got to admit that a lhd version that isn’t rusted to pieces is mighty rare however, so this one is worth it for just the wtf is that factor
Hi
The Triumph Herald range was styled by Michelotti, so this isn't a one off