Triumph GT6

With looks on its side the GT6 is a brilliant classic to own despite being pricier than the Vitesse.

- Matt Bell

The GT6 is usually compared to the MG Band MG C given that all were on sale at roughly the same time and continued to be on sale during BL’s acquisition of the marques. Odd in today’s world, but in the late ’60s there was enough interest from the market to warrant two similar models to be sold together. But we’re not here to talk about that, we’re here to talk about the Vitesse and the GT6, which are so similar it’s difficult to pick them out.

Let’s do some myth-busting. Triumph’s clever marketing ploy at the launch of the GT6 stating that the car was based on the 1965 class winning Le Mans Spitfires is only partly true. The aerodynamic glass fibre fastback fitted to the Le Mans racers was based on the lines of a GT4 coupé prototype produced back in 1963 by Giovanni Michelotti, the designer of the road going Spitfire 4. At the time, Triumph was keen to launch a coupé version of the Spitfire 4, but the extra weight of the GT4’s bodyshell proved too much for the smaller 1147cc four-cylinder engine and ultimately led to the demise of the project.