Advice on a1969 GT6+

I'm a long time subscriber to the magazine but new to the forum. I've got a '69 GT6+ that's in fair condition. I purchased it a few years ago from the original owner. It has 82k miles on original drivetrain. I've sorted out the previous owners "quirky" mods and re-done the brake system, suspension, and steering. Essentially made it a safer, fun daily driver. The problems are a fair amount of rust issues, ratty interior and some electrical bugs. My plan was to do a body-off restoration but I lost my garage space and most of my budget for fun stuff. Should I sell it or keep it? Will this car ever be worth more if I maintain it?

They are going up in value. Not exactly rocketing up, but going up. You've got to maintain it in semi-decent condition of course to keep the value.

Letting a car lay out in the driveway, neglected, is a very quick way to reduce it to scrap metal worth nothing.

If you're not going to do anything with it, wash it and sell it.

The GT6 seems to be the unappreciated child of Triumph and Foxtrapper is right, the value is slowly going up but far less then, say, a TR6. I think the body style of the Mk 1 and Mk 2 (or plus) is better looking than the Mk 3 - and by the prices on eBay I don't think I am alone.

If you live anywhere besides the dry Southwest, storing a car outside is not the best, of course. However, there are ways to do it to preserve the car for future restoration.

But I think the question comes down to how much do you like the car? And how much would you regret selling it? These are questions that no one, other than you, can answer. I have regretted selling cars in the past and I now have two models of the ones that I sold my '65 Land Rover is a replacement for a '70 Land Rover and my '69 GT6 Mk2 is a replacement for a Mk 1.

When I sold the previous cars I was not of the financial standing or mindset to undergo a restoration process on either one. The Triumph was very rusted and the Land Rover wasn't up to a drive across country when I moved (even though my brother heroically tried!). It was better in both cases just to sell the vehicles and move on.

Yes, it will be worth more if you maintain it. And given the financial times right now I think you would be better off if you could hang on to it. If it becomes a financial hardship for you to keep and store the car, well then, it will be better to get rid of it.

As a dude who restored a GT6... My advice would be to save the pennies and find a car in perfect shape.

It will be cheaper, buddy of mine just bought a 71 spit in mint condition, for less then it would have cost him to restore his 74 Spit.

A

I agree with Andre', the nicest GT6 in the word is about $15,000 right now and a nice driver is about $6000-9000. You can't restore one for that. I am budgeting twice that figure for the Group 44 GT6 that I am restoring now, and as that is a race car, I don't need many of the fiddly bits. Better to sell this one for a few grand (assuming it is pretty nice) and save the money and buy a nicer one when your situation changes. That said, parts cars are out there (just bought one for $300, and had others offered) and parts only get more expensive and harder to get. So if you do love that car, get the parts you can now for it and find a dry place to keep it.

While not as many as Tim, I've done enough restorations to know that its way cheaper to buy one already done. Unless you really like welding and body work, or the car in particular holds a lot of sentimental value, buying the nicest car you can afford normally pays dividends later.

I've been going through this same issue lately, and have just put my '71 240Z up for sale. It was a difficult decision, but I'm going to look for a nicer one as a starting point. It's not that its a bad car, but it needs every system gone through, and I simply don't have the time and budget to do it all right now. So after I sell it and the 944, I'm going to start shopping for a restored or decent original example that I can drive now, and not have to do a lot of metal work.

Just like 240s, GT6s haven't risen enough in price that there's a huge gap between the needy cars and nicer ones. Sometimes the mid-range cars are the worst buys, they're not as cheap as the ones needing total restos, but still need enough to make them more expensive in the long run.

For some of us the whole point is doing the restoration, bringing a car back to its glory. Call it a hobby, distraction, or a way to get out of the house. I see restorations as taking on one of a few different forms:

1) The drive it while it is restored. This is what I have been doing with my Land Rover, modifications as I go. Yes, it would have been smarter and cheaper to do them all at once, but I have never claimed to be a jenius.

B) The park it restore it drive it. This is what I will be doing with the GT6 - a frame off restoration that will take a long time. The goal is to have a driver, but one that will last for years.

III) The park it restore it show it. As above but with no intentions of really driving it. The trailer queen.

d) Have someone else restore it to your specs. The most costly way to go. A friend just had his Challenger restored to a tune of $65K. He is now afraid to drive it.

With the GT6 I will be farming out the body work. As I have never done it - beyond a bit of Bondo as a teenager - I don't want to learn on the GT6. Everything else I will do myself, including the paint. Again, I am not going for a show car, but a driver.

When I got the GT6 I really wasn't looking for another project. If I was going to get one I would have rather had a turn-key driver... pay the money, get in, drive away. But I was weak as this is a RHD! And now I am looking forward to the challenge of the project.

Just my couple of more cents thrown into the pot.

It is a bad time to sell. You will take a beating unless the car drives well without issues. But, the cost of repairs and storage will be signifigant so getting stuck on one car will cost you more in the longer term than if you are a bit flexible. The other issue will be finding a buyer.

Ron

I'm in a similar situation with two cars. A crusty '73 Volvo 1800ES and my nicer '78 Spit 6.

The Volvo is basically too far gone to be worth restoring, from a financial point. It could be done, but it would be costly. My plan now is to simply sttrip it and sell off everything I can, leaving me with a rusty shell in my back yard. Then many years down the road, maybe I'll play with doing body work and possibly a V8 swap...

My Spit6 is a tougher case. It has more rst in the sills and fenders than I knew about when I bought it and it needs paint. And the interior needs to be redone. My plan (at the moment) is to do a rolling restoration for a year or two to sort out a few things, and then farm out the body and paint work. I'm sure I'll ahve more into it than it's worth, but at the same time, the end result will be more of want I want the car to be, vs buying someone else's restoration and then spending $$$ modifying.

Ian, I have a rust free 1980 Spitfire project car for sale, if you want to re-body.

Now that would be fun, specially if you tuck the engine back and down a bit.

Then you can run the spit bonnet with a 6 pot power plant.

Could be a lot of fun smoking cars off the line...

A.

Andre, that's been done:

http://www.teglerizer.com/triumphstuff/spit6whiteyFI/index.html

Although I had a thought in the opposite direction: GT6 + Spit 1500 engine (a VERY healthy one) & bonnet. Fortunately, the thought passed...

Tim: Is that the CMS project/Tommy's car?

keep it! It's not about how much it will be worth (most cars are poor investments!)....it's about how much fun it will be someday down the line once it's ready to run. I waited 12 years to finally rebuild mine and drive it again...was well worth it!

Ian, this is Tommy's Spit: http://classicmotorsports.net/project-cars/1973-triumph-spitfire/

THIS is the Group 44 GT6: http://classicmotorsports.net/project-cars/1969-triumph-gt6/

Tim's busting a move on the Group 44 car, and as soon as he has a chance to write 'em, I'd expect to see more updates.

Tim Baxter said: Tim's busting a move on the Group 44 car

The 80s called and they want their expression back.

Don't you get all Springer on me just 'cause I'm channeling my inner Young MC.

OK, I'm a dork. I'll stop now.

Tim, I may be interested in the '80 Spit, depending on $ and the logistics of getting the car to PA.

Jay Leno hit the nail on the head with this bit of classic car advice: "DON'T SELL ANYTHING!"

Of course, we're not all hosts of the "Tonight Show".

However, I would say hang on to it. Address the rust issue so it doesn't get any worse, and then drive the !@#$ out of it. GT6's are great cars, and they are somewhat of a limited production model. Sooner or later the prices will go up.

Cheers, Chris