The last great Triumph

Mark Slichter, 51, is a landscape architect and lives in San Mateo with his wife and daughter.

My ride is a 1971 Triumph TR6. For many Triumph aficionados, the TR6 was the last great Triumph, and to my eye the design has really stood the test of time. Its body was styled by Karmann (best known for the iconic VW Karmann Ghia sports car), and the TR6 sports lots of style cues of earlier Triumphs while introducing some dramatic changes. The biggest change was the cut-off rear deck, and I think it works great.

I have my (now deceased) dog to blame for me acquiring this car in the first place. I wouldn't have ever seen it except that it was parked on the street with a "for sale" sign on one of the regular routes where I walked Henry. I'd never given serious thought to buying a car off the street, but I was intrigued and so took down the number and called the owner. I hadn't even been in the market for a car, so it was pretty much serendipity that I ended up with this one. The previous owner turned out to be a nice guy and, when I asked him if I could take it on a test drive he handed me the keys without hesitation.

The car had an immediate appeal to me that's hard to describe. There's a certain smell to the interior of a British sports cars, and you recognize it as soon as you get in a car like this. If you ever experienced a carefree summer drive, this smell brings you right back and you can't help but grin. There are other funny little things about the car that are appealing. Thanks to the car's manual transmission, I can be in neutral and "blip" the throttle while I am at a stop and the car body momentarily twists in response. It's one of those things that defines an older car like this.

I drive the car on weekends primarily. My daily driver is the dead opposite of this car: a Toyota Prius. The Prius is the ultimate "point and shoot," car but has all the charm and character of a can opener. In contrast, the TR6 is a huge collection of idiosyncrasies. Though I rack up the vast majority of my miles in the Prius, I enjoy the miles in the TR6 more. Last summer we took the "six" (as we refer to it) down to Big Sur. There is perhaps no better ride for a cruise down Highway 1 than this car.

My daughter (who is now 11) has grown to like the car and recognizes that this is something unique. Once while we were stopped at an interection, the lady in the car next to us sentimentally told us how her dad used to take her for Sunday drives in their Morgan. My daughter has no idea what a Morgan is, but she caught the gist of what this woman was saying.

I've taken to periodically teasing my daughter by suggesting that I'm going to sell the car. She comes back with her standard rejoinder, which is that this is going to be her college car. I don't have the heart to tell her that I love her too much to let that happen. You drive this car as you would ride a bicycle or a motorcycle: assuming that the other driver either can't see you or is a "full-on" idiot. Without airbags, ABS, crumple zones, OnStar - and weighing half of what most vehicles on the road weigh today - your best chance of keeping from getting hurt is avoidance. When this car was new the term SUV hadn't been invented yet. Today, these goliaths are everywhere and it puts an additional premium on defensive driving in the TR6. But driven reasonably and defensively, it's still a lot of fun!

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