I have a 1976 TR6 that I bought new. You'd think that would be an advantage
in knowing what is/was original on these cars, but my memory is apparently
not what it ought to be. Let me explain.
I bought the car new in 1976, and in 1979 I was in a freak accident that
severely damaged the entire rear of the car. It was a toss-up whether to
total or repair. The insurance company gave me a choice, and since I had no
money to buy another car, I elected to have it repaired. The story was that
the rear valence and rear deck were not available new so they got a "clip"
from another TR6. My TR6 is now half 1976 and half 1974. That's fine as far
as that goes. They did a good job (160,000 miles since this repair) and
you'd have to look close to see that imperfection. What's been bugging me
for a long time is that I have no "Triumph" nameplate on the rear of the
car. The repair shop never added it. To keep the illusion that it is a
1976 TR6, I want to add the "Triumph" nameplate on the rear bumper. That
will require either a 1976 bumper with pre-drilled holes or drill holes in
my 1974 bumper.
Through a local club member I got a "new" 1976 bumper. I cleaned it real
good, bought a new "Triumph" nameplate, and bought new mounting hardware. I
was excited! I removed the old bumper and put the new one in place and
noticed that, hey, it sits too high! That's where my foggy memory comes in.
I don't remember the bumper being that high. The local club member has both
a 1974 and a 1976 TR6, and he says, "yep, the 1976 bumper sits higher".
"The bumper is about one inch above the line where black meets body color,
and the overriders are even with the bottom of the tail light assembly".
I looked at some of my old pictures of the car, in Piggott's book and the
"Triumph Buyer's Guide" and there is no real clear picture of this
difference. I can see that the overriders are higher on the 1976, but I
can't really see the height of the bumper.
I have no reason to doubt the local club member - I'm just stubborn! I'm
going to put the bumper on "as is" and see how I like it. But I wanted to
get other affirmatives that yes, the 1976 bumper sits higher that the 1974
bumper.
See you at Summer Party!
Art Graves
Austin, Texas
1976 Triumph TR6
1985 Jaguar XJ6
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