Triumph TR6 vs TVR 2500M: heart transplant

By James Page

| 26 May 2026

Classic & Sports Car – Triumph TR6 vs TVR 2500M: heart transplant

Trace the history of any car that was exported to the United States through the 1960s and ’70s, and it doesn’t take long to notice the effects of America’s new-found passion for legislation.

The country might have loved British sports cars – and British manufacturers loved to boost their bottom lines by providing them in quantity – but, all things considered, those making the rules would rather that they were a bit safer and a bit less polluting.

California led the way in declaring war on exhaust emissions, and where the Golden State went, so the rest of the country followed.

The Triumph TR6 (above) helped make the TVR 2500M possible. How do they compare?

This forced car companies to start the process of cleaning up their collective act, which was fine if the company in question had the necessary wherewithal to implement the changes.

It was also acceptable if you were a smaller firm that relied upon the bigger brands to supply major components: they soak up all the R&D costs, you buy the resulting emissions-compliant part off the shelf.

Thus was the marriage arranged between Triumph and TVR.

In the opinion of many US commentators, the TR6 was the car that the short-lived TR250 should have been.

The latter – known on the home market, of course, as the TR5 – used Triumph’s 2.5-litre, six-cylinder engine.

This unit was a stretched version of the smaller powerplant found in the 2000 saloon and deemed to be more suitable for the marque’s sports-car range than the rough but reliable ‘four’ in use until that point.

The Triumph TR6’s nip and tuck included a narrower grille compared to the TR5

At first, the updated motor refused to give the power figures that Triumph was hoping for.

The initial output of 94bhp was, in fact, 9bhp less than that of the engine it was supposed to be replacing.

Different cylinder-head designs were tested with limited success.

The final answer came in the form of the Lucas fuel-injection system. With this fitted, the ‘six’ immediately gave 150bhp.

That took care of the UK market, but it was Triumph’s American dealers that were really crying out for the new model – and that presented something of a problem.

In fuel-injected form, the engine failed to meet those tough new emissions regulations, and there were also rumours that Stateside distributors were reluctant to embrace the potentially troublesome – and costly – new technology.

The Triumph TR6’s twin-carburettor six-cylinder makes 106bhp

As a result, cars for the all-important North American market had to make do with twin Stromberg carburettors and only 104bhp.

The TR250 was well received, however, and that then provided the impetus for the TR6.

Triumph was a little short of cash at the time, and Michelotti’s suggested design for the new model was prohibitively expensive.

Enter German company Karmann, which offered to swallow the price of the tooling and carry out a budget facelift to give the latest TR a distinct identity to go with the six-cylinder engine.

The result was, if you’ll pardon the pun, a triumph of clever, expedient design.

With the centre section of the car being the most costly to rework, Karmann’s Gerhard Giesecke left that area alone and concentrated instead on a ‘top and tail’, endowing the TR6 with an aggressive new front and a Kamm-style rear.

The Triumph TR6’s Kamm-style rear was part of Karmann’s redesign

Car and Driver said the model was ‘a member of the family and instantly recognisable, but that’s a little like being introduced to a strikingly handsome daughter in a family of very plain, very earnest people you have known for ages’.

That’s somewhat unfair on the TRs that went before, but there is no doubting that the TR6 is an effective-looking machine.

With the headlights moved to the outer extremities of the front end and a shallower grille filling the space in between, it’s bluff and aggressive.

It’s a little slab-sided in comparison with the TVR, but its proportions are far more pleasing, with the wheels perfectly filling the subtly flared arches (to accommodate the slightly wider 5½in rims) and a boot that was bigger than on the TR250, but more awkward to access.

Triumph went through a phase of giving its sports cars offset driving positions and the TR6 is no exception, with the pedals being positioned considerably to the right of centre.

The Triumph TR6’s steel wheels

While the cabin is narrow inside, you don’t feel as hemmed-in as you do in the TVR, and even though the switchgear is obviously – and necessarily – recognisable from the rest of the Triumph range, it remains a pleasant, traditional-feeling interior.

Owner Peter Christie has adapted a BMW windbreak for use in the featured car: it helps to reduce buffeting, something that was noted when the model was new.

‘Smoking a pipe,’ wrote Road Test magazine, ‘is apt to send hot embers swirling in all sorts of unexpected directions.’

Not a problem, you feel, that young journalists have to concern themselves with in the latest crop of modern sports cars.

Peter’s Triumph boasts an especially sweet engine, and, having driven only injected TR6s in the past, I’m struck by the smoothness of this particular carburetted example.

The TVR 2500M’s ride is firmer than the TR6’s

It revs without the slightest hint of a cough or a hesitation and, while it lacks the outright pace of the 150bhp UK version, still pulls well – even on the ups and downs of a Dartmoor B-road.

And then there’s the noise: few configurations offer the aural range of a straight-six.

From a bass growl at idle to a crisp bark when it is at the upper reaches of its rev range, you simply never tire of its sonic repertoire.

The folks at TVR certainly recognised its abilities. Martin and Arthur Lilley had rescued the ailing firm in November 1965, and the first new model was the MkIV Grantura 1800S, which used BMC’s B-series engine.

Then came the Tuscan – with either V6 or V8 Ford power – and the Vixen range. The first use of Triumph’s 2.5-litre straight-six in a TVR had links to both of those models.

The right-hand-drive TVR 2500M was discontinued in 1973

After the V6 Tuscan had fallen foul of US emissions legislation, the Blackpool firm realised that the TR6’s carburetted unit was the ideal answer for the crucial export market.

It was initially fitted to the Vixen and shown at the 1970 London Motor Show.

The Vixen 2500 would be short-lived, however. In 1971, TVR displayed the M-series prototype at Earls Court.

This latest model replaced both the Vixen and the Tuscan, and it went on sale in 1972.

The Lilleys had streamlined the production process so the M-series could be made in greater quantities than previous TVRs, and the car was based around a new chassis.

Conceived by Mike Bigland, the structure combined square- and round-section tubing in a central-backbone layout that was stiffer and stronger than the previous frame.

This early TVR 2500M has Ford rear lights

For the 2500M, TVR also made use of the TR6’s front disc/rear drum brake set-up, plus its gearbox and front suspension uprights.

The glassfibre body was produced in-house by TVR and bolted to the chassis in 10 places, while the styling was an evolution of that of its stubby ‘Manx-tail’ predecessors.

A reshaped bonnet was necessary so that the spare wheel could be relocated to the engine bay from the rear luggage platform.

This huge glassfibre panel is fronted by an enlarged air intake (the engine had a tendency to run hot in the TVR) and features a scalloped top section that gives the impression of a central bulge.

From there all the way back to the redesigned rear, with Ford Cortina Mk2 tail-lights, it’s curvaceous and muscular, with great presence.

The M-series TVR 2500M’s spare wheel was relocated to the engine bay

Follow a 2500M on the road, however, and it’s not as attractive an overall design as the Triumph.

It sits higher – TVR deliberately raised it to offer more ground clearance – and the huge window dominates the rear aspect.

Where the TR6 hunkers down on the road, the TVR looks a bit top-heavy and on tiptoes.

Swing open the door and you are welcomed by an almost unremittingly black interior, only lifted slightly on this example by the non-standard, wood-rimmed Moto-Lita wheel.

It’s compact, with the central ‘backbone’ section of the spaceframe chassis hugging your left side, but it stops well short of being claustrophobic.

The load area behind the seats is generous and light, yet it is accessible only from inside: not until the Taimar of 1976 did this line of TVRs get a hatchback.

The TVR 2500M’s alloy wheels were to the marque’s own design

Dead ahead of the driver lie the speedometer and the rev counter.

There’s a neat row of auxiliary gauges in the centre of the dashboard, comprising fuel level, oil pressure, water temperature and battery condition.

Beneath those are rocker switches for the heater, lights and suchlike.

It’s clean and functional in here, but it could do with a splash of colour to lift the mood.

On the move, however, the visual aspect improves because the view down the flowing wings is particularly enjoyable.

Reach into the depths of the footwell to turn the ignition key and the ‘six’ fires raucously into life.

The TVR 2500M’s dark cabin is dominated by the central ‘backbone’

Like the TR6, the 2500M is a heavy car to manoeuvre at low speeds, but things soon lighten as you start to make more serious progress.

The gearlever feels as though it is set quite a long way back – a characteristic that I’d initially assumed was due to me (at just 5ft 7in) having to sit quite a long way forward, but which I was later relieved to find mentioned in the contemporary road tests.

Whereas the Triumph feels like the sort of car in which you could embark on a lengthy jaunt, the TVR is much harder work, especially on the Devon back-roads that we’re tackling today.

It’s louder than the TR6, for a start, and the ride is very firm.

Motor commented on this during a short test drive of a left-hand-drive example in July 1972, but qualified the remark by saying ‘the wheels felt as though they stayed on the ground all the time’. Always a bonus, that.

TVR’s Triumph-engined 2500 kick-started a prosperous era for the Blackpool firm

The steering feels very similar to the set-up in the TR6 but, with the TVR being that much stiffer, initial turn-in is more direct.

Where the Triumph rolls slightly and settles (US-spec cars were originally fitted with softer suspension), the 2500M just turns and goes.

Another area in which the TVR scores highly is the way that it stops.

The brakes are the same on both cars, but those on the 2500M offer a more immediate bite and are far more confidence-inspiring.

Yet it is the Triumph that feels the more complete car, which is perhaps to be expected.

After all, it came late in a line of distinguished sports cars from a major manufacturer.

‘While it lacks the outright pace of a UK-spec car, the TR6 stills pulls well on the ups and downs of Dartmoor’

Looking back, though, the two companies were on different trajectories.

By the end of the decade, Triumph would be all but finished as a manufacturer of sports cars.

The TR6 was, in many ways, a last hurrah as the British Leyland fiasco began to take effect; in contrast, the M-series began a fruitful period for TVR, finally putting the company on a secure footing and enabling it to truly flourish.

Images: James Mann

This was first in our March 2013 magazine; all information was correct at the date of original publication

Factfiles

Triumph TR6

Sold/number built 1969-’76/94,619
Construction steel chassis, steel body
Engine all-iron, ohv 2498cc straight-six, twin Stromberg carburettors
Max power 106bhp @ 4900rpm
Max torque 133lb ft @ 3000rpm
Transmission four-speed manual with optional overdrive, RWD
Suspension independent, at front by wishbones, telescopic dampers, anti-roll bar rear semi-trailing arms, lever-arm dampers; coil springs f/r
Steering rack and pinion
Brakes discs front, drums rear, servo
Length 12ft 11½in (3949mm)
Width 5ft 1in (1549mm)
Height 4ft 2in (1270mm)
Wheelbase 7ft 4in (2235mm)
Weight 2473lb (1122kg)
Mpg 18
0-60mph 9.8 secs
Top speed 106mph
Price new £1474 (’69)

TVR 2500M

Sold/number built 1972-’77/947
Construction steel spaceframe chassis, glassfibre body
Engine all-iron, ohv 2498cc straight-six, twin Stromberg carburettors
Max power 106bhp @ 4900rpm
Max torque 133lb ft @ 3000rpm
Transmission four-speed manual with optional overdrive, RWD
Suspension independent, by double wishbones, coil springs, telescopic dampers f/r; front anti-roll bar
Steering rack and pinion
Brakes discs front, drums rear, with servo
Length 12ft 10in (3912mm)
Width 5ft 4in (1626mm)
Height 3ft 11in (1194mm)
Wheelbase 7ft 6in (2286mm)
Weight 2240lb (1016kg)
Mpg 23
0-60mph 9.3 secs
Top speed 109mph
Price new £2049 (’72)