My grandfather bought the GT6 new in 1967, when he worked at Kennedy Space Center in Titusville, Florida.  He largely drove it as his primary car, and by the time he took pictures I found from 1978, there were 85,000 miles on it.

While scanning some of his old Triumph books — a spare parts catalog and a workshop manual — I found a large number of notes he made in the 70s and 80s that included dated mileage readings. I was able to determine he drove the car about 8,800 miles per year.

He died in 1985 and gave it to my father, who would let it sit for long periods of time, then go through phases of using it, then let it sit some more. Life just generally got in the way.  Over the past several years since his retirement in 2013, my dad drove it more frequently, even joining a Triumph club in north Florida and meeting up with them regularly. He drove the car about 1,600 miles per year.

When my father passed away, the car came to me, and I brought it to my home here in North Carolina.  My dad’s focus was on keeping the car running, whereas I’m focused more on restoring its original look and erasing evidence of decades of wear and tear as much as I can.

There’s a lot of family history in this car, and I can’t help but wonder if my Papa would have ever suspected it would still be on the roads more than half a century after he bought it.