Valuable GT6 Documents

After spending some time scanning photos the last few weeks, I’ve started working on other things my Dad had that were related to the Triumph GT6. This includes a packet of 14 handwritten pages my grandfather wrote out for my dad in 1985 during the last few days of his life. He mentioned a couple of times in his notes that he was “doing this from memory,” so it’s pretty obvious he had realized at this point that he was not coming home from the hospital.

My grandfather, I believe, focused more and more on this car after my grandmother passed away in 1976. He was meticulous in how he maintained the vehicle and knew where every single part was, when he had last worked on it, and so on. His notes to my father describe every single part, what shelf to find it on, and when to install it.

If it was something that my grandfather had rebuilt, he noted the mileage when he did it and when to keep an eye out for the need to do it again. He told Dad to look under the living room couch for extra windows and in the refrigerator for rebuilt master cylinders, coated in brake fluid to preserve them. These notes are just incredible.

One of the instructions to Dad is to grab two binders — a spare parts catalog and a workshop manual — adding that “they are worth their weight in gold.” Coincidentally, when I joined the Triumph Club of the Carolinas (my local Triumph club) in July, the advice from one of the members was to buy “an owners manual, a workshop manual, a Hayne’s manual, and a spare parts catalog.”

While my grandfather’s original owner’s manual was still in the parcel shelf (glove box) in its 1967 envelope, I ordered a replacement so that I could preserve the original. I also ordered a new Hayne’s workshop manual since my Dad’s copy was in rough condition and I thought it would be good to have a copy in the vehicle in case of emergency.

There were two 3″ binders that my Dad had, and that his wife graciously set aside for me while going through his stuff after he passed away: One was the Triumph GT6 Spare Parts Catalog and the other was the official Standard-Triumph Workshop Manual.

It’s hard to overstate the value of these two documents. The spare parts catalog sells for about $60 and the electronic copy is roughly the same. I regularly see a paper copy (they’re official reprints, so new documents) for upwards of $100. For workshop manuals, people typically buy the Hayne’s Workshop Manual for $60 or so, or they get the Brooklands Workshop Manual for the same price. And I have those. But this was the actual workshop manual provided by Standard-Triumph to its service centers to diagnose and fix issues, rebuild a GT6 engine, everything to use from which tools to what solvents, etc.

Papa was right — these are worth their weight in gold.

I’ve also discovered a few hints at the vehicle’s mileage too, including a half dozen or so data points where my grandfather record dates and mileage of maintenance tasks. I can tell by looking at this that he drove the car an average of 8,895 miles per year, whereas my father only drove it 1,612 miles.

What’s nice, is that after scanning all these pages, I not only was able to preserve some really cool notes from my grandfather during the first 18 years of this car’s life, but I have electronic versions of what are arguably the most valuable resources I could ask for in taking care of it.