That is quite funny actually - never thought of it like that before, but I guess that must happen a lot round the world with different markets and what is popular and not.
Little British cars in general are becoming more and more rare in the US. You could blame the workmanship during the British Leyland era, or the fact that they were already rusting as they rolled off the assembly line, I blame the fact that they were pretty much designed to be cheap throw away cars. Toys that have a short life span. The lack of internet support and parts did most of them in before the 21st century. A 60s mustang had a ton of “modern” features these did not. But now that they’re classics, none of that matters. You overlook its prehistoric appearance and outdated tech because you’re seeing it as a classic, not a new car.
But the other reasons good restorable models are becoming more and more rare is 1) people here don’t know they exist or have forgotten about them. I never really saw Triumphs. Maybe a spitfire once or twice a decade. I saw my first GT6 rotting away behind some building and made it my mission to learn about this car as it did not even have badging, so I literally had no way of knowing what it was.
Those who do know about these cars tend to be British themselves. They may have even helped build them back in the day. Most little British cars were shipped overseas, with the US getting the bulk of them. I always thought it was strange why so many cars made in the UK were rear wheel drive convertibles, the possibly worst type of vehicle to drive in the UK (no offense). But that was because they were building them for us. So now the surviving vehicles, those in the US, are being bought up and shipped back to their homeland.
Nice TR6 by the way - unusual to see a tin top one - most are convertible that we see in these parts.
Thanks, GT6. They are like Spitfires, but with a fastback roof and 6 cylinder engine. Very rare, though I did not know that when I bought it. Thankfully Spitfires existed, and in bulk, because buying parts for such a rare car would have been quite difficult, but if you need to replace rusted out metal, there’s a lot of panels they sell that are interchangeable.
I managed to invade the Triumph Clubs visit to the Imperial War Museum Duxford a couple of years ago as I know someone who has an old Triumph Herald. Drove in with all the Triumph's and was asked what I was in. "A Triumph Stang" I responded, pointing at the Stag in front of me...
Did this museum have a WWII exhibit? If so, you could’ve pulled a joke about how you saw all the spitfires trying their best, and felt that they needed a mustang to do a quick flyby to finish off things. (Both vehicles were named after their countries WWII fighter planes, and we Americans love to take full credit for winning the war for you guys)
