My name is Sean Carvalho, and this blog will be covering the restoration of my 1970 GT6+. I am 23 years old, and currently studying Mechanical Engineering at Conestoga College. The simplest way to describe myself is that I am a gear head. I love everything to do with technology, mechanics, and cars. I currently own my Triumph, as well as a 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer.

My appeal to the GT6 is not anything new, as I have been exposed to this car for years now. When I was still in elementary school, my dad always surprised my brothers and I with cool gifts, treats and mechanical toys. He made the three of us two go-karts to race around in, and had a ton of miscellaneous items in the basement that would usually end up being used as make belief guns. In the early years of elementary, my dad brought home some cool looking car that I had never seen before – all I can remember is that I fell in love with the idea of a car having a wooden dash board. Like many things in our household, it ended up sitting in the garage untouched and eventually was sold to someone who had more motivation for it. This beautiful mystery car was taken away.

Moving forward a couple of years, a different mystery car came back into the house. Not being able to identify cars, my dad told me that it was a Triumph GT6, the same vehicle that had been dwindling away in our garage years ago. Once again, my main attraction to the car was the dash. Being naive at the time, I tried to convince my dad to cut the roof off to make it a convertible. I cringe at the idea of this now, however everyone starts somewhere. Much like the last car, this one was sold to a neighbor who still to this day is working away at restoring it. The second car was gone.

July of last year was the most recent exposure to this British beauty. I was getting sushi in Kitchener with a friend of mine. After our feast, we both departed on our drive home. Leaving the plaza where the sushi restaurant is located, there is a bus terminal and parking lot. To my surprise, there was a gorgeous GT6+ in none other than British racing green parked outside in the overcast. This was the original inspiration; this car that I loved as a kid suddenly reintroduced back into my mind. I knew at this point that I wanted one, I needed one.

The Beginning – First GT6 Sighting in Kitchener

The next little while I starting looking around for a GT6. My dad told me that there was a Spitfire for sale that an older gentleman was trying to get rid of. It was recently restored but still needed a fair amount of work. Not wanting to settle on a car that wasn’t a GT6, my search moved to the internet. It started with Kijiji, where I was on my way to see one only to have the owner call me to tell me that it just sold. I had posted a wanted advertisement as well, with no luck. I moved to eBay hoping to have better luck. Although my searches didn’t yield any success, I had told my dad about my search. Quite literally five minutes later he comes down the stairs to show me the car that would eventually become my own.

The owner Jason had too many projects on the go, and was moving to a new address. He didn’t have time for the car so he had put it up for sale on eBay. I will quote his description, as I think it suits the car’s condition the best; “A pickers dream”. Jason lives in California, where mentioning road salt will prompt a questioned look on their residents faces. Skipping the details, the car itself was in excellent condition for a restoration; excellent panels throughout, a second motor (the previous owner installed an MKI motor / transmission on this particular GT6+/MKII), and most of the parts needed to finish the car save some interior bits. That night I bypassed all of the bidders and hit the buy it now price of $2900 USD – a bargain for this project.

There was one catch; there was no title. Being an optimist, I disregarded this minor/major bump in the road and proceeded with the sale. Little did I know what was to come. Here starts the beginning of my GT6+ restoration.

– Sean