Dr Mark K Loeschen

In 1979, I purchased my first Triumph, a used dark brown Spitfire from the British Leyland dealer in Kansas City. I traded in my 1971 Mustang and never looked back. At the time I kept searching for a TR-6 but couldn’t find any that were in good enough shape and affordable while in graduate school. The brand new yellow ’76 TR-6 in the dealership was tempting but way over my pocketbook at $7000. I kept the brown Spitfire for four years until I went back to school and then had to sell it for tuition.
After I moved to Phoenix in 1987, I kept looking for a TR-6 but just never found one I liked. I purchased another Spitfire in 1993, a used 1980 in white with only 12,000 miles. It had been in storage for 10 years but almost immediately I got an offer to sell it for twice what I had paid and was once again without a Triumph.
In 1996, I finally found a white TR-6 which seemed to be in good enough shape at a reasonable price. The previous owner in the process of restoring it but as it turned out it still needed a lot of work. I have since replaced the engine twice and have progressed from dual Weber to triple Keihin carburators. With the exceptions of the rear end and body paint everything else has been repaired or replaced.
Last summer while surfing E-Bay I located a 1978 Spitfire in BRG with less than 17,000 original miles. Ironically, like its relative I had purchased in 1993, this Spit also had been in storage for a long period of time. So after a week of bidding I was the owner of two Triumphs.
This past spring after walking into AZ SuperBikes on a whim I realized I had finally come across a Triumph which would be relatively maintenance free, would not leak on my garage floor, would be the fastest Triumph I would ever own and above all would be the most fuel efficient, a red 955i Daytona. So now I have a Triumvirate of Triumphs each one very special in its own right.