Thanks to all for the help and suggestions. I guess I didn't make it clear
that I was looking for a 14" black leather, slotted wheel---with *black
spokes*. That was the difficulty, except for the cheaper British Victoria
wheel. Now, however, I'm thinking that all the aftermarket wheels look
markedly different than the original ('72 TR6) wheel anyway, e.g. they have
much smaller "open book" Triumph shields on the horn-push. I've also
noticed that a smaller-diameter wheel (even a 14") has a different
"personality" than the stock wheel. Who knows why? So I've decided to go
with black on black three-hole drilled. Why the fetish for black? Because
the '72 has black bezels around the instruments. There isn't a sign of
polished metal in or around the dash of the pre-73 TR6s. Any wheel with
polished metal spokes is going to stand out as a singular item in that
interior. Hence, black spokes to match black bezels. Notice that when the
factory switched to chrome bezels in '73, the wheel got polished metal
spokes.
I also changed my mind about the top, deciding to go for a Robbins *with*
the reflective tape. That duplicates the original U.S. top quite well, and
it represents (however crudely) the safety concerns of the time. I've been
told that a specific amount of reflective surface had to show on the side
of a car sold in the U.S., and Triumph didn't want to enlarge the
wrap-around tail lights. I don't *know* this is true, but it sounds
credible.
Why the concern? Because I realize there's a certain amount of "historic
preservation" at stake in these vehicles, especially as their numbers
diminish. A good TR6 is becoming more and more difficult to find. Many of
them are not being well maintained, probably because people consider them
fairly common. But just about as many TR3s were produced as TR6s. Which
is food for thought. And the TR6 is a more refined automobile, which will
eventually play in its favor.
--Phil Haldeman
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