FWIW, the TR6 was called the 'last of the hairy chested sports cars" in
another period magazine.
Bob Kramer
TR4, TR4A, TR6, 2.5 Saloon
rgk@flash.net
----- Original Message -----
From: Fred Marks <marks_fred@yahoo.com>
To: <triumphs@autox.team.net>
Sent: Friday, January 12, 2001 3:45 PM
Subject: BMW "Z" and Triumph TR. Men's Cars? Long
>
> Listers...
>
> Get your flamethrowers ready... :-)
>
> Laura noted correctly that there are very few women
> driving BMW "Z" cars. Personally I'm not surprised.
> I don't think the car has much appeal to very many
> women, unlike say the 3-series convertible seems to.
> The Z is not "cute," like a Miata, it's styling is
> very aggressive looking. It doesn't coddle the driver
> like a 3-series does, (I own one of them and it's the
> kind of car one can make a ton in without paying much
> mind to the act) while the Z is a bit of a handful to
> drive fast. Refined, yet still demanding.
>
> Putting it in perspective, as I remember it was a
> rarity (and I know there were and are exceptions) for
> a woman to own and drive a TR6. I recall reading back
> in '75 or '76 in either Motor Trend or R&T a review of
> the TR6 in comparison to the Datsun Z-car, MGB, Fiat
> X-1/9 and other sports cars of the time. The article
> summarized the TR6 as (not my words) a "man's sports
> car," one requiring heavy driver inputs and hard work
> to drive at speed.
>
> Two phrases I remember to this day from that article,
> describing the '6 as requiring "two arms and a leg to
> steer" and referring to the act of stepping on the
> brake pedal as "akin to kicking a rock."
>
> Damn, I read that 25 years ago and it still sticks
> :-)
>
> A Man's sports car? Ask me today if I think that's a
> lot of sexist rot and I'll surely agree. Sure it is.
> But throughout the 70's I think I can recall only the
> barest handful of women driving TR6s. I think it's
> very much the same with the BMW Z3 today.
>
> Spitfires have always had a lot of women
> owner/drivers, just as Miatas do today. Both these
> cars are very, very different in personality from the
> TR and the Z. Personally, I think the TR and the Z
> are bred of the same mettle.
>
> The BMW Z platform would make a lousy Spitfire, I
> agree. But a TR? Hmm.
>
> Just food for thought. .:BuRp.:.
>
> Fred Marks (ducking and covering :-)
> GT6 V6 Conv. Proj. Car
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