Triumph Vitesse Buyer's Guide
The Vitesse is a Herald with a straight six and quad headlamps, which made it the cheapest six-cylinder car in Britain in 1962 and, on our numbers, arguably still is: two sold results at £2,700 and £3,740. A four-seat convertible with a smooth six for the price of a mid-range e-bike is the kind of anomaly this market occasionally leaves lying around.
Know your versions
Three steps across 1962–1971, all on the Herald's separate chassis. The original 1600 (70bhp, 1962–1966) is sweet but slightly undergunned. The 2-Litre of 1966–1968 (95bhp) brought the GT6's engine and proper performance, but paired it with the old swing-axle rear end, making it the liveliest handler of the family in the wrong sense. The Vitesse MkII (1968–1971, 104bhp) is the resolved car: the GT6 Mk2's rotoflex-derived lower-wishbone rear suspension tamed the tuck-under, and it is the version the club scene steers first-time buyers toward. Saloon and convertible were offered throughout; the convertible carries the premium, and factory convertibles (built as such, not cut down) are the ones to have.
What to pay
Two sales in our records: a 1967 2-Litre at £2,700 in April 2026 and a 1970 Mk2 at £3,740 a fortnight earlier, median £3,220. A 1966 car is currently estimated at £5,000–£7,000, which shows where better examples pitch. Read the market as £2,700–£3,740 for honest usable cars on our sold evidence, with the £5,000–£7,000 estimate representing the good-condition tier. Excellent Mk2 convertibles trade above all these figures nationally; our data cannot yet quantify that gap.
What goes wrong
The Herald checklist with more torque going through it. Chassis outriggers, main rails around the rear spring mount and the front suspension mounts rot, and the bolt-on bodywork can disguise a terminal frame; inspect from underneath first, always. Front trunnions need oil (not grease) or the vertical links eventually fail. On pre-MkII cars the swing-axle rear will jack and tuck under if you lift off mid-corner; a swing-spring or MkII-type conversion is a worthwhile fix and common. MkII rotoflex couplings perish and clonk, a cheap part but a fiddly job. The six is the good news: understressed, smooth and long-lived, with the usual Triumph caveat of crankshaft thrust washer wear, checked in minutes at the front pulley. Overdrive is the option that transforms the car; verify it engages cleanly. All panels and most trim are available through the Herald and Vitesse club suppliers, which is half the argument for the car.
Our view
A MkII Vitesse convertible with overdrive is the best cheap six-cylinder classic in Britain, and at our £3,220 median the entry fee is trivial for a car this well supported: complete parts supply, a friendly club, home-mechanic simplicity. The 2-Litre at £2,700 money is fine if you respect the rear axle or convert it. Buy the frame, not the paint; everything else about a Vitesse can be fixed on a kitchen-table budget.
