Start with what the Triumph TR5 is: a Open two-seater with 2.5-litre straight-6, built from 1967 to 1968, in the decade that gave the world the pony car and the mid-engined supercar. What it meant takes a little longer. The shape is credited to Giovanni Michelotti.
The story
The Triumph TR5 is a sports car built by the Triumph Motor Company in Coventry, England. The Triumph TR250 is a version of the car built for the North American market. Production ran for 14 months, from August 1967 to September 1968.
What is underneath
The engine is 2.5-litre straight-6. On the scales it comes to 1030 kg. Drive goes through a 4-speed manual, optional overdrive. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 2240 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Its place in the line
In the Triumph line-up the Triumph TR5 has a clear place: it replaced the Triumph TR4A; it handed the line to the Triumph TR6; the factory was Coventry, United Kingdom. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Pontiac Firebird, the Alfa Romeo Spider, the Lamborghini Miura. Nearby in the Triumph catalogue sit the Triumph SD2 and the Triumph Renown.
Owning one today
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Triumph TR5 has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.