Magic Reunites Simon Cowell With His 1971 Triumph TR6, His First Auto Love
I guess you`ve all heard the bad news about Simon Cowell by now… today’s money) he’d borrowed for friends, was waiting for him under a silky wrap. Trixy swore that this was not a replica but the exact same car from back then, fully restored. Inside the glovebox was a gift box that held Bruno’s “disappeared” wristwatch.
Simon was shocked and admitted that the whole thing felt “unreal.” In a rare show of emotion, he planted a kiss on the hood of the TR6 before heading back inside to join the other judges.
The Triumph TR6 is a sports car made by Triumph Motor Company but, somehow ironically, a rarity in its home country because more than 90% of the units produced were exported to the U.S. Powered by Triumph’s 2.5-liter straight-6 engine mated to a four-speed manual transmission, it had body styling by Karmann and came with the in-house removable hardtop as an option.
As for the “magic” behind the reunion, chalk it off to TV magic. From what we can tell, this ’71 TR6 was restored (and owned) by TR6 enthusiast and rebuilder Dave Lewis after Cowell sold it. At some point, it emerged for sale on a specialized UK site, asking £17,001 ($21,400 at the current exchange rate).
The seller included in the listing a message for Cowell to meet up just so he could see the car and how well it’d been maintained since he last drove it.
That’s not direct proof that Cowell himself was in on the big surprise within this magic act, but it does point out that producers knew all about it and even facilitated it. And bear in mind that Simon is one of the producers.