As a former owner of a brand new 1980 TR8, right out of the showroom I can tell you that, upgraded with the Rover 3.5 V8, these cars were wonderful. Comfortable, roomy, agile and quick with a lovely supple ride and laser accurate steering and perfectly adequate brakes. The TR7s had more Lucas electrical issues and build quality issues. I never had any problems except for an early run of glitchy solenoids. It was one of the best and most memorable cars I've ever owned and I still lust for one to this day.
A BL exec bought the final TR8 off the assembly line and loaned it to me for a movie. The acceleration was startling. Despite the wedge aero, I found myself becoming airborne across high crowned intersections. One of the funnest cars I've ever driven, even compared to the pre production prototype Acura NSX, Honda gave me soon after that. The Triumph combined poise with power in the most sublime way and the top down experience harkened back to my father's TR3.
This is a really informative and well produced video of the TR7, with great vintage footage and in-car camera work. I bought a new 1980 TR7 in the Persian Aqua color and it was my daily driver for 4 years. As a young architect I was in love with its progressive style at the time and drove it through all seasons, even snowy winters. My wife and I took numerous long distance trips throughout the US and never had a breakdown. I only sold it due to our growing family. A few years ago I searched for a TR8 and acquired VIN 408405, which is the last of the 69 cars destined for Canada. These are known as the 1982 models with CA in the VIN. My car was despatched on Oct. 20,1981, 2 weeks after Solihull closed. It was finalized with a skeleton crew of employees that pushed those last few cars out of the factory. I love the additional power of the V8 and have tweaked the engine to just above 200HP. It is a thrill to drive and a pleasure to work on. Thanks again for your special look back at the TR7 and its history.
Interesting. I wonder if it was the same TR8 Drophead the President of BL Canada loaned me for a TV show? It was silver, as I recall, and had a commemorative plaque on the dash attesting to it being the final chassis off the line.
Just a few notes from a fellow who managed a US Triumph dealer when the 7 was current: 1) Any criticism of the car's styling misses the fact that it was VERY current in the 1970s, when wedges were everywhere (even in exotics). 2) The interior was vastly superior to any of the competition: it was spacious and comfortable and the A/C (a rare factory item in a 1970s sports car) worked splendidly. 3) The labor troubles just CRIPPLED sales: over the years 1977-79 we got about half as many cars as we could have sold. 4) Not nearly enough comment has been made about the huge differences between the later (1977-on) cars and the earlier ones. The 5 speed gearbox and improved brakes and suspension from the SD-1 absolutely transformed the car. 5) The engines weren't so bad as many have said, but they were VERY sensitive to maintenance/servicing. We found that, if you did the pre-delivery servicing properly and stressed to the customer the importance of continued maintenance (which really wasn't unusually rigorous or expensive), the units were quite reliable. If you neglected those items, the engines were awful! 6) By the time the drophead and the 8 came on the scene, it was too little and too late. The poor reputation (even when not really deserved) had severely reduced demand, and the market was indeed changing, and BL had only itself to blame for not having done a better job. Pity.
Thanks for this, that’s great insight and reinforces / adds to what I’d found (and in some cases remembered). Pretty much all the whole 1978 model year’s production was lost, which my chart showed but I perhaps understated in the voiceover; and yes, there were a _lot_ of improvements when production restarted in Canley. But the exchange rate turned increasingly unfavourable by then, as well as the reputational damage as you say.
@@GrandThriftAuto 1978 supply problems probably did more to kill the car in the USA than anything else. We didn't have any times when there were none, but went from 20-30 sales per month to 5-6, and people got tired of waiting. Then, when the 8 and the drophead came out, the waiting lists grew again, but the supply never came close to catching up to demand. Patience is not an American virtue...
@Rusty Turner. Thanks for sharing your info. I owned three MGs (1967 MGB that rusted away, 1974 Midget that I had in High School and a 1979 Midget that I bought new during my first year of college in 1980). I tried doing all the typical aftermarket stuff to that poor '79 Midget (took the cylinder head off and had it milled down to increase the compression ratio, headers, Free Flow Air Filter, punched out the guts of the Catalytic Convertor, and a Monza Exhaust). I created an unreliable, still-slow monster that I ended up ultimately trading for a new Capri RS with 5.0 and 4 Speed. In one of the last of my many trips to the BL dealer to attempt to right all the wrongs on that poor Midget, the Service Manager told me if I wanted the kind of performance I clearly wanted, I shouldn't be trying to get it out of an MG, but rather I should get a TR7 or better yet a TR8. I think he was right.
"Any criticism of the car's styling misses the fact that it was VERY current in the 1970s, when wedges were everywhere (even in exotics)." I disagree that anyone who thinks this car is ugly today is simply "missing the fact" of wedge shaped cars generally. I was 18 when this was introduced, and I and my friends had already owned several British sports cars... me, several Sunbeam Alpines, a couple of TR-4's (still have one of these... CT507L), and an Austin Healy Sprite; my family and friends owned MGB's, a Midget. And I lusted after various wedge cars from Europe... Pantera, Ferrari, Lamborghini, and so on. Point being, I was immersed in the sports car scene at an early age, and owned them, drove them, drew them on every available scrap of paper. I read everything about them, saw them in the races at Lime Rock and Watkins Glen, and raced them ourselves. So we were QUITE aware of the styling options, and wedge cars, and conventional cars, too. Yet almost universally, we thought the TR7 was a clunky, unfortunate, atrociously fugly design. It was not and is not well proportioned, and did not evoke the clean balance and lines of other wedge cars, not in the least. Even back then it appeared an ignorant parody of them. "Current" as it may have been, it was a really bad interpretation of the wedge concept, and still stands out as a great example that trying to copy something one does not fully understand leads to a result that is worse than if you didn't even try.
One of my parents neighbors had a British Racing Green with tan interior and top example. She was the only divorcee in the neighborhood and purported to be quite promiscuous. I remember seeing her wash it scantily clad in her driveway every Sunday much to the chagrin of the wives in the neighborhood because their husband's were usually out washing their cars or mowing the lawn. I also remember seeing it leave the cul-de-sac quite frequently via a tow truck. It burned oil like a battleship and what it didn't burn it leaked. Electrical gremlins were rife and it rusted significantly within a few years. At any temperature below 32°F it became difficult or impossible to start and any over 85°F it overheated. She eventually traded it for a BMW 320i and drove BMW's exclusively for the rest of her life.
Just discovered your channel. Enjoyed the video, thank you. Subscribed. I'm a sixty year old Australian. When I was a lad British cars were still very common on our roads. I learned to drive in my Mum's Hillman Minx and my first car was a Morris 1100. Followed by two Austin 1800s, a Hillman Minx Series VI, and a Triumph 2500TC, so I'm not in any way down on British cars. In fact, given that the locally made Holdens held around 50% of the market in the 1950s it says something that so many British cars still managed to find homes here, and indeed, were assembled here. It does seem, however, that from, perhaps as early as the 1950s, the whole British car industry seemed determined to undermine itself. It's not as if there wasn't plenty of very good, forward-thinking engineering within the industry - my Morris 1100 being a good example. As someone who still has a long wishlist when it comes to British cars - and the Rover SD1 is very near the top of that list - there has always been a strong sense of "what could have been" with so many British cars. Even with our locally designed and manufactured Leyland cars, such as the P76. The cars were fundamentally good designs with huge potential, which then just seemed to fizzle. Or, like the Morris 1100, for example, left to soldier on with little to no development. I've pointed out to my children that if you watch British TV or films made prior to about 1980 you will see almost nothing but British made vehicles on the roads. I imagine that British people in the 1950s would have been shocked if you had told them that almost their entire motor vehicle industry would be extinct in about thirty years time. But then any 1950s Aussie would have told you that you were insane had you suggested that by the early 21st century there would be no more Holdens.
A work college of mine had a early version of the TR7. It was British racing green and it had, at the time, a rare 5 speed box. I had a Doly at the time. The dolly was very harsh in comparison. I liked the car. So when the Dolly was due for a change a few years later the convertible had just gone on sale in the UK. I wanted one. However, even thought the car was new to the market and I was offered a considerable discount I could not afford it. The alternative the salesman offered was a MGB. I said no thanks they are too old fashioned. Eventually I found a year old hard top with very little mileage. Had a glass sun roof added as art of the deal. I liked the car. The glass sun roof was large and when removed it was near enough for me to be open top. Styling wise I do not like the rear pillar vents or the rear lights. I still have an official (factory) workshop manual for a TR7. That has a subsection about the Sprint engined cars. I did not realise until now that some were actually produced. I had always thought tit was a proposal which never entered production.
I think the consensus is that they built 61 Sprints - the factory records are slightly ambiguous and some may have been recycled into other specs, so it's hard to be sure. Surprisingly, the Sprint has its own Wikipedia article, which gives more detail and cites a number of further references if you're interested: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph_TR7_Sprint
Odd but true story when the convertible was being developed. 2 guys went out in a prototype onto the dual carriageway next to the Canley plant, got up to 50 mph and the hood flew off. the bolts "holding" it were too small, and 2 of my fellow graduate trainees were sent out to look for it. This would have been between August 1977 and December if memory serves.
@@GrandThriftAuto Believe me, the idiocy I saw in only 6 months working at Browns Lane (the Jaguar assembly plant), Radford (the Jag engine plant) and Canley would fill a book, but nobody would believe it. It was chaos on an unimaginable scale. And that was before my Lancia Gamma delusion took hold.
@@GrandThriftAuto Ha, that's what happened to my brother in his 1967 Spitfire, motoring up the M6 heading to Scotland, in the middle of the night and raining, the top flew off somewhere in Cumbria.
As an owner of an absurdly bad produced 1966 BMC Mini, nothing amazes me! Even the front screen leaked in water in the corners, as well as from many other places! But I loved the look of the TR4 and 5, and also the Ghia designed TR6. But Luckily, it sems, I never owned one!! The Mini became my one and only ever English car (I bought a new BMW 2002 in 1970)!!
I was a mere boy when the TR7 was launched. I couldn't have cared less about TR5's, IRS or tradition. TR7's came in bright colours, had pop up lights and Joanna Lumley drove one on TV as did my mate's (hot) Mum. When I eventually drove one in the late eighties I found in an unexciting yet pleasant and competent car. Had BL launched the TR8 in 1976 as a RHD UK and LHD European model it would have absolutely, unquestionably cleaned up and possibly put a premature end to TVR. A well executed TR8 conversion with a standard Rover V8 is a lovely drive. What a shame :-(
Best review of a Tr7 I have seen ,fair and honest ,most just write them off as a sports Marina or Triumph saloon . Had two over the years an early yellow hardtop that I bought very cheaply off a elderly neighbour ,that was mint ,but the electrics let it down . I have recently sold the droptop that I bought as a hillclimb car that had come back from the states ,which was one of the last 4 cylinders built . Would have kept it but in my mid 70s I was getting a bit stiff for a sports car .Reliability was great and like the presenter said it handled with a good 5 speed gearbox . I usually drive cars with big engines and do my own maintenance as a retired mechanic ,so was pleasantly surprised after all the rubbish written about the old TR ,much easier & cheaper to keep on the road than a mates TR 6 with fuel injection ,but for some reason the TR 7 seems cheaply made with poor finish & thrown together ,the doors catches were always loose ,small leaks from the "newish" roof and the usual rattle or knock from the steering column ?. And don"t forget the brakes that should be on a go - kart & not a car -- - but after saying all that the mechanics were great ,never used any oil or fluids .Sold it on eBay ,with 4000 views and the young lad who bought it after a test drive into the Derbyshire lanes nearby ,bought it on the spot .I have another Rover P6 now which is also a rust free clean car from the Channel Islands , a much better car than the SD 1 I had previous . Happy Motoring ! .
Bought one brand new in 1978. My first new car and as an 18 year old I found it very sporty compared to what was being produced at the time. As my only car and in canada it worked quite well Summer and winter.
This is such a well produced episode. Your assessment of TR7 is so on spot! Well done! Your channel has become my favorite automobile channel in youtube. Thank you.. From a. Ex-TR7 convertible owner from Japan.
My TR7 had incorrect timing marks on the flywheel. It would never idle without stalling, and no BL dealer could put it right. Eventually it stalled in the backstreets of Leytonstone, and some excellent Hindustani mechanics in a lockup set it right by ignoring the timing marks. I went back to them again and again after that! Sold it on leaving the UK in 1985. In 1991 I bought an NA Miata and still have it 32 years later. A perfect sports car.
I remember being disappointed when a friend replaced his Alfasud 1.5ti for a TR7 in the late 70's. It just didn't seem right, both stylistically or in its handling. In (I think) 1979 a friend and I blagged our way to the London launch of the TR7 drophead (actually by cadging tickets from my friends boss and pretending to be him, I had to borrow a suit!). It was a champagne launch in a large dealership in Shoreditch on the edge of the City of London. Everybody agreed it was a VAST improvement in style but..... most of us were more interested in the Lenham Healey on the forecourt .... Oh, and I've never drank so much champagne in one go as I did that night.... easy when you're 23!!
I had a coventry built drophead TR7 that I bought from my ex girl freinds brother and used it as a daily runner, it had been resprayed in Toyota celica blue and as he used to work at the same place as the Red Arrows was sprayed with the same lacquer. I never had a problem with it and I still think it was one of the best handling cars I have ever had and it never let me down, the only pain was making sure that you kept the oil level topped up on the carbs. I would love to have another one.
Back in the 80's I bought a 1976 TR7, green with dark interior. I loved how it looked and handled, but didn't like it's build quality and lack of power. I had to carry a flashlight ( electric torch ) in the car because the dash lights would quit working at times. One night while parking it I turned off the lights and the right headlight wouldn't go down, that took a while to find the short. One day, as I was getting out, the drivers door fell off ( the pins fell out of the hinge ) in front of a group of people. If you drove it through a puddle the motor would quit. I got rid of it after a year of a love/hate relation with it. Years later I was looking at a Convertible TR7 ( Yellow w/black interior) and when I tested the headlights they went up, I turned them off and they went down.... then back up and right back down. They wouldn't stop, I pulled out the key but they keep on going up and down. The owner took his hands and pushed down on the lights and held them down until they quit. I thanked him and walked away.
Fair summary... the Speke plant closure was all part of rationalisation within Triumph... space became available at Canley with the termination of the big 2000 / 2500 saloons / estates and the Stags, together with their engines. The dropping of the Marina 4-speed gearbox for the Rover 5-speed was also a logical move. Later when the whole Triumph operation was decided to be wound down and the Dolomites and Spitfires (and the remaining pushrod engines) terminated (together with the Canley factory itself) then assembly was shifted to Solihull for the final runout of the TR7. The big saloons were replaced with the Triumph-engined 6 cylinder versions of the Rover SD1. Finally it had been decided that the sporting hatch / saloon market would be handled by MG versions of existing and forthcoming modern Austin models, and the "old duffer" Dolomite clientelle could buy a Triumph-badged Honda.
Well done Martin on a great review of the TR7 my uncle worked for Rover Solihull in the paint shop and he worked on many of the last TR7 and agreed with you that the Solihull and Canley cars were much better made It was a great car and sadly underrated it was a car of its era it should have been available as an open top from new and had the sprint engine I think the design has aged well and I am glad they have a following now I’ve always been a fan of them and remember my uncle bringing factory demonstrators home very late model cars including a TR8!
Thanks Daniel! Your uncle probably painted my own 1979 SD1, which makes a brief appearance in the video…it needs doing again now but it’s held up pretty well as they go 👍
@@GrandThriftAuto it’s entirely possible he had quite a career he started out at longbridge in BMC days moved to Jensen at West Brom (you should see his autograph books from the stars he met when they collected their cars) and then when Jensen went bust he went to rover and did almost 20 years there! Look forward to seeing more on your SD1!
I love the TR7. My dad had a Rover SD1 that spent a lot of time at the dealers and I would always go with him just to sit inside the tartan splendour of the TR7 in the showroom.
The TR7/8 has aged extremely well. Aspects of its design that seemed controversial at the time, such as that swage line down the side is now quite commonplace and the front aspect was always a sleek masterpiece. It certainly looked its best as a convertible as did the Jag XJS. Like so many of British Leyland's offerings at the time, it was a good, forward - thinking design that was ruined by the background turmoil that undermined everything the company did.
Yes, I was just thinking that this afternoon as I passed myriad cars with ‘that’ slash. Like the 70s Lotus Elite’s window line, it was decades ahead of its time and now it’s become universal!
@@GrandThriftAuto wow, someone who likes the '70s Lotus Elite. I always thought it was a neat piece of work, and dislike the chopped Eclat derived from it. Early Elites had engine troubles, due to rushed development. Must have had some ex-BL managers......
My friend and I have debated this for years. He thinks the TR7 is ugly and clearly inferior to the TR6. But I’ve actually been in one, and I think it’s a sleeper. The styling is… er… not a strong point, but the ergo and handling are excellent. And who doesn’t like plaid interiors?
I fell in love with the design when I saw a red one driving around the Annapolis waterfront in 1987. So in 1990 I found a nicely used 1980 TR7 convertible. For an 80s car, the design was solid. It handled great on back roads. Unfortunately the thing was horrendously built. The engine was feeble, every metal contact corroded into dust. You had to stall the engine when shutting it off so that it wouldn’t continue for an extra turn. Every fitting became loose. The door handles would become wobbly and eventually pull out of the door into your hand. The roof leaked, the A/C didn’t work and sapped engine power, the headlights wouldn’t retract. As a car, it was useless. I grew to hate it and eventually sold it to some sucker. I had a TR6 from 1988 through last year. An infinitely better car than the TR7. Sad to say, It was because of the TR7 that Triumph deserved to die.
the silver anniversary edition convertible a buddy had was a little BEAST. more power and better wheel+suspension+brake package right out the box. nicely balanced very good handling, I drove it hard many times.
The 30th Anniversary version did not include running gear upgrades - just the TR8 alloy wheels (but in a slightly different color, I think), Moto-Lita steering wheel, fog lights, and luggage rack. The 2.0L engine is unchanged.
I was a schoolboy when this came out. It was outrageous to the teenage eye. I have to say, I saw it as a less snappy X1/9, but that is not faint praise... it is still praise. I recall seeing a funky, electric green metallic TR8 on the hard at Putney and thinking it was from a other planet. They did a wacky stripe/fade with the TR8 graphic. I also recall seeing a "TR7 V8" around the same time and not really knowing the difference. I still don't know... Used and rusty and dogshit brown, they were the things my peers were knocking around in as first or second cars. Always a sort of joke, but also always sort of admired. Like an Allegro estate, a sort of escaper from the bin in the drawing office. To my eye, they have aged magnificently. They are now quite rightly loved. In the 80s, they were somehow ironically loved. Pedantic correction: Amalgamated Drawing Office, not Austin Design Office. Good video about a funky car.
@@Martindyna Indeed. Certainly "drawing" rather than "design'. It was from another time. Acres of draftsman's tables and plenty of natural light. It seems that on a pre-internet age the most frequently written me was "amalgamated", but the soup is slightly cloudier now. I do not know and do not pretend I ever will. What is odd is that it was written hundreds of times in documents within the company... But still we speak of a consensus rather than an accurate answer. That does on itself rather underline the extraordinary tensions and rivalries between marques... across the whole of BMC/BLMC/BL and all subsequent chimaeras. Somehow, the idea of Spurs and Arsenal amalgamating and playing as one team seems childishly tame on comparison.
My uncle worked for a chevy dealer in Tx in the 70s. A like new TR6 came in on the used lot and my cousin got it. That was a fun little car. The convertible aspect made me jealous as well. lt did however have lucas wiring which is apparently delicious to rats and everything failed in a predictable sequence. He finally traded it for Norton chopper. Bad mistake.
Had a second hand one, java green, with the 4 speed as they'd had issues with the early 5 speed. Lovely car, worked well, drove better than the spitfire, MGB and others of the era. Handled really well, quicker than expected - I once flew around Chiswick roundabout at a ridiculously high speed and it he'd the line like it was on rails. Had it for a couple of years and would happily have one again, although I might struggle getting in and out of it these days. Much better than it was given credit for, easy to work on at home and never let me down for the 2 years I had it. The old buyers of TR's didn't like it because it was different, but they missed out on a good car, well except for the Friday afternoon cars.
One Triumph Spitfire that came to Halifax Nova Scotia suffered from a engine hood that was not attached. My friend drove away from the dealership and the hood abandoned the car. The dealer repaired the paint and secured the hood. He said this kind of thing happened a lot at Halifax British Motors.
I've long been a champion of the car. Certainly not without fault but certainly also, not as bad as people would imagine. Interior made it a very nice place to be. Top down; you could really see where Mann was coming from. Spen King would rightly argue; that a well located live rear axle was better than a poor IRS and he meant exactly the TR6. I'd always felt that if the car had started its production run in Canley and not Speke then it may've been more popular still. Also as to why the 16v sprint engine had never been commercially available beggars belief...
Very informative, I always loved the look of the TR7 but and no idea it was not fuel injected. Now the Mazda MX5 is the go-to for a simple yet reliable convertible is far superiour mechanically but in my opinion the looks are not as good Thanks for posting this video.
A brilliant effort Martin, each video you do breaks new ground and is better than the last. Your presentation of the story is really good and it makes a refreshing change from the usual hatchet job these get. I definitely would get one of these if I had the space to be adventurous.
I have a friend who has 12 yikes. But I'd love one of thr rare Sprint versions with a Dolomite motor but with Tr7 specific manifold different to the Dolomite saloon 16v. 60 plys were built. I like and hate the looks but it's not X1/9 good dynamically. The convertible looks the best.
I remember when the TR7 came out. I was working at a gas station then, I liked the car. I did though wonder why no convertible version. 0 - 60 in only 9 seconds was EXCELLENT performance in the 70s in this country, as emissions regs had severely reduced performance compared to what you could get from the later 50s through the 60s. When the TR8 came out, I was wishing I could get one. I think many people at that time didn't like the Wedge shape, and the earliest cars were not well made, not not very many cars were well made in the 70s. The automakers were doing all they could to meet emissions and safety regulations, leaving little time for anything else, so build quality suffered.
I had opportunity to work on a customers TR8 in the early 90's, quite the different beast to the common as muck 7's the rover V8 giving a certain needed effortless waft.
The main problem with the TR7 was the dreaded rust they used to self destruct in front of your eyes , had one when new and sold it less than six months later.
My only experience with the TR7's design was ownership of an early Saab 99 that used the Triumph engine. The reliability of that engine, especially the electronics, would not encourage me to won a TR7.
Drove a 73 MGBGT around for 30 years. Great car , loved it. Only cost me around 300, 000 Can. dollars in maintenance but it was all worth it. When I first saw the TR7 I was horrified, thinking it looked so odd. But I saw one running around a few months ago and thought how nice it looked. It is funny how the brain see's things , we have got used to that wedgey design and does not look out of place at all anymore.
Well done! Of all the LBC's the TR7 was one that (oddly) never made my wish list. Not really sure why? Through a stranger than strange business deal with a partner that owed me some $ for a few years I agreed to take partical payment in the form of a sight unseen TR6 (year unknown). (I live in Ohio, the TR was in Flordia & I just happen to have a friend down there who had trailered a car to his son in the army so he would be returning with an empty trailer.) And that is how I ended up with a 1979 TR7 DHC. Not a bad car but I may have been better off putting a small V8 or V6 in it instead of refurbishing the 2.0 liter 4.
... and then Mazda came along and built a rear engine sports car in the late 1980's, the MX5, which is still being built today. Its one of the most reliable cars on the road.
I liked the TR7 even if the X1/9 was sexier. It was right to try to be date with a wedge. The Spitfire was way prettier than the shapeless MGB (though the coupé was better) but even back then nostalgia wasn't what it used to be. They wouldn't want to get stuck like the horrendous Bonneville which was totally outclassed by the Japanese fours.
I've never driven a TR7... But I do have a 2017 FIAT 124 Spider. The truth is, I can not stand to drive it with the top up. Living in Georgia, (USA) I can pretty much drive it year round, with the top down. I wouldn't have it any other way.
LT77, hmm. bought an SD1 in 1983, one car I looked at had already had the cirlclip keeping the laygear in mesh replaced, - they liked to drop off leaving you with just 4th gear, the car I actually bought did the same thing 3 years later, then a Cowley built Vitesse I ran from 1987 also suffered the same fate in 1990. So a problem that was known pretty much right from the start was never fixed in 10 years or more.
I haven’t heard of that particular issue with the LT77. I do know their durability depends heavily on using the right gearbox oil (ATF if I recall, but don’t quote me on that).
Of course, one cannot compare any surviving Leyland cars with any others built and used at the time. The simple act of keeping the thing on the road all this time leads to minor improvements over the years just by servicing things. Even if original parts are used, the sheer 'hand-made-ness' of doing such things leads to not just a complete overhaul, but a de facto total restoration... At the time, Leyland was a bad joke, with even young boys whose fathers watched the news knowing that management was incompetent and could see for himself that Auntie's Mini looked pretty much identical to Hippy Brother-in-Laws early 60s clapped our junker kept on the road with string, chewing gum prayer which he essentially swapped his guitar for. So yeah, the TR7 DID mostly look the part, but little boys like me wished they been made by Ford - cos at least they'd WORK...
I wrenched these cars at a US Triumph dealership since day one: reliability issues and spares availability drove owners to madness. While I have no overview of sales and marketing trends, it seems a likely guess that "word of mouth" boiled over in a bad way. Just like the Dolomite engine.
Fact of the matter is that the US market would have had many more sales if the car started off with the V8. The four just did not have the power or reliability that the US market demanded.
I’m sure that’s true. The four was very much strangled by the emissions controls - it was a lot better in European spec. I think the main problem with the V8 was how to produce enough of them, early on, when the higher margin SD1 and Range Rover were taking all the V8s they could produce.
I have only ever been in one TR7, and it was horrible. This may have been partly due to it being driven by an asshat who only had two positions for his clutch pedal, down and up, and a similar system of "control" for his accelerator pedal, on or off, which made the ride somewhat "jerky". The seats were set very low, so anyone under 6 foot tall, which I am, could hardly see out. Compared to the utterly gorgeous TR6, I thought it was a hideous car just to look at, like it had been carved from the solid with an axe. 40+ years of looking at them has not changed my opinion.
I had one, what more can be said. Had it several years, can't think of a month i wasn't fixing something on it, although it was 8 years old when i bought it, so i suppose it was already worn out. Mine had vinyl roof with one way mirror sunroof.
Still have the Haynes manual with appropriate many greasy pages. Car i did my driving test in 1985. I would have another tomorrow, if like new. Gearbox on my car was dreadful. I took it apart. Got a stupid fibre gear pump full of swarf.
I owned a US TR-7 convert, the Platinum edition. It looked good by the standards of the time, even with the Rubbermaid bumpers, and the layout and ergonomics were OK, too. It wasn't fast, but it looked sort of fast. But the steering. oy. Heavy around town, but the worst of it was that, after a hard righthand turn, the steering pulled hard to the right; after a hard lefthand turn, it pulled hard to the left. The dealer agreed that it was very wrong (something about the shock colums getting wound up in the turning process) but ended up saying, that's just the way it was. I sold it after 4 months, a record short ownership for me at least. I hope it didn't kill the next guy.
I have had a Dolomite Sprint and a TR7. They are both great, but quite different in character, as you might expect. The TR7 handles better than the Sprint.
A well produced video…. I bought my 1980 drop head in 1986. Soon afterwards the water pump started leaking at 33k miles. 3 years later it needed new outer sills and 4 inner and outer wheel arches. 2 years after that it had new metal let in at the suspension strut tops and rear bulkhead, which I discovered it needed after I converted it myself to better than factory TR8 specification. It embarrassed TVR V8’s back in the day. More smiles per mile and still going strong. Free road tax and ULEZ compliant at almost 43years old. 😊
But the car was chosen very deliberately to suit Lance: what would a single, lonely, balding, middle-aged man with quirky hobbies choose to drive in a low-budget mid-life crisis? Far from making the car look cooler, it’s another nail in the car’s coffin! The poor old 7 will never be cool or sexy like its predecessors were but it’s still nice to see one on the show.
Good video. The TR7's poor reliability wasn't just the fault of the design and assembly, many of the components were pure garbage. I had a '76 and became intimately familiar with the local British Auto Electric shop as many Lucas (Prince of Darkness) parts failed. I had an electrical fire that destroyed the wiring harness, had both headlights fail simultaneously, had an alternator fail. Other components were just as bad - a failed wheel bearing, a failed fuel pump, failed air injector, etc. Despite liking the car immensely, as the thing was in the shop every few months I had to get rid of it.
This is the second video I have seen by this Presenter. It is well researched, and well presented by someone who has done his homework. No superfluous ‘waffle’ or unnecessary content. In conclusion, an excellent history of the TR7.
I like them immensely - always have, from the early hardtops to the late TR8s. I remember Purdy’s from The New Avengers - Dinky also made a toy version, albeit in yellow, like her MGB. I very nearly bought a TR7 drop head many years ago - but close inspection revealed rather a lot of filler and rattle can paintwork……….pity that the ‘7’ never got the Dolly Sprint engine - I never understood why not. Great video as always - enjoyed the animation and Brummie accent at the start!
The Sprint engine had a terrible reliability record and massive warranty claims, plus it was due to be canned in 79/80. The 2000 'O' Series and the Rover V8 were the way to go.
Thank you for the great video. I would have liked to see a test drive of the TR8. As an aside, I never understood the hatred in Britain around the TR7. It's a pretty car, inside and out, that handles well, quickly, and with the V8 is properly fast.
@@GrandThriftAuto the TR8 was more than just a better engine, the suspension was far, far better. It felt like a completely different car, and better in every way.
Back then I was modifying my car to super improve my cornering ability when a friend bought one. I took it around my back roads route and it did very well. When I missed a turn a little that usually bottom out my front suspension, the TR7 took it in stride. Had great wheel travel! It wasn't a drag racer which would be unusable on the route I use but it cornered on rough roads very well.
When my wife and I were courting, she bought this car for me (more or less) and it blew up several times. It routinely overheated, and it was $700 each time late in the 1970s. A glamorous nightmare, really. But what a woman! Still married 42 years later.
I bought new a TR7 in 1980. I was in my 20s and this car was a chick magnet. I loved it. The only issue I had was with the gas pedal cable. The firewall kept sawing it half. I always carried a spare and could change it myself on the side of the road. I wish we still had these small two seater convertibles with 5 speeds like the TR7. And as I was in my 20s with little money, the car was very affordable. I would buy a Miata but the current version without the pop up head lights just doesn't have that the same appeal. We just never get to see two Miata's passing each other popping up their head light in respect like we did with the TR7.
Thanks so much for that video - brought back so many memories of the TR7 drophead my father had back then when I was a kid... I still remember the thrill of being chauffeured around in such an exciting sports car (being used to the VW beetles of my grannies, where I lived, the TR7 was nothing less than that!), me enjoying one of the Smith&Kendon travel sweets, that always were to be found in centre console, while my father was smoking his John Player's No6... happy times 😊
I really liked them. Apart from build quality, its biggest fault was that it wasn't a TR6, or even close. The TR8 was what the TR7 should have been from the outset but came far too late. And the dhc was a cracker!
Great video - always meant to add a tr7 to the fleet - still have my 1982 austin rover range brochure to drool over. My drinking buddy actually designed the bonnet for it and has a production drawing for it somewhere! Nice car and I agree - the interior especially was light years ahead of the other cars and (don’t tell anyone) better than the 70s or even 80s golf or fords in my opinion. Must check out fleabay….. :)
I've been told, by a man building race-SAABs, that any old SAAB 99/900 engine fits on any of their gearboxes, with attention to the oil-pickup. This means that you can fit a SAAB 2.3 litre 16 valve turbo engine to the bell housing and oil pan of a Triumph. Imagine a 300+ hp Dolomite or TR7!
Brilliantly researched and presented Martin. The time and effort you're putting in is to be applauded. I hope this video receives the recognition it deserves and has a certain former Wheeler Dealer questioning his viewpoint on these iconic cars. I could see you really enjoyed the drive as well, a cheeky grin appearing here and there says it all.
