13 Jul 01
The TR7 was a completely new kind of Triumph sports car for the '70s, a wedge-shaped Coupe with a four-cylinder engine built to satisfy a new and more demanding clientele. For most of its life, it was available only in closed form and the shape - never a pretty sight - was highly controversial.
Powered by a 105 bhp, 1998 cc version of Triumph's slant-four, it had a top speed of just 110 mph - well down on that of the meaty straight-six TR6. The promised Dolomite Sprint engined version never materialised, although prototypes were built. A five-speed gearbox made the car a nicer drive from 1976 and the TR7 did handle and ride better than its forebears but, somehow, it lacked personality.
The convertible didn't appear until 1979, by which time the car was already on death row, beset by build-quality problems. One uplifting last-ditch development was the V8-engined TR8, which gave the car the kind of urge it should have had from the beginning. But by then (1980) it was too late and British Leyland closed the TR7 production lines in 1981.
Unloved as it was, it would be a mistake to dismiss the TR7 as a total flop: 112,000 were built in just six years. Curiously, if you really want a four-cylinder TR7, you might have trouble, because most of the good ones seem to have been converted to use Rover V8s.
