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The 'Triumph TR7' was a sports car manufactured from September 1974 to October 1981 by the Triumph Motor Company, part of British Leyland, in the United Kingdom. It was initially made at the Speke, Liverpool factory, moving to Coventry in 1978 and finally to the Rover plant in Solihull in 1980. The car was launched in the United States in January 1975, with the UK home market debut not following until May 1976. The UK launch was delayed at least twice because of high demand for the vehicle in the US.
The car was characterized by its "wedge" shape, penned by Harris Mann who also designed the wedge-shaped Leyland Princess; and by a curved line in the bodywork going from the door to the rear. The car had an overall length of 160 inches (406 cm), width of 66 inches (168 cm), wheelbase of 85 inches (216 cm) and height of 49.5 inches (126 cm). The coupé had a kerbside weight of 2005 pounds (1000 kg). During development, the TR7 had the code name "Bullet".
Power was provided by a 105 bhp (78KW) (92 bhp in the North American version) 1998cc 8-valve four-cylinder engine which shared the same basic design as the Triumph Dolomite Sprint engine mounted in-line at the front of the car. There were plans to directly use the Sprint engine (127 bhp) in the TR7 and at least 25 pre-production cars were made in 1977 using the 1978 model year bodyshell. No production cars were built or sold. Drive was to the rear wheels via a four-speed gearbox initially with optional five-speed gearbox or three-speed automatic from 1976. The front independent suspension used coil spring and damper struts and lower single link at the front, and at the rear was a four link system again with coil springs. There were front and rear anti roll bars. The cars had disc brakes at the front and drums at the rear.
In early 1979, Triumph belatedly introduced a convertible version, called the 'TR7 Drophead', which first went on sale in the US. The British market received it in early 1980.
For export, Triumph created a 'TR8': a TR7 with the 135 bhp Rover 3·5 L V8 engine. While some genuine TR8s stayed in Britain, these are exceedingly rare. Most went to the US, where they did not fare well due to Triumph's poor build quality of the time.
As part of a rationalisation introduced by BL boss Sir Michael Edwardes, the Triumph TR7 was cancelled in 1981. In total, 112,368 TR7s were built along with 2,722 TR8s.
In the UK in 1980 the TR7 Drophead sold for £5,050, and the Coupé for £5,230.
British Leyland ran a team of TR7s in rally competition from 1976 to 1980. These cars used the 16 valve Dolomite Sprint or Rover V8 engine and had disc brakes on all four wheels. They were reasonably successful on tarmac events but did not do well on off road sections.

Contents

The TR7 in fiction

Top Gear

External links

The TR7 in fiction

★ In the Fiona Walker novel ''Snap Happy'', one of the incidental characters drives his three friends to a party in a rusty Triumph TR7. Fiona Walker was obviously unaware that the car only had two seats!

★ Also featured in The New Avengers

Top Gear

★ On the DVD special ''Clarkson: Heaven and Hell'', presenter Jeremy Clarkson set up a jousting contest between a TR7 and a Ford Scorpio Mk II - both of which he regards as two of the ugliest cars ever made. On the third round of the contest, both cars collided head-on and exploded. [1]

External links

★ The Triumph Experience

★ History and Information on the Triumph TR7

★ World Wide TR7 TR8 Owners Club