TR7, not a Triumph of engineering | Drive Flashback

24/04/2024 21:35

Original story by Tony Davis published in Drive on 18 April, 1997

Hailed as Leyland’s first genuinely new sports car in a decade and a half, the Triumph TR7 hit the Australian market in mid-1978. Its only real achievement was to make every backyard kit-car maker feel like a fine craftsman

Built by an imploding Leyland in the industrial nightmare of 1970s Britain, the TR7 had been lambasted on both sides of the Atlantic long before we saw it here.

Soon after the model came to Australia, the supply dried up for six whole months as yet another industrial dispute halted British production.

The first Aussie examples were reasonably well received, yet even the most sympathetic reviewers struggled to accept the massive bumpers, the huge, heavy tail and that gruesome side crease.

Triumph’s designers had aimed the car at the American market at a time when safety and emission regulations were changing drastically. They ended up with a tintop when TR buyers expected a convertible. And a strict two-seater at a time when Datsun’s two-plus-two Z-Car was outselling the standard version by four-to-one.

The TR7 was designed to look mid-engined; [but] its powerplant was in the nose. It was supposed to set new aerodynamic benchmarks; testers complained of “unbearable” noise at 130km/h.

Its barely adequate power came from the 2.0-litre, 69kW four-cylinder used in the Triumph Dolomite sedan.

Handling was acceptable, to be just, and it had a five-speed manual 'box. But to the standard English fare of poor ventilation, iffy controls, crook electrics and dismal build quality, the TR7 added poor outward visibility in all directions. And tartan upholstery.

By the end of the 1970s, an open top TR7 became available in the US and UK, but none came here officially. Even a V8 version (TR8) saw slender light of day, but the game was up.

Within a few years Triumph went the way of Alvis, Austin, Morris, Riley, Standard, Wolseley and all those other expired BMC-Leyland marques. Tony Davis

So, what happened next?

Sadly, the end.

The Triumph TR7 was the last sports car built by the British brand, ending a lineage dating back to 1946 and the Triumph 1800 Roadster.

Successive TR models – from TR2 through to arguably the apogee of the TR lineage, the TR6 – cemented Triumph's reputation as a maker of affordable and fun sports cars.

That all ended with the TR7 and the last-ditch effort that was the TR8, the Triumph brand, and British Leyland as a whole, consigned to the history books.

While history hasn't been kind to the TR7, it's worth pointing out it was, in terms of sales, the most successful TR model of all.

Around 115,000 TR7s were manufactured, a total including around 29,000 convertibles and 2800 of the V8-powered TR8, easily eclipsing the circa-92,000 TR6s, 40,000 or so TR4s, and 8636 TR2s.

Following the axing of the TR7 in 1981, Triumph lumbered on for three more years, the Triumph Acclaim the last-ever car produced by the British marque. It, however, had strayed far from the brand's sporting lineage, little more than a rebadged Honda Civic sedan.

Despite being assembled by British Leyland at its Cowley plant, the Acclaim – thanks to its Japanese origins – represented a step-up for the brand in terms of both reliability and build quality. But it was too late to save the ailing brand, the marque retired in 1984.

The Triumph brand is today owned by German giant BMW which bought the Rover Group in 1994. The deal included a host of British-Leyland brands including Austin, Triumph, MG, Morris, Riley, Rover, Mini and Land Rover.

BMW, of course, revived the Mini brand in 2001 but divested itself of most of the rest of the Rover Group's portfolio, keeping only Triumph and Riley. Neither have been revived. RM

Your turn. Have you ever owned, or do you currently own, a Triumph TR7? Or could you be tempted today by the classic 1970s wedge? Let us know in the comments below.

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