The Triumph TR7 is Finally Cool | Buy One Now While They’re Still Cheap | Review & Buying Guide
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- Опубліковано 10 лис 2023
- Has there ever been a British sports car that has been so unfairly judged as the Triumph TR7? Often the butt of the joke and rock-bottom prices, the TR7 can easily be forgotten against its predecessor - the iconic Triumph TR6. But now, times have changed and the Triumph TR7 is finally cool! I was able to get my hands on one to discover why now is the time to buy one.
Budget friendly classics are thin on the ground but the TR7 is still cheap to buy, backed up with great parts availability and has a loyal following. Buy a good one and it could just be a shrewd purchase for those looking for a fun British sports car for minimal money. Join me in this latest buying guide and review of the Triumph TR7 and see if you could be tempted to buy one.
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I think these are one of the most beautiful cars ever made.
Bought a brand new 1975 TR7 Drop Top. God I loved that car. Total chic magnet. Same color as the one shown here.
Put 90,000 miles on it in four years. Owned a Spitfire and TR6 also. The TR seven as a special place in my heart. Driving a Porsche droptop now lots of fun to.
Always loved the TR7 convertible. It’s actually aged really well.
Thank you for watching.
Had two in mid eighties until early nineties loved them both .
For sure. My first favourite car. It's great to see the TR7 finally becoming appreciated.
Thanks for watching :)
I had two and loved them both in my younger years .
I now would love a TR8 .
Oh yes! I'm hoping to feature a TR8 on the channel in the near future.
@@fuelupclassic Thank you that would be fantastic , loved this review by yourself too brought back great memories 👍
I bought a 1980 TR7 brand new in the same Persian Aqua color as you have here. I drove it for 4 years as my daily driver and it was a reliable and fun car. I’m 6’-3” and it is the most comfortable of all of those SBC’s of that era. I’m not a fan of sitting with a steering wheel in my chest. Some 43 years later I now own a 1982 TR8, one of the last 69 cars to leave the Solihul plant. The performance of the 3.5L Rover V8 makes the Wedge a joy to drive.
had a white convertible TR 8 in Canada in the early 80's, fast car, joyful experience
I owned one of these in the early 80"s and I loved it. It was orange with a silver wedge design on the sides. The only problem I had was when it rained because of the location of the distributor it used to just stop. That is why I eventually sold it. A much underrated car I think.
Orange with a silver wedge sounds fantastic! I agree, they are still very underrated but seem to be gaining a whole new group of younger enthusiasts, which is great to see.
I saved and saved for one of these and eventually bought a FHC TR7 R-reg in red (vermillion) with red tartan interior paying £2795. Dad thought I was bonkers, my uncle called it a hoover car for 'picking up girls'. I thought I was the bee's knees. It did have its issues with a leaky windscreen, issues with radiator and then head gasket. Eventually traded it in for a Cortina MK 4 Ghia. Love another TR7 despite my issues with mine.
It’s an absolutely fantastic car - got a TR7 V8 - lovely rover 3.5 with 5 speed box - a stunning beauty with all the foibles still there but best bang for buck !
Fantastic!
Got one,love it! 79 drop top,,makes me smile every time I get behind the wheel .
Perfect! It's really hard not to smile when you're behind the wheel of one.
I had a very reliable Solihull convertible and for 4 years in the 90's was my daily driver, great fun and under rated.
Good to hear!
I drove one when they first came out, it felt very modern, they've held up well, the styling, subjectively, looks as good now as it ever has, particularly in convertible form. I have driven a v8 version also, a very nice comfortable, pleasant car. The colour of the one in your video is one of the best colours, I think, for the TR7/8
Got mine during late 80's in high school, it was a late 70's salmon/orange color. Loved it, car was awful, but remember it fondly. I hit puddle and car just stopped. Went to strangers house on side of road asked to borrow phone and called my parents (remember no cells phones in the 80's) to let them I was stuck. Dad arrived and car started back up on it's own. Carburetors were a nightmare, headlights held up with paint stir sticks. Second gear had to be held in or it would pop out of gear. Still one of my favorite cars I've owned.
Great to hear your TR7 ownership experience. Isn't it strange how the cars that are often so flawed are the ones we remember most fondly.
Watching this video makes me feel like I am driving a TR7. My left arm was naturally moving. Thank you🙏
Great to hear!
Still like these. On my list of cars to own. Always thought the dashboard was modern and well designed for the time.
Definitely worth trying one to see if you like it and getting one while they are still cheap. Flawed in some ways but way ahead of the competition in others.
Great cars! I can’t believe they are still so cheap. Amazing bargain today in the collector car world. TR7 looks amazing now! Thx for the great video👍🏻
Couldn't agree more! I wonder if prices will slowly start to creep up. Thank you for watching.
the car looks dope
Tends to be the 'Cloth capped, string back glove, old git brigade' that hates them, but never had one ! I get lots of great comments from folks that dont know them when out in my 4.6 litre - is that a TVR or a Ferrari has been said more than once. A very capable car - try driving a TR6 or MGB to scotland from London and you'd arrive deaf and crippled - NOT in a Wedge, def. needs bigger engine and brakes tho'. Great video, keep on spreading the word.
Love that! I bet it's a bit of animal with that engine.
My father had a new TR7 bought in 1977 that looked pretty space age at the time. He never thought it was safe though and got rid if it after about a year.
Cool yep ! Especially in the UK with the top down 😁.... Great car totally 70s nostalgia love it 👌
Absolutely! Thank you for watching.
Please don't tell people that the TR7 is cool. Not until I have completed the nut and bolt restoration of my 1976 Fixed Head Coupe, bought a Drop Head Coupe and built a restomod rally tribute. Then please can you tell people. Thanks.
HAHA! It will have to be a secret for a little while longer then. Best of luck with your project.
🤣🤣🤣
thankyou for teaching me about the TR7 Sprint,
I had one, dreadful, but i loved it. Did my driving test in it. Electrics, mine caught fire under the dash. I had to rewire the whole car. Can't list what did from taking gearbox apart, yes that fibre oil pump and crankshaft out.
Still got the handbook and Haynes manual, every page greasy.
Always great to hear ownership stories. Quite a car to do your driving test in too! Thank you for watching.
Driving in Arizona we stopped at a road side cafe. Then about 10 TR7's parked up. All spotless. We spoke to drivers, they were on their way to a Triumph meet in Vegas. As they said, many cars were west coast or desert cars and had very little rust. Nearly all were soft tops.
Remember these cars appeared in tv show Dallas and in Charlies Angels. Also the first car Bodie and Doyle in The Professional they step out of (ignoring any title sequence).
wonderful :)
Great video. I recently bought a really nice condition convertible TR7 in platinum. My car has a 4.0L Rover V8 under the bonnet and it sounds awesome. Can't wait for spring to arrive so I can stretch its legs a bit more.
Enjoy it :)
Had a Spit, GT6, TR6, and TR7. The 1980 7 was a great daily driver in the 90's after a new head and bits, plus a timing Chain. Would love an 8, but cost prohibitive
Good review of a car that's always intrigued me but I've never driven.
I grew up in south Liverpool in the 70s and remember the excitement of a new Triumph sports car about to be built in Speke.
Sadly the excitement didn't last!
Glad you enjoyed it and thank you for watching. Matt
My dad had a TR8 back in the day. That was a lovely car to drive!
We've got to get one on the channel at some point. The addition of a V8 is almost always a good thing, in my opinion.
@@fuelupclassic I've considered picking one up then swapping with the 4.6L V8 which should shoe horn in just fine 🙂
All points really well made. I have had a few TR7's and own a 1980 drophead. Had it for 17 years now & is MOT & Tax + ULEZ exempt. What's not to like about that. I have done a Grinnal conversion (that was a disaster) back in the late 80's but my current TR7 has been well looked after from day one, am the 4th owner. It's never been welded, was Ziebarted from new and drives really well, yes some of the rubber bushings on gearbox & suspension have perished and been replaced. I always get waves from people when out & about, it really does now interest people to see it on the road, so much so when people wave I have to stop and check the car in case I have an issue they are trying to warn me about :) But seriously, I don't want to upgrade this car in any way, so long as it is safe and as near to it's original production as possible, when driving it does remind me of those hazy summer days back in the 80's as a young man in my then drophead.
Try a V8 conversation.... it's great fun....with a great noise....and easy to look after too.
Good idea! I hope to feature one on the channel in the near future.
Most of the old farts who condemned the 7 back in the day, without having driven one, have probably popped their clogs by now. I’ve had mine since 1986 and converted it to better than TR8 specification 4 years later. Those under 30 years untouched by the naysayers like them, they tell me regularly when filling up or stationery in traffic. The V8 burble and performance is amazing value.
The TR7 definitely seems to get an overwhelmingly positive reaction from younger enthusiasts, and to me that can only ever be a great thing for the preservation of classic cars.
I'm hoping to get a V8 powered version (as soon as I can track one down) on the channel in the near future :)
me mum was getting her car serviced and the loaner car was a tr7- 1980 ralph nader green. impressive with stickshift quickness.
BL had a lot to answer for! The difference between a good 7 and a bad 7 is the difference between Speke and Canley (or if you're lucky, Solihull) built cars. The four speed from the Marina was a dog! the build quality was shocking - later cars were much better. Harris Mann and Spen King had developed a good car together. Take the roof off, get the 5 speed from the SD1 and you'll be smiling. Rust in the rear quarter was a known water trap, suspension turrets would go, always worth checking the carpets with any convertible.
I bought my first one in 1990 for £1500. 2ltr, 5 speed, two seat convertible sportscar - there was nothing else for that money at the time. I imagine you could still find one for about £3k
They're still very much a bargain! Even a great example can still be picked up relatively cheaply.
The convertible never did get the marina box, it always had the LT77. I still own a 1980 convertible which was Ziebarted from new and has saved the car. It has always been dry stored which has saved the car. They never lasted 5 years to begin with, so it now being 44 years old and on original paint, having owned it for the last 17 years have had many happy times in it. Curently on 72,000 miles, the body work is looking it's age with a few minor colour defects and surface corrosion, but it's still all original as left the factory or near as. The car has never been welded anywhere! Last year I refurbished the back end due to sealant flaking, so refreshed everything, back axle off etc really enjoyed that.
I find the ride comfort really good as it absorbs bumps really well even compared to my Jaguar F-Type, so I get to appreciate an old car and drive it accordingly on the open road in modern traffic.
As for the electrics, early TR7's had a 6V coli (1.5 Ohms) and used what was called a "eureka" wire in the loom under the dash, this was a second 'ballast' resistor of 1.5 Ohms that would be bypassed only for starting to give higher voltage to the coil, once engine fired the eureka wire was then back in circuit. This wire, I suspect, may have been attributable to some of the early fires, if it had been wired the opposite way, for eg not taken out when engine started, this wire would get hot! Cars that have had electronic ignition fitted such as lumention system, have to bypass or short this resistor and fit a 12V coil (3.0 Ohm) but the bad memory of catching fire still prevails to this day.
I still love driving my 7, I have had coupes & convertibles in the 80's and even undertook one donor car for complete Grinnall workover in 1987, that car fell to bits! Some of the work done by Grinnall was criminal, and had hidden issues rather than resolved, but I got a good 4 years out of it and even toured the whole of France in it in '92.
I care not for what the price is for the car I didn't buy it to make a profit or investment, I bought it to enjoy and reminisce :) I'd like to be buried in it!!
paint he bumpers in the same colour as the rest of the car. This way they become part of the design and seriously sharpens the wedge. Lower it and put wider low profile tires on it.
Once talked with a guy who made these, he told me no car that went down the paint line on a night or weekend ever got rust proofed.
The bosses went home, they primed and painted it and played cards missing out the rust proofing saved them hours on a car.
.
Haha! That really doesn't surprise me at all.
Take it up to 70mph and the front goes very light as it lifts. I had carb icing and couldn't throttle back on the motorway. My car didn't have the air filter heater.
Owners would bob the headlights as we passed each other.
I've had one for years, preferred it when it was unpopular as parts prices have know started to escalate.
It was one of the classic worlds best kept secrets till recently for many of us.
It's a shame so many panels are no longer available new, I was told BMH allowed the dies to be scrapped, don't know how true that is.
Sadly still got a bad reputation, read some of the comments left here, but they have not driven or had one.
Sadly still the but off all jokes, called a rust bucket and looked down on, I know I get it on every meet I go too.
It’s really unfair,
Exactly that! Unfortunately it's quite common to get negative comments with certain cars. Of course everyone is entitled to their opinion, but it's almost always from people who have never owned or even driven one but regurgitate what they have read somewhere or were told by a man down the pub years ago! As a Land rover owner, I get it quite often and I just tend to ignore it.
I hope you continue to enjoy your TR7 for many more years and miles :)
We have a bog standard 1980 fixed head. The lowest of the low. Car is as it left Canley unrestored and wonderful. |Not a show pony but a useable classic. Every where I go same questions , is it a TR8 and is it really rubbish.
We have done tours of France, Belgium and Spain and will keep doing so. Only have cassettes from 1980 in the tape machine TR7 and Bryan Ferry what more?
I had a1977 hard-top, unfortunately the soft top didn't appear until about 1980 and to be honest it was rotted out when it was five years old and with the four speed gearbox, totally gutless....Had to have major body work done it when four years old which started rusting through when I sold it at five years old. Nice and comfortable and economical but not recommended from my experience of five years ownership when new.
Ahh yes! Rust protection was never very good for so many BL cars of the era.
always were cool..... super cool with the v8.... i had one with the v8 which instead of 3528cc it was 3.9, so want another one
"The shape of things to come".
I've seen prices of spitfires go mad in the past year or so...these seem to be on the floor along with mgt f's
They certainly are still a bargain.
What can i expect for maintence on these cars and yearly costs? Does it need constant repairs and replacement parts? Im thinking of buying one but I dont want to have to have it in the shop after each use as someone told me. Id just be using it to go a couple miles (10 max) a couple times a week maybe longer on occassion.
In the UK they are very well supported by a number of specialists, so parts supply is generally not a big issue. It's very hard to say whether a 40+ year old car will be completely reliable as there are so many variables. I would advise buying the best you can afford and having it independently inspected by a specialist beforehand and if you're able to do some work yourself, you will likely save a fortune. General upkeep and overall spend should then be minimal. They're great fun and still a bit of a bargain!
I had one new in 1977 and did lots of miles in 2 years 100K . The carb icing issue was awful up to 8 degrees C it would stick the throttle but the overheating engine helped a bit. I also drove a new Cortina at this time and the handling on that was better. The wiring to the corroding pop up headlights was too short and the wiring gave up at 40000 miles. I wondered why there were no grommets on the wires etc when they passed through the bulkhead .I found them all tied up with string under the bonnet obviously the BL workers had left that job for the lucky owner..
Ohhh! That doesn't sound like a pleasant experience at all! You may have been unlucky and got one of the infamous 'Friday afternoon' cars that BL became notorious for in 70s and 80s. They definitely always were a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to build quality which certainly didn't help their reputation in period. Today it seems that well sorted examples have mostly survived and are often in the hands of enthusiastic owners, which is great to see.
I've always wanted to own a 7 but lacking any mechanical ability whatsoever, and needing a reliable daily runner, I ended up buying an MX-5.
In my opinion, the TR7 was always cool.
I always thought they were cool.
Just bought a 76 tr7 for $60, has all the working parts just gotta put it back together 😅
WOW! Now the fun starts putting it all back together :)
I never liked the wedge. My favorite TR is the 4 (250, 4a, 5) series. Best looking IMHO.
9:22 lol
True story! It was several years ago but today it still reminds me to check all rubber fuel hoses.
Always amazed how many thumbs up I get in my orange 1980 7!
That's lovely to hear! I was amazed how much attention this one received when filming.
TR7 competitor was the Fiat X19.
I read TR7 was £3333 and X19 was £3330 at launch..
I've lived with both. I'd take the TR7 all day long.
What about the TR8? Are they export only?
Vast majority of genuine factory cars were sold originally to the USA and Canada. Lots of TR7s have of course been converted since.
The TR8, even more so.
I hope to feature one in the near future.
The car earned its place in Time Magazine as one of The 50 Worst Cars of All Time. I owned a 1975 tr7 and can concur.
Oh dear! I trust your ownership experience wasn't a great one? It's amazing really how the TR7 can still divide opinion nearly 50 years on.
@@fuelupclassic One of my favorite stories. Legend has it that designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, then entering the zenith of his career, said “My God! They’ve done the same to the other side as well” when he first saw the TR7 at a motor show.
It’s been tough for the TR7 in the States, since the only reason Americans buy British cars is because they’re pretty. It’s certainly not for the engineering or build quality.
The TR7 certainly never got an easy ride both here and overseas. It's interesting to see how reputations can stick, somewhat unfairly at times, and how it varies by region. Generally here in Europe, once again somewhat unfairly, American cars are viewed in a similar way to how you describe British cars - although with some exceptions, they're not usually purchased for being overly pretty either.
I thought it was always cool, great looking car , rusty yes, but so was everything else
I owned a TR7 "Spyder" from 1988 through 1994 alongside a TR6. By far, the 7 was the worst car I ever owned. It deserved all of the criticism it received. It was horribly built and the engine performance was terrible. I wouldn't wish this on any collector.
Always interesting to hear from those that have/had good and bad ownership experiences. Thanks for watching.
I had one and they are absolutely fucking shit
Terrible design that was NEVER cool, and doesn't deserve to be. The TR6 was a far more compelling car. But then British Leyland was run by some of the stupidest people on earth. Their response to Japanese competition was to not allow anyone driving a Honda, Toyota or Nissan on factory grounds.
I’ve got a TR6, this thing doesn’t even come close
The TR6 remains one of my all-time favourites, but what is interesting is how the TR7 appears to be gaining a whole new following from younger enthusiasts, which can only ever be a good thing in my book.
C'est pas un truc c'est une TR7..et ta TR6 j'en voudrais même pas.
It's *_NEVER_* going to be cool. Far too ugly, far too uncool 🤮
if we all liked the same things, it would be a very dull world indeed :)
@@fuelupclassic yes, I totally agree!
I should rephrase: it's never going to be cool for me. But, c'mon, be honest, it really is far too ugly and uncool. The is no way out of that deep, deep pit in which automotive history has thrown that car ...
I guess this is one of the best reasons for owning a TR7 it divides opinion. I use mine a lot for big trips and the two things I can say I have experienced. Young people born after the car was made are so positive and are surprised to learn it is a car of the 70’s. Then at any meet I have been to I am always the only FHC TR 7. It’s nice to be different.
In your opinion. As an owner of one, i can tell you it gets lots of compliments, and every comment is positive. Young people love it. But you get the odd person, like yourself who just keep saying the opposite.
No no no no 🙂 ... look, I'm really sorry, but just face the truth, it will never be cool 🤷🏻♂️
It's a good thing that we all have different opinions, but being cool is not about personal taste, as much as widespread social recognition, and acclaim.
If you took a poll ... it would rank after the Fiat Multipla, Chrysler PT Cruiser and Toyota Prius.
Just accept it: the TR7 ha become the official standard by which motorcar uglyness and uncoolness is measured!
I am sure that Jeremy Clarkson would agree 🤷🏻♂️