Sorry, I can't resist this one.
The TR7 was designed by Triumph as part of a family of cars. What exactly
made up the whole family is the subject of a fair amount of debate (IE Rover
SD1). The idea was right for the time, the design was sound. The execution
on the other hand was completely mismanaged by BL. If you get a chance to
read "Back from the Brink" by Sir Michael Edwardes it will give you an
excellent picture of the environment that the Triumph engineers had to work
with during that period.
Given all of that I think that the fact that Triumph was able to design the
TR7, pit it against the new MG design for approval by the BL board, win the
approval, get it into production, move the production line TWICE, deal with
adverse press (who had been slagging the TR6 for the last couple of years
for being so outdated), bad quality, etc.......
And in the end sell more of the darned things than any previous TR.....
Having owned several TR's over the years (and a few spitfire's to boot)
including an 82 TR7 and an 81 TR8 I have to say that personally I really
enjoyed both cars. Unfortunately the TR8 was rusted beyond the point that I
was willing to restore it, or I'd still be driving it. The TR7 was used as a
daily driver for a couple of years and served me well until I sold it to a
friend. (who is still a friend, before you even ask =-)
The only real quibbles I have with the droptop TR7/8 is the top itself and
the lack of an area behind the seats for incidentals. There is no excuse for
the pathetic design of that top. They could have easily used the Stag's top
design as the basis for the TR7's unit. Whoever agreed to that idiotic
design should be forced to try to do up the snaps on a cold sunny winter day
until they can get them all to stay on. Then they can try to get the front
of the top locked in.
PS - if you've ever had the door apart on a TR7 you'll notice a nice pair of
side impact beams running the length of them..........
francis dupuis
vancouver, bc
----- Original Message -----
From: <SpeedSites@aol.com>
To: <triumphs@autox.team.net>
Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2000 9:51 PM
Subject: TR7 "design"
>
> Unless I'm mistaken (which is very possible), by the time the TR7 (had
one,
> hated it) came down the design pike, most of Triumph was in tatters and
the
> BL corp brains were in place.
>
> Also, the designer of the TR7 shape was quoted, as I recall, saying that
"It
> was just a sketch... I never really intended them to make THAT car..." I
> think hhad more of an AC3000 look in mind, again this recollection is a
few
> years old.
>
> Rod Pyle
> 68 3/4 TR6
>
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