The home of world class bodging.

The TR7 is a sadly lamented motor, a real hair dressers car, not a worthy successor to the TR5 and 6.

Which the local TR Drivers club would 'just' recognize way back in the 80's. Most of the TR6 brigade also didn't like the fact that a relatively standard TR7 could wipe the floor with a standard TR6, oh how I remember the club trip to Kent. In those days a lot of the club members had CB's (not Cardboard Boxes). The radio was great when the leader of the TR6 convoy came on the CB saying 'A blue TR7 has just overtaken me at 115mhp, then changed up!!!' (the daft things you do in your youth).

To top it all we won the autocross in the car as well.

I sold that car to a chap from Scotland - who phoned me up when he arrived home after his marathon drive saying 'You are right, the old girl will go past 140...' - it was his licence.

I've owned four TR's, the first being a white R reg 4 speed one, this ended up with a balanced Dolomite Sprint engine, STR91 cam, and 2" SU's, which went well from 4k revs up, but had bugger all below that. I vowed never to tune a road car to that state again...

The second TR was an Aqua Blue convertible, that had full TriumphTune Stage 3 mods. A fast road cam for wet weather, and a Sprint cam for dry. We could change the cam in 30mins, and then in another 30 mins change the road springs from rock hard, to just plain hard. A healthy 125bhp on Redline's rollers - which was over 150bhp at the flywheel, and still mild mannered around town.

The next TR was a Grinnall V8 - full steel body kit, Rover SD1 rear lights. 3.08 axle, big disk kit, electric windows, power steering and a thumping great Rover lump. The engine had a mild tune, fast road cam, steel timing gears, vitesse lifters etc. And was rated at 190bhp with its SU carbs. Select a gear, any gear and pull away. We traded that in for a 525i...

And on to the last TR, a lovely lime green motor that needed a little bit of work. My mate also needed a car to use, a hose split and the engine cooked...

After about 2 minutes thought, Rimmers do a kit, and a V8 conversion was under way. As with most things, the 'little bit of work' turned into front wings, rear deck panel and a few other bits. A colour change to red, and a mildy tuned V8 was dropped in. Another case of - select a gear, any gear.

Would I have another TR7/8 - Naaa - I'd much rather have a TR5 or 6! (but then again, the 7's are good value for a nice one).