TR8

[Quiff Wichard]

just followed a red sporty old fashioned thing down the road..

it had TR8 on the back..

it looked like aTR7 but had TR8 on- sorta hand stencilled on

I am ignorant with cars..

was there a TR8?






- expecting loadsa car folk now to tell me I am a numpty and sad for never having heard of the imfamous TR8

[Marshall]

Pretty simple to be honest

it was a TR7 with a V8 in it

Marshall

[timwilky]

The TR8 was the V8 drop head. The TR7 was concieved to take the the Rover V8 lump but economics got in the way. A fixed head and gutless motor was no way to follow the TR6 and combined with the production or lack of, problems at Speke, it was no wonder the car was a disaster.

There were about 180 fixed heads with the V8 lump sent to the states for evaluation, but by the time the drop head was intoduced it was simply to late.

I think the car had an interesting for the time styling, but thank god we have never gone back to that sort of nasty pointy style with anything. (Nasty pointy SVs being the exception of course). Certainly better than the Fiat X19 with similar pointy characteristics and rusting ability

[jonboy]

Yup, never officially made, but some peeps shoe-horned the Rover 3,500 V8 into it — which apparently did it no favours in the handling department.


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[Biker Biggles]

It probably was a TR7 with a V8 in it,but they did make a TR8.Which was a TR7 with a V8 engine. :!:

I think only a few hundred were built,and most of them went to America,but the after market bods built plenty of TR7 V8s and they were a seriously meaty motor if done properly.They needed uprated brakes and suspension and some had bigger wheels and arches with spoilers and other add ons,but the tuned V8 put out serious grunt,and they showed TVR where the future lay.
In it's wisdom British Leyland binned the car,and the Triumph marque,and sailed forward to it's current oblivion.

[Quiff Wichard]

looked like the TR8 had been stencilled on by a kid.










bit like some of the decals on my bike ! :wink:

[the_runt69]

TR7 and TR8(the few that were made) could never match the popularity of the TR4's or 6's, The TR6 was the best Sports car Triumph made. The straight 6 Cylinder 2.5 PI lump would put the rover V8 to shame in terms of acceleration and top speed. Shame the car was a missle in a straight line but a pig to corner.
H

[jonboy]

The TR4 was the one — gorgeous.


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[Peter Henry]

I used to love the Triumph Vitesse which I believe had a straight 6 motor? More smooth looking bodywork, though very similar to the Herald. Cracking power to weight ratio and really smart looking....for a car! :wink:

[BigDog]

A Brief History of the TR8

The design concept of the car initially configured it as a Fixed Head Coupe to meet USA safety requirements. Thus in 1974 a pre-production batch of TR7 coupes was hand built and sent to the USA for evaluation. Although the car was designed to accept the Rover V8 engine, costing constraints dictated that initially the four cylinder would be fitted. 1975 saw the first production TR7's and by 1976 the US dealers were clamouring for the V8 engined version. In 1977 some 150 TR7V8 Fixed Head Coupes were built on the production line and 95% shipped to the US for evaluation. The remaining few were retained for test purposes in the UK.

Whilst this was happening the US reviewed its policies and reversed the decision to make open topped cars illegal. Immediately the Rover Triumph engineers set about redesigning the coupe into Drop Head or convertible form. With the design work already completed for the V8 drivetrain, it was not long before the first TR7V8 convertibles, or TR8s as they were later known, were being built.

Production began at the Speke, factory in 1977 but, with all the labour problems, it was switched to the Canley factory in 1978. The building of TR7's & TR8's continued there until 1980 when production was transferred to Solihull. The last car was built on 5th October 1981. A combined total of 114,463 cars were built. Of these approximately 2,800 were TR8's.

[Quiff Wichard]

A Brief History of the TR8

The design concept of the car initially configured it as a Fixed Head Coupe to meet USA safety requirements. Thus in 1974 a pre-production batch of TR7 coupes was hand built and sent to the USA for evaluation. Although the car was designed to accept the Rover V8 engine, costing constraints dictated that initially the four cylinder would be fitted. 1975 saw the first production TR7's and by 1976 the US dealers were clamouring for the V8 engined version. In 1977 some 150 TR7V8 Fixed Head Coupes were built on the production line and 95% shipped to the US for evaluation. The remaining few were retained for test purposes in the UK.

Whilst this was happening the US reviewed its policies and reversed the decision to make open topped cars illegal. Immediately the Rover Triumph engineers set about redesigning the coupe into Drop Head or convertible form. With the design work already completed for the V8 drivetrain, it was not long before the first TR7V8 convertibles, or TR8s as they were later known, were being built.

Production began at the Speke, factory in 1977 but, with all the labour problems, it was switched to the Canley factory in 1978. The building of TR7's & TR8's continued there until 1980 when production was transferred to Solihull. The last car was built on 5th October 1981. A combined total of 114,463 cars were built. Of these approximately 2,800 were TR8's.


cut and paste is a wonderous thing !!

[BigDog]

Damn right, even if I did know all that (which I didnt but was an interesting read) I would still have paste and copied it :D

I only went looking to see how many were actually original TR8's as I was a fan of the TR7 (by looks alone) as I was only 11yrs old when they finished producing them, but have only ever seen one TR8

[the_runt69]

The TR8 was unofficial they were TR7's with a V8 engine only. It was a horrible thing, the TR6 was much better. Used to have to park them for my uncle( My Grandfather and uncle were Standard Triumph dealers) when I was 14. Had to put the lights up to see wherfe the bonnet ended.

H

[Biker Biggles]

Not so.The TR8 was a real Triumph model,though there were not that many made.
I had a TR6 as my regular car for about five years and it was brilliant as long as you treated it right.It was OK at cornering too as long as you bore in mind that it was an "old school" design with very good direct steering and a rear end dating back to Noah's Ark.Tail happy but great fun.No home comforts and very loud,and I loved it.
The TR7 and 8 was a modern car ahead of it's time,and build quality was poor so it got a bad reputation,but well sorted ones were and are a pleasure to drive.They even made a few with the 16 valve sprint engine.They could be quick too.They have a habit of cleaning up at classic race meetings even now.

[Reckless Rat]

TR8 was the car they should have made!
TVR didn't do to badly putting the Rover V8 into pointy cars...

At the TR7 Launch some styling bloke like Bertone, or Pininfarina looked at the curving crease on the side of the TR7, looked round the other side and said something like....
'No, they've done the same on this side as well'



RR