Colin,
Very interesting piece of information about the TR7 sprints, I've been lead to belief there were about 60 produced and I remember a batch of the sprints for sale at the ( I think it was) Mann Egerton main dealership in Birmingham, they were all in russet brown with pin stripping all round.
Hi John
I had no involvement with the 'other' Sprints, just the aborted Press Launch cars. I had been a technician at the Midland Service Center when I was offered a job at the Product Training School in Allesley near Coventry, only issue was I had to wait for a headcount slot which was said to be about 2 months but turned into 9. Union rules back then said as the training job was a 'Staff' position I could not go back as an 'Hourly Paid' worker so they had to find me something else to do that was Staff graded. They asked if i would like to try out for a test driver at Jaguar Experimental...would I !!!!!!! After completing my initial, and terrifying assessment with Norman Dewis (never saw him again which might say something ;-)) I was off to MIRA for training and certification. A few months of emission compliance driving up and down the A5 all night, thundering round and round the high speed at MIRA and breaking Allegros on the Pave and I get the nod that the slot at training is opening up. The last job was the press release TR7 Sprints, just a case of post PDI sign off really, bit of a road test and pop them into the shed. The fact the press launch was cancelled was nothing new as it happened all the time, management would change their mind like their socks and what was planned became vapor ware! Press cars were always a little different as they had a few none standard things to make them a little better like extra sound proofing, things like that. These were definitely all white cars, all manual and were actually rather nice. Mann Eggs were a rival to PJ's in Brum and not surprised if they took a batch, PJ's were more Austin/Morris and Jag with a RR service department in Essex Street, Mann Eggs were more Triumph than us.
Interesting times when Birmingham had a network of BL dealerships, PJ's had 27 midlands sites at its peak!
All the best
Colin
