Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) TR7

I must admit that the whole wedge thing has grown on me over the years .... there are some extreme and ugly one's about but theTR7 and the TVR are two I like (Lotus ones were either very nice or very not nice) .... that's a very good looking example. My personal favourites are the muscular racing versions of both the TVR and TR7/8 .... but that's just me 🙂

K

OK I'll own up.
I had the hairdressers version of the TR7, the Fiat X1/9. In fact I had 2 over the years and really enjoyed them at the time.
Lot nicer looking than the TR7 but a bit gutless and rusted even quicker than the British alternative.
Happy days.

Sir P

Great little car in their day, as you say a little underpowered, but extremely rare good examples are sought after these days.

At the time I thought it was a mis-step as I liked the TR6. A brave step which was flattened by the BLight of that generation of cars, unreliability and rust.

As mentioned it looked like it was jacked up to my eyes. Was that due to the desire to sell it in the US with the mandatory bumper heights coming in at that time? It looks similar to the height of the abused rubber bumper MGB's. I think it would be interesting to lower it.

I think I like it more now as it is not another YAAB (yet another amorphous blob) possibly because it also reminds me of a time when things were simpler.

After living with it for a few days and taking it to a little show yesterday where it received much attention, mostly positive I have a few observations.

I find it fascinating from an engineering perspective. It seems to represent a transitional period from a time when things were generic in the early 70’s and all bl cars used the same switches and lights and fittings and fixtures to a time later in the 80s when everything was bespoke and nothing was interchangeable. There’s lots of multi way electrical connectors each colour coded and uniquely shaped to aid assembly. Yet the headlights are still sealed beam units!

There’s an attempt to used moulded plastic for the dash but because materials hadn’t been developed its hard and brittle and has to be constructed of (I think) 12 components screwed together and the screws are visible.

It drives really well, no knocks or rattles, minimal scuttle shake, yet the doors are stiff and need adjusting. There’s almost no buffeting, even at 60mph the cabin is quiet and warm with the top down.

The design is so odd and futuristic, you can see the vision Harris Mann had of the future and understand why ultimately it became a dead end.

It’s more MX5 than MGB and somewhere in between dynamically

I’m liking it more and more.

Sir Percival ... there's an X-19 races up here ... fully modded, really quick, and definitely not 'hairdressery' 🙂




Grumpy2 ... glad the TR7 has worked out for you ... they're a period-piece and have been unloved for too long ... there's a lot of snobbery/dismissal of UK cars of that era that is really not fully deserved.

K

From memory, ( I might be wrong) I think the TR7 maybe one of the BL firsts with side impact bars in the doors. I really enjoyed owning my 2 DHC's, the lowered TR7 V8 had a better stance and look to it and was more fun in the twisty bits as a result. Bearing in mind this engineering is about 50 years old, in a cash stricken BL with massive industrial unrest, imagine what they could have produced given the right resources and a peaceful industrial landscape. We often sell BL products short when in reality, some were more stylistically advanced compared to Ford, Vauxhall products of the day.

Best of all it doesn't feel that you are driving a car engineered in the 70's and its a massive improvement over the antiquated MG products and the previous TR range and I loved my MG Midgets, I went from a Midget into the TR7 and never looked back.

IIRC, they are just the same units as Classic Mini so easy to swop to Halogen or even LED

One had a failed main beam so I've bunged in a spare from my old Morris Minor!

Something a tad better will follow later I'm sure

Well a week later and some significant fettling has taken place.

The common theme so far has been one of recommissioning rather than repairing or replacing. The headlights, washers and wipers didn't function because the connectors needed cleaning, all sorted if a bit fiddly. The doors are now unstuck - the 'grease' in the safety catches had gone hard and was acting more like glue, flushed out with WD40 and all working fine.

I've found a blow on the exhaust - there's a split in the rolled seam. I think its a bit too delicate for my welding skills so I'll let my classic car friendly garage man have a go. I don't think the exhaust will come off without a fight and I don't fancy shelling out £400 for a replacement if I can help it.

Its all going rather well I think.