Bleu Wedge Salad: 1979 Triumph TR7
When it comes to cheap British roadsters, the newer the car, the more you get for your money. Classic MGs and TRs up to the early ’70s can command big bucks, but for the enthusiast on a budget a late ’70s or ’80s MGB, TR7, or TR8 will be in better condition than the same price point for an earlier car. The 7 is probably going to be the cheapest of those three, for good reasons. Find this 1979 Triumph TR7 for sale in North Fort Myers, FL for $4,000 via craigslist. Tip from Dascpcu.
Judging by the background of these craigslist ad photos, this blue Triumph might be the most visually stimulating car in all of Fort Myers! The blue is pretty fetching, and the car presents itself well. Why is such a nice classic roadster only $4k though? Because TR7. This was the first of a small group of wedge shaped, modern cars from the UK sold here, and the styling theme didn’t last long and definitely didn’t age well. As a result, the more traditionally styled Brits are worth far more.
In 2018 I’m not sure if anyone would call the TR7 a beautiful old car, but at least it’s more interesting than your average Miata or Kia Forte. The TR7 as a package is quite solid structurally compared to earlier TR2 – TR6 Triumphs, MGBs, or similar roadsters. It has McPherson struts in the front, rack & pinion steering, a solid axle out back with a 4-link + Panhard rod setup and coil springs. Essentially it’s a scaled down Volvo 240, and the dash design & interior motif even looks similar. Under the hood it’s all teapots and crumpets however; the 2.0L slant 4-cylinder is not anything to write home about. More exciting would be the Rover 3.5L V8 found in a TR8. But this one at least has been swapped to twin downdraft Weber carbs, replacing the stock finicky dual (or sometimes single) Zenith-Stromberg CD175 setup.
From the seller:
1979 Triumph TR-7. Great car and runs like a sewing machine. It has the normal nicks you would expect to find on a 39 year old car. It’s really fun. The previous owner spent more than $8,000 on parts and labor. I have owned the car for 16 years. Located in North Fort Myers.
See a better bleu wedge, sans cheese? email us here: tips@dailyturismo.com
CFlo has a TR7 of his own now, one that Grandpa EFlo bought in the early ’90s. It’s being resuscitated so that you can see more wedge on these pages. Check out our teaser blurb and watch for the full intro post, coming soon.
Nice clean example. My first thought was that there must be better looking bumper conversions available. There are, including UK spec bumpers, and even some body-coloured options. However, in my searching, I cam across this interesting page, which suggests that, at least for the convertibles, the massive front bumper does a lot more than just protect from low speed collision damage.
Expert says TR7 front bumper is a harmonic damper
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My father in law owned FIVE Triumph TR-7's… Why? Well, cos one was for driving, and the other four were for parts, of course! He offered to give all of them to me, free, but after researching the TR-7 (and finding that NO ONE in the Triumph club would talk with me!) I decided against having an unreliable, ugly and relatively worthless old British sports car. See, that is the curse of the TR-7: it is unloved by ALL Triumph and British sports car guys.
What I've found in my very recent research is that there are TR7 guys out there, but they mostly use the cars as parts donors for TR8s. There seems to be a growing contingent of TR8 people. But their Venn diagram bubble does not overlap with that of all other Triumph enthusiasts.
That doesn't surprise me that they attract different enthusiasts; a TR8 ends up being more of a Shetland pony car. Of course, you could also grab a damaged Land Rover and transplant the engine into the TR7, rather than using it as a parts car for a TR8.
It's a weird bird for sure. Like Sean's cartoon buddy up there^! I've had my eye on a late Rover 4.6 as a swap candidate for our old silver '80 TR7; the problem is CA emissions compliance would be next to impossible without tomfoolery. The stock Rover 3.5 in the TR8 made some depressing Malaise amount of horsepower like 130, but by the end of the line for that '62 Buick engine, the 4.6 was making 222, which would be pretty fun in this little car.
Word to the wise—skip the 4.6 and get a 4.0 unless you reeeealy like slipping cylinder liners.
You talking Triumph engine swaps?
This one is pretty cool!
1969 hot rod restomod V-8 Spitfire
Holy negative offset, Batman!
Looks good under the hood, but please tell me he isn't trying to put that amount of power through a stock Spitfire IRS.
My favorite part is “The previous owner spent more than $8,000 on parts and labor.†More than 16 years ago. In today’s dollars, that’s $11,200 worth of parts that are overdue for replacement if they haven’t rusted away already.
Fuzzy dice and performance hubcaps are expensive!