Buick V6 Powered: 1979 Triumph TR7
This next car is an interesting thing — it is a Triumph TR7 that has had its original engine removed and replaced with a Buick V6, which should make it a rare thing — but this isn’t the first, second, or even the third Buick V6 powered TR7 that we’ve featured here…so I guess that Buick V6s in TR7s is a real movement within the automotive customization world. I think that is a good thing….right? Find this 1979 Triumph TR7 offered for $5,100 in Des Moines, IA via craigslist. Tip from Rock On!
From the seller:
1979 Triumph TR7
condition: excellent
cylinders: 6 cylinders
drive: rwd
fuel: gas
odometer: 50000
odometer broken
paint color: white
size: compact
title status: clean
transmission: automatic
type: convertible
1979 Triumph TR7 with a Buick 4.1 V6 and 700R4 automatic transmission. New convertible top and boot cover. Power steering. Borbet wheels and Michelin tires. Absolutely NO rust anywhere on this vehicle. Runs great! Located in Des Moines, Iowa.
See a better way to V6 your TR7? tips@dailyturismo.com
Probably a John’s cars kit
https://www.johnscars.com/tr7/tr7new.html
It’s funny how much better these look now than when they first came out, perhaps all those Chris Bangalized BMWs seared that part of my brain.
I guess that swap kind of makes sense: The Buick V6 is pretty closely related to the Rover V8 in the TR8, is a bit easier to find here, and has comparable power potential.
Great… now I’ve got an urge to find a non running TR7 and pull a supercharged 3800 out of the local Pull-A-Part.
Guy in the shop next to me tried cornering the market on dead TR7s in SoCal some years back, including one eating up a valuable parking spot for the last 10 years. It’s a good scientific experiment in how long a tire takes to degrade.
I will gladly help you with a little midnight shopping spree if you’re tall enough to reach the security camera. Better hurry, California’s mask mandate is going away.
The automatic is a bit of a letdown, but it looks like a really clean swap.
My 1st reaction was the same, but the 700r4 was used in a number of great cars, including as recently as the ’92 Corvette. If I had to pick an automatic this would be an acceptable choice.
Too bad it’s got the PRNDL t-handle. That could’ve been camouflaged a bit better. Other than that, this is a great deal.
I used to be anti-automatic…then in an MMA class I was taking I broke my right ankle and in a later class a pinched nerve in my right arm sending electric shock like shooting pain down to my hand. Driving home on the broken ankle, getting the car going hurt to say the least. I’d put it in gear and as I gently pressed the gas, I’d let out a bit of a holler as I continued to press harder it’d get louder like I was making noises with the engine rev, I’d get it to 30 and switch to the cruise control and start laughing at my predicament. Thankfully I lived out of town so I could run some of the stop signs and stay in 2nd gear. The pinched nerve incident made it very difficult to grab the shifter and actually move it between gears. Having at least one automatic makes sense if you are prone to injury. This getting old non-sense is the pits sometimes but I still love the manual shift for some my play toys.
Is that a giant windshield wiper motor above the driver’s left knee in that interior shot ?
If not, wtf is it? If it is, that seems like a strange place for it.
Looks to be an electric power steering motor.
That is a junkyard prius power steering swap. Surprisingly easy to swap into just about ANY car and is purely electric boost. We’ve got one in the Black Iron Racing 24 Hrs of LeMons BMW 3-series with LM7 V8 and it works great. Solved a bunch of problems we had with adapting the GM PS pump to work with the BMW rack. Way better and easier to put a junkyard Prius system inline with any rack and pinion — all column mounted, so you can run a manual rack or quicker ratio rack etc. Very little to go wrong and some adjustability in the power steering effort if you are handy with electrics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUoyoeAXEKQ
I had no idea.
Wow.
The Prius brake booster has been calling out to me but of course a car where the engine only runs 95% of the time would need a electric power steering thing.
You think the seller would mention it though.