TR-7 Prototypes

[Cobber]

I received a email flyer from Revington TR today, in it I found this gem:

Tony Lee (L) and John Lloyd (R) with one of the early prototypes Number 2 or 4 if I (Alan) remember correctly.

As this is a special celebration year for the TR7 as well as TR3 and TR4A I thought we would put this photo in the flyer. This is a bit of history I am familiar with as I did this trip many times with Tony and other members of the team whilst we carried out endurance and development exercises on the early prototype TR7's. Great memories.

with thanks to Revington TR.

With the disguise to the front panel work it reminds me a bit of the Porsche 914, which is what they may've been trying to disguise it as.

So maybe this thread could be the place for any prototype pics, imfo and discussion, it'd be good to able keep it all in one place.
So don't be shy, post what ever you've got.

[john 215]

Hi,

A very well know picture in TR7 circles, be great to go back there and re-create it one day. True what you say about the 914 or a two seater version of a Rover P6 !

Had a pleasure of meeting Tony a few times now and could spend hours listening to him, he was saying once they were experimenting with a small V8 to put into cars, I think it was about 1600cc, mate I bet that thing revved

Cheers John

[Cobber]

It seems funny now to see that the test drivers wore a suit & tie to work, nowadays it'd probably be jeans, tee shirt and a rally jacket

[TR Tony]

I think the Alan referred to in the quote is Alan Goodwin who now works for Revington. I haven't met him but he certainly seems to have a good deal of knowledge about the early TR7 development, I should think he would be a very interesting guy to talk to. Revington are not far away from me, maybe I should pay a visit one day.

There are some other pictures of the prototype cars in disguise up in the Welsh hills from that period, including one that is very obviously a V8 engined car with two small "bumps" in the bonnet to clear the tops of the SU carbs.

[John_C]

Alan is usually on the Revington stand at Malvern and other shows so grab a word with him there. He is very interesting to talk to with regards to the TR7.

Tony Lee tells us all about these "ride and drive" days into the Welsh hills in Bullet Reloaded. He's even there with the photographs in question telling us who everyone is. If I remember correctly this is within "The Men Behind The Motors" on disc 2. I filmed that section with Tony in 2008 so you can see how long I was working on 'Reloaded' and why it turned out to be the best single model classic car documentary ever made (snort!).

[FI Spyder]

I remember seeing a picture of the car Triumph proposed in the design competition (pre Harris Mann) and it did indeed remind me of a Porsche 914 so maybe they were trying to simulate the look here to throw off any unauthorized photos being taken. The MG entry looked like a Saab Sonnet III.

[John_C]

Again, the in-house TR7 proposal is in Bullet Reloaded and thanks to all the people I dragged out of retirement to speak on camera I was given access to photos of that alternative style which had never seen the light of day previously. It would have been out of date by the time the TR7 was launched and according to one of those involved in the making the choice at that styling competition the Harris Mann design got the nod simply because it was so different to anything that had gone before. The alternative was spoken about as a 'TR6 update' but I can't see it - maybe others can.

[FI Spyder]

This is the picture I was reffering to. Looks like a 914 to me.

http://sabcc.blogspot.ca/2014/10/is-it-time-to-give-tr7-another-look.html

[John_C]

That's the original Michelotti proposal which Tony Lee went out to Turin to collect (again, all in Bullet Reloaded) but it was so out of date by the time of the styling competition that the in-house team updated it to have the modified front end with the retractable headlights. Some tell me there were three different styles whilst others claim there were just the two. The evidence suggests there were just the two and Harris Mann's style was by far and away the winner. However, if there really was an option which was a final update on the Traditional TR (i.e. a TR6 update) then I'd very much like to see that. I can't imagine how it could have been viable but apparently it was seriously considered. My take on this is the Michelotti proposal was assumed by some to be a TR6 update. Will we ever find out for sure???

[seven]

This is the picture I was reffering to. Looks like a 914 to me.

http://sabcc.blogspot.ca/2014/10/is-it-time-to-give-tr7-another-look.html

I think this looks a little like the TVR 280i from the mid '80's, or should I say TVR have stolen the idea from the TR7?