tr7triumph.com

ok folks, if anywhere will have ideas and info its here so let me go on.

picked up some seats earlier today that i had won on fleabay and when i got there the guy(lovely chap) had under a sheet a very nice tr8 fhc........

turns out hes having some problems as the car seems a bit of a conundrum.

was originally dark green, but now bright red, has a plain black interior, but heres where things go funny, he has paperwork saying its for the usa, but the rover engine is running on su carbs not efi, the battery is in the front, the dash and stewering has been converted to rhd but the keys are still on the lh side, it has uk spec bumpers not us, and flared arches and sills like grinnals had hold of it.

it had a personal plate reg of vee 77 but original reg apparently of oof 847r, and vin number he gave me is acw01532.

he wants to sell it but wants to know everything is "right" with it and to hopefully get some history on it too which i said i would ask you guys about, so please any help/history/info i can give him much appreciated.


Dave...

the project at birth, watch it evolve...I hope...

ACW means the car left the factory (Speke) somewhere early 1977 as a TR7.
So a TR7V8 conversion and not a TR8.

<center>
<font color="blue"><i>1980 TR7 DHC (my first car, now restored and back on the road)
1981 TR7 FHC Sprint (better known as 't Kreng)</font id="blue">
<b>[url="http://www.tr7beans.blogspot.com/"]<u><b><font size="2"><font color="red">My Weblog</font id="red"></font id="size2"></b></u>[/url]</b></i></center>

that was what i thought, it looks like grinnal have had hold of it somewhere along the line so wondering if it was they did the v8 conversion, he said he had been in touch with them but they weren't interested.

he has paperwork saying it was destined for the usa so not sure if it made it and was re patriated or whether it never got across the water.

he is thrown like me by the steering column, keys are on the left hand side of the car usa spec, battery under the bonnet so its like a mix and match car.......


Dave...

the project at birth, watch it evolve...I hope...

Well the VIN is a 77 model year North American spec TR7. 01532 would be early in that batch poss built late 1976.

I think I am correct in saying that the ignition key was on the left side of the steering column for both early UK spec cars as well as NA cars, so that sounds correct.

Plain black interior would be correct at that time, so again no surprise there.

No factory V8 ran on SUs that I know of, either Stromberg carbs or EFI as you mention. So most likely the car was originally a US spec TR7 that for some reason never went across the pond, and subsequently converted (by Grinnall?) to V8. A US spec car would have had emission control equipment but that was likely ditched when converted to V8 power.

Tony

<font size="1">1981 2L FHC Cavalry Blue
1980 3.5L V8 DHC Jaguar Regency Red - sadly sold!
1977 TR8 FHC EFI Factory development car Inca Yellow</font id="size1">

the guy seems to be in doubt whether or not to sell the car as it doesn't seem "right" and he doesn't want the new owner to have problems, apparently sold it for 5500 grand and gave the bloke his deposit back as he was having trouble getting the car authenticated to have the oof 847r reg returned to the car.

he found out it was originally green, now red, no check interior, was plain, but he just seems to of drawn a blank in any history on the car, the arches are flared and boxed along the sills to join up so it definately looks like grinnal has had its hands on it but he said when he phoned to ask for help they didnt want to know, so said i would find out as much as i can for him, he has a fhc for sale which may well invest in too....... well seems a shame to leave it there..... but nobody tell the wife.........!!!!!!

a shows speke built, c tr7/8 and w 77/78 n american spec and numbers relate to build number, yes?
always tought it should have letters after the numbers too but he doesn't seem to.

will get back to him later on in the week with anything i get.

much appreciated all.......[:D][:D]


Dave...

the project at birth, watch it evolve...I hope...

OOF 847R is a Birmingham number so the car was probably registered by the factory at the end of 1976. Car could have been held back for testing, it has the correct black seats for a 1976 MY car.
All factory built TR8s had their battery in the boot.

www.triumphtrs.co.uk
THE Coca Cola car
The C+C Conversions rally car
TR7 Sprint
TR7V8 rally car

cheers chris, so def a 2.0l conversion to v8 then, he has a heritage certificate saying its an american car so looks like never made it over the pond and got converted somewhere along the line, not sure if that will cheer him up or dissappoint him but will find out when i tell him, cheers guys....[:D]


Dave...

the project at birth, watch it evolve...I hope...