Southern Skies

Roy Hankins · Postby **Roy Hankins** » 11 Dec 2011 14:42

Guys,

The Southern Skies TR7, a car I have to admit I know very little about.

Unlike the Spider and Victory edition which have a high profile
the poor old southern skies never seems to get a mention. WHY ?

Amongst my vast collection of TR7 memorabilia I've not even got
one picture of this limited edition car.[:(!]

All I know if I remember correctly is it had a unique glass roof and
special decals.

Please can someone fill in the blanks for me and post some pictures
especially of the special decals.

Thanks

Roy

Beans · Postby **Beans** » 11 Dec 2011 15:01

The search function is a wonderful tool [:p]

http://www.forum.triumphtr7.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=12307&SearchTerms=,Southern,Skies

<center>

1980 TR7 DHC (my first car, now restored and back on the road)
1981 TR7 FHC Sprint (better known as 't Kreng)
[url="http://www.tr7beans.blogspot.com/"]My Weblog[/url]</center>

FI Spyder · Postby **FI Spyder** » 11 Dec 2011 15:18

Don't know how many Southern Skies were built, they were for dealers in the hot, humid south eastern states. Never seen a current picture of a good example. There is this of a derelict one.

http://www.forum.triumphtr7.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=12917&whichpage=3&SearchTerms=southern%2Cskies

- - - - TR7 Spider - - - - - - - - 1978 Spitfire - - - - - - 1976 Spitfire - - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra - - Yellow TCT

FI Spyder · Postby **FI Spyder** » 11 Dec 2011 15:21

You beat me to it, Beans. While I was searching one of my cats was throwing up so had to attend. I know, too much information.

Picture:

- - - - TR7 Spider - - - - - - - - 1978 Spitfire - - - - - - 1976 Spitfire - - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra - - Yellow TCT

Beans · Postby **Beans** » 11 Dec 2011 15:41

A lot of piccies [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/stormbear/sets/72157594382743019/"] here[/url] and this is how the sunroof looks ...

1980 TR7 DHC (my first car, now restored and back on the road)
1981 TR7 FHC Sprint (better known as 't Kreng)
[url="http://www.tr7beans.blogspot.com/"]My Weblog[/url]</center>

FI Spyder · Postby **FI Spyder** » 11 Dec 2011 16:19

Is that a TR8 with a Southern Skies roof or a Southern Skies TR7 converted to a TR8 with trim?

- - - - TR7 Spider - - - - - - - - 1978 Spitfire - - - - - - 1976 Spitfire - - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra - - Yellow TCT

john · Postby **john** » 11 Dec 2011 21:09

Roy take a trip down memory lane and this facinating collection of Newsletters

http://www.templeoftriumph.org/tsoa/tsoa.html

look under May June 76

[8 whole cylinders worth of punch to ram the world through the windshield and out the rear view mirror. Car & Driver]
1981 Grinnall TR7 v8
1981 Black FHC
1979 & 1980 Black Premium FHC(laid to rest) Sorry :-(

John

Chris Turner · Postby **Chris Turner** » 11 Dec 2011 23:25

One of the TR7s used in the Proffessionals had the same external sliding sunroof.

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

John Clancy · Postby **John Clancy** » 12 Dec 2011 10:54

Southern Skies was not a proper special edition per se (I mean with regards to Premium and Spider which were factory produced) being as its special features were dealer fitted extras. Or someone correct me here if I'm wrong.

Now the Jubilee - there's an interesting special edition because none of us know the full story of this 1977 car. Though I am piecing things together and will hopefully publish all we currently know in a future edition of The TR Driver.

<center>[url="http://www.triumphdvd.co.uk"]Triumph TR7 and other car documentaries on DVD here[/url]</center>

tr7sprint1 · Postby **tr7sprint1** » 12 Dec 2011 11:48

[quote]Originally posted by John Clancy

Southern Skies was not a proper special edition per se (I mean with regards to Premium and Spider which were factory produced) being as its special features were dealer fitted extras. Or someone correct me here if I'm wrong.

Now the Jubilee - there's an interesting special edition because none of us know the full story of this 1977 car. Though I am piecing things together and will hopefully publish all we currently know in a future edition of The TR Driver.
<quote>

No, you are correct with your statement John.

The dealer here in the states created different things or added features to generate sales and to increase there profit margin. Actually that sunroof was dealer add-on until Triumph offered the sliding fabric full roof as an option. In the Saint Louis, Mo area one dealership was doing two-tone paint schemes tr7, i got my first ride in early two tone russet brown/tan tr7.

i had one of those sunroofs for a while that i got from a tr7 i parted (it was also aJava Green). It was put in the junk pile when i moved to my current address.

"GETTING SPEED OUT OF A LOW POWERED CAR IS OFTEN MORE REWARDING, THAN WITH TIRE-SMOKING BRUTES" 
<h4><center>http://cliffstr7sprintconversion.blogspot.com/</center></h4>

Roy Hankins · Postby **Roy Hankins** » 12 Dec 2011 20:06

Thanks for that guys.

What I have learned that the Southern Skies is obviously a very rare
beast indeed. As know one on here seems to own one, seen one for sale, or even able to provide a picture of a decent example.
The best we can manage is a poor forlorn example quietly rusting away
in a scrapyard. I think someone stateside should get over to that yard and get it the hell out of there. You'd have one very rare car indeed.

John, the newsletters were great,I enjoyed reading them. I should of known you'd have some information on the cars.

Mr Clancy, don't start me on about the Jubilee version they're a myth
aren't they.[:p] Considering the Jubilee was huge over here and 1977
was the biggest selling year for the TR7 in the Uk where did they all go ? I've only ever seen one and that was Geoff Pooles lovely patriotic example which has also now sadly disappeared.

Wasn't the Jubilee much like the Southern Skies version, in as much as it was the dealers who were jazzing the cars up rather than the factory. I always thought you could have any three letters of your choice incorporated within the side stripe of the car just by the door handles, and that was about it. Otherwise it was standard TR7 all the way.

Roy

Steve-LPS-Thomas · Postby **Steve-LPS-Thomas** » 13 Dec 2011 07:38

Santa please bring me a Southern Skies Tr7! If you cant manage that a Jubilee Edition will do...

<hr noshade size="1">

http://www.croyde-bay.com/triumph.htm

croydebay@aol.com

TR Tony · Postby **TR Tony** » 13 Dec 2011 10:05

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Roy Hankins

Mr Clancy, don't start me on about the Jubilee version they're a myth
aren't they.[:p] Considering the Jubilee was huge over here and 1977
was the biggest selling year for the TR7 in the Uk where did they all go ? I've only ever seen one and that was Geoff Pooles lovely patriotic example which has also now sadly disappeared.

Wasn't the Jubilee much like the Southern Skies version, in as much as it was the dealers who were jazzing the cars up rather than the factory. I always thought you could have any three letters of your choice incorporated within the side stripe of the car just by the door handles, and that was about it. Otherwise it was standard TR7 all the way. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I used to live near Jeff & had the privilege to drive his Jubilee car, it was a really nice Speke 4 speeder, only about 24K miles on it. Now my memory may be playing tricks on me but I think Jeff told me that the red & blue over white paint job on his car was dealer applied. There is a picture of the car in the David Knowles TR7 book IIRC. I have some pictures of the car outside my house - I'll try to post one in case anyone wants to see what it looks like!

When Jeff sold the car (in 2008?) it was collected on a trailer by a guy who had bought it for his wife, I don't think anyone has seen it around the shows or events since then. Just hope it is being looked after properly!

Tony

1981 2L FHC Cavalry Blue
1980 3.5L V8 DHC Jaguar Regency Red - sadly sold!
1977 TR8 FHC EFI Factory development car Inca Yellow

silverseven · Postby **silverseven** » 13 Dec 2011 10:25

anybody have a pic of a Jubilee ??

Ron.

John Wood · Postby **John Wood** » 13 Dec 2011 12:01

There maybe a picture in the next TR Drivers magazine

KDU483N
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