Triumph World, Gordon Birtwhistle

[claypole1360]

So, a really informative article that gives a human side to the mechanical development of our cars and one that I thoroughly enjoyed. Being able to relate some of it to stuff I had previously read by Graham Robson was particularly satifying.
Of course, Gordon had something to say about the 7 and the 8 and I get what he meant.

In saying that previous Triumphs had something innovative in their construction such as independent suspension all round (etc), and that the 7 sort of only had basic components wrapped in a futuristic body, he felt the lineage was losing something here. He went onto say that all sorts of things were going wrong in the management at that time and decisions were not always logical, including exciting design prototypes for the TR7 that were passed over in favour of our car.

I thoroughly respect Gordon's point of view, he was there and has far more experience in his big toe than I will ever have, but my view is that it is both a competitive/stand out car for its era and that it is fully worthy of the lineage but in a different way.

This is not a protest against GeeBee's opinions, however reading the interview has given me cause to think why my 7V8 is special, and adding in the mild development to the base car that has taken place which could be cornered surprisingly quickly in standard form anyway(G. Birtwhistle - TR Driver Special Souvenir Edition), my earlier assumption that the sum of its parts makes it a great car rather than any standout innovation seem more than appropriate.

Cheers, Calvin



1978 TR7V8 FHC
1962 Herald Coupe 1200
1989 Peugeot 205 xs
2003 Peugeot 206 GTI
2009 VW Passat

[FI Spyder]

I remember back in the day while independent rear suspension was all the rage, it was the solid axle cars that more often handled better for no other reason than it was easier to make them do so as independent just added so much complexity to the equation. A case in point was the Alpha Spider. A guy I worked with at IBM bought a new Series 2 and it floated over a pot holed road when he gave me a demo ride that would have had other cars jumping all over the place.



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