My 2 TR7's - In Texas

[jclay (RIP 2018)]

Hey, Racerttx,

There were three different black paints used on TR7. All Spiders were painted Marashino Black with a special Grey/black interior, Alloy wheels, TR8 steering Wheel and Red reflective logos and strips. There is a red headed guy at A&M that has one and one setting in a field toward San Antonio. There is another one in Houston, but the FI is not working at last report.

I have been trying to get Texas Wedges [url="http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/texas_wedges/"](Texas_Wedges)[/url] off the ground without too much success. Fast Aggie has two TR7s in Kingwood, both with Buick V6s.

Don't forget that the Red River Triumph Club is sponsoring the 2008 VTR (Vintage Triumph Register) South Central Regional on April 16-19 in Tyler, just a Hop-Skip-N'-A-Jump from you. Love to see you there, if I can get someone to drive me and my Triumph there.

Also, If you want some information about my TR7, you can [url="http://web.mac.com/jclaythompson/iWeb/Site/Welcome.html"]look here.[/url]

Glad to have another Texan on this group, I think we are up to seven now!

Have fun, drive fast & safe, be kewl,

jclay

[stever_sl]

When I was looking at TR7s on the lots way back around 1976, there were four basic "versions" to choose from. There were the standard cars, there were standards with dealer-installed vinyl roofs, there were a few "Southern Skies" editions with special emblems and striping, and there was a single "Black Gold" car that really stood out. (I should mention that this was in North Carolina -- hence the "Southern Skies" cars that were limited to a few Southern US states.) The Black Gold cars were the only black-painted TR7s around. They had gold pinstriping and gold-toned wheels that I think were a different style than the standard TR7's but I'm not sure after 30+ years. I know they had a dash plate that said "Black Gold" though. They were really striking-looking cars but at the time I had my heart set on a white car, so I passed up the black one. I never saw another on a lot, and I've never seen one since, except for a photo of one sitting on top of another car in a junkyard. Whether the Black Gold cars were factory-painted black or repainted in the States, I just don't know. Wish I'd thought to take a camera around the lots. I'd love to have a good clear photo of the Black Gold and Southern Skies cars today -- my 76 TR7 is about to get fixed up and it's tempting to put it in one of those trims, but there's so little info to go on. All I've been able to find is the original press release about the Southern Skies and a couple of photos of one in a junkyard in NC, hard to make out the decal details.

Anyway I'm here to tell you, there were black TR7s on the Triumph lots in North Carolina, at any rate!

- Steve Richardson
St Louis MO
76 TR7 (original owner)

[FI Spyder]

Now that jclay mentions it I do recall seeing three blacks on a colour list. Could it be one black was the Premium, one for the
Spider and the third one for the "Black Gold"? In the "Original Triumph TR7 & TR8" book it mentions only the Premium and Spider were black even though black was never a colour in the catalogues. I guess that's because you could get a Premium or Spider in any colour you wanted so long as it was black. I've only seen one other black TR7 and it is a repaint (from blue).


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

[silverseven]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by FI Spyder</i>
I've only seen one other black TR7 and it is a repaint (from blue).
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">


same here, in person I've only ever seen one wedge dressed in black (and it was a repaint from silver)

-course it did have original v8 power, so this minor detail is very easily overlooked in my books [8]



Ron.

[racerttx]

its been a long time.... here's a picture of one of them near complete...

this first picture is how it sits stock, the 2nd frame in this photo is my photochop of how i would like it to sit when i lower it. i will post pictures of the black one when it is finished!

[John Clancy]

It's sitting too high to start with so you hopefully shouldn't have to lower it quite so much to get the proper TR7 look back. There are all manner of tried and tested springs, dampers and bushes available which will put the ride height down by an inch or so. Believe me, with modern roads here in Blighty, that's plenty low enough! I'm referring to speed bumps mainly.

<center><b>[url="http://www.triumphtr7.com/documents/sales/codenamebullet.asp"]Buy the story of the Triumph TR7/8 on DVD here[/url]</b></center>

[sst]

racerttx - don't know how I missed replying to you in this original thread.. I'm in Wichita Falls, about 90 miles, or so, north of you.. Good luck with the 7's..

Son of a .... THATS gonna leave a mark!

[Beans]

Lowering it that much can only end in tears i.m.h.o.
It will be probably be sitting on its bumpstops most of the time [B)]

This one hits the bumpstops regularly ...



... its on uprated springs (200lbs F/R) and adjustable Koni dampers

<center>
<font color="blue"><i>1981 TR7 FHC Sprint (better known as 't Kreng)
1980 TR7 DHC (my first car currently being restored)
In parts a 1980 TR7 PI DHC, 1981 TR7 DHC, 1981 TR7 FHC</font id="blue">
<font color="red">http://tr7beans.blogspot.com/</i></font id="red"></center>

[racerttx]

but i have taken it a step further and added an adjustable brake bias controller so instead of a dive under heavy braking it should squat more. i dont think ride quality will be an issue at the lower ride height because of the fat 13 inch tires. the fatter tires (vs stock) more than compensate for the extra stiffness of the suspension, in my opinion concerning ride quality.

[PeterTR7V8]

I prefer to bring the wheels to the arches with 15" rims although I'm starting to think the 205s are a tyre size too far.


Never say die. At least not while you're still breathing.

[bmcecosse]

Funnily enough - when I lived/worked in Houston for a while (80/81) my mate (also temporarily over from UK) bought a NEW TR7. One day he needed a 4 seat car - and I swapped my (hideous) Company Mustang for his TR7 - and thought it was absolutely the WORST car I had ever driven! Yes - even worse than the ghastly Mustang!! But he did seem to have good success with girls in that car! Well - not actually IN the car - but you know what I mean!!

[racerttx]

couple pictures of the mods...





+ the seats are out of a honda civic. have a black set of the same seats from an acura rs, for the black one. custom welded tr7 seat track hardware to the honda seats i think that part looks nice, especially when it gets a roll bar.

yeah the bump stops have to be raised, y yeah it really needs adjustable caster/camber plates so that would require bulges in the hood yeah, but that sure would make it nice... and corner too.

[PeterTR7V8]

I have a K-Mac castor kit on mine & it doesn't require any bulges.




Never say die. At least not while you're still breathing.

[racerttx]

are those strut towers mushroomed?

[PeterTR7V8]

No. It's a straight swap of the top strut plate & then a bolt off/bolt on job. Initially it got me 1 3/4 deg -ve camber but in the last alignment they got 2 1/2 but I think they gave it more (ie, too much) castor. Strangely it is my most viewed video. Watch it before youtube deletes the music track.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHwk6k6Oaf8

http://www.k-mac.com.au/


Never say die. At least not while you're still breathing.