Early TR7

[tr8]

The 1975-76 ACL cars that were shipped to Canada and US seem to be a year earlier than the oldest ACG 1976-77 cars that were available in UK.
That being said, My race car is ACL512U, and was built on 22 April 1975 according to the BMHIT document. I also have the VIN plate from ACL924U which I scrapped (it was a total loss and there is a picture in my album). The built date for ACL924 from the VIN plate is January 1975.
Seems like even at the very start of production the lower VIN number car (512) was built 3 months after the higher (924) number one.
What build dates are the early ACG cars then?

Paul

[FI Spyder]

ACG cars started in June 75. Only about 50 cars were built in 1975. Nine out of ten cars were exported hence the mantra of the time "export or die.' The car was initially sold for export before being released in UK. Also why US/Canada had the 5 speed before UK testifying to the importance of the North American market..

What is interesting is your observation the ACL car numbers are not sequential. Begs the question how did this happen? Did they bang out the commission plate except for dates then stamp the dates as they pulled them from the parts box? It would be neat if some of the guys who worked on the line were still around and could answer this and the hundred other questions of the oddities of Triumph production. Would make a great book. Thank goodness John had the forthought to interview Harris Mann while the opportunity still existed.

[Rich in Vancouver]

My FHC is ACL764U and the build date from the VIN plate is Jan75.
I haven't checked with BMIHT for the exact date yet.
It would seem to make sense that they would have been able to build 400 cars a month by that point in production, the problems at Speke notwithstanding (I know I have seen the breakdown somewhere) Maybe your car was held back for some reason, testing, fault correction etc. and that would explain the late production date.

Cheers,
Rich

1975 TR7 ACL764U

[tr8]

That could explain it. There is nothing on the BMHIT certifiacte that suggest anything though.

Paul

[Rich in Vancouver]

I know that with MG delays of that sort were pretty common, and I would think that Triumph was similar. If you take the Speke quality control problems into account it could be quite likely that something on your car caused it to be set aside for repair rather than going out as it should have. The "Bullet" video shows racks of TR7 bodyshells stockpiled waiting to be used and rows of cars around the factory. The place was pretty chaotic.

Richard

1975 TR7 ACL764U