Early cars indeed have a grill on top of the dashboard.
Later cars have a closed (ribbed) panel.
I don't know when exactly this Change was made, probably during the production in Speke.
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<font color="blue"><i>1976 TR7 FHC (needs some TLC ...)
1980 TR7 DHC (my first car, a.k.a. Kermette)
1981 TR7 FHC (Sprint engined a.k.a. 't Kreng
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