I once owned a TR-7 in the seventies. I had a bad accident and the insurance paid out the value and took my car. At the end of the day, I ended up driving out of British Leyland with a new Austin Mini.

I enjoyed my TR-7 and often wondered how it would drive with an eight cylinder. It must be awesome to drive since David has kept his around for twelve years.

Triumph TR-8

“The Triumph TR8, eight-cylinder version of the “wedge-shaped” Triumph TR7 sports car was designed by Harris Mann and manufactured by British Leyland (BL), through its Jaguar/Rover/Triumph (JRT) division. Because of its outstanding performance, the TR8 was often dubbed the “English Corvette”. The majority of TR8s were sold in the United States and Canada.

The TR8 did not use Triumph’s own single overhead cam V8 as found in the Stag due to its weight and service record but instead shared its Rover V8 engine with the Rover SD1. The engine itself was derived from an early 1960s Buick/Oldsmobile all-aluminium V8 215 cu in (3.52 L) that Rover acquired from General Motors in the mid-60s.

History has shown this engine to be an extremely reliable, flexible, and robust powerplant, especially after BL developed a better manufacturing process. TR8s were initially fitted with twin Zenith-Stromberg carburetors. However, about 400 1980 models sold in California, all 1981 models—of which only 352 were produced including twenty carbed cars for the UK market—and all 1982 models (of which all seventy went to Canada) featured a Bosch L-jetronic fuel injection system with a specially designed Lucas fuel injection computer (ECU). The 1980 carburetor model was rated at 133 bhp (99 kW; 135 PS) (at 5000 rpm) and the fuel injected California version at 137 bhp (102 kW; 139 PS) at the same engine speed. For 1981, all North American cars received a unified version with fuel injection, producing 148 bhp (110 kW; 150 PS) at 5100 rpm and delivering 0–60 mph times in the low 8 seconds.  Other differences between the TR8 and TR7 are upgraded brakes, revised axle ratio (3.08:1 on the TR8 and all automatic TR7s), battery moved to the trunk (boot), alloy wheels, leather steering wheel and a few minor trim changes.”

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia