1976–81 Triumph TR7

It had the misfortune of being built in British Leyland’s Liverpool plant, better known for producing continuous labor strife than automobiles

by Rob Sass

The Triumph TR7 was perhaps the ultimate product of the 1970s, a period referred to as “the decade that quality control forgot.” Abysmal production quality, labor strife, bad management and controversial styling all conspired to render the TR7—although a surprisingly decent seller—a tragic footnote in the last days of the British sports car empire. By the mid-1970s, Triumph’s big sports cars were decidedly long in the tooth and still clinging to outdated separate body-on-chassis construction long after rival MG had gone to unit construction. Sports car scribes were clamoring for Triumph to replace its archaic designs with a modern sports car based on one of the better saloon platforms of the day, the Dolomite.

DESIGNED IN A PUB

Triumph, which had followed an evolutionary approach to the development of its TR series of sports cars, took the bait and broke completely with tradition in designing the TR7. As legend has it, house stylist Harris...

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