If I had to guess, I’d say the total number of Triumph TR7 convertibles that had been street-parked at this particular intersection in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood could be counted with the fingers on one hand. A grand total of just under 29,000 dropheads (a British term for “convertible”) were produced from between mid-1979 and October ’81, out of just over 112,000 TR7s ever made, which translates to about a quarter of total production. The convertible’s production numbers actually weren’t too shabby, considering it arrived over four years after the coupe.
The ’79 TR7 drop-top was good for a 0-60 time of 11.4 seconds, with an 18.2-second quarter-mile** with the 86 hp 2.0L engine and a five-speed. (For comparison, a 2015 Mitsubishi Mirage with a 1.2L 3-cyl and a 5-speed manual does 0-60 in 11.7 seconds, and the quarter mile in 18.8.) Don’t shake your head. This was the malaise era after all, and well…at least it looked good.
It was the U.S. market, not Great Britain, that received the first of these convertibles in July of 1979. (Continental Europe received them in January 1980, and the UK got them that March.) At that time and for historical perspective, Jimmy Carter was President, and the late Jane Byrne was Chicago’s mayor, the Windy City’s first and only female mayor to date. Disco Demolition Night was held at Comiskey Park on Thursday, July 12th, 1979, between the games of a Chicago White Sox / Detroit Tigers doubleheader, while three of the concurrent, top-five Billboard Hot 100 singles were disco songs, two of which belonged to Donna Summer. July 2nd brought the introduction of the Susan B. Anthony dollar, two days before our annual Independence Day celebration. I was four years old, playing count-the-Chevette every chance I got, and watching “Soul Train” and “Schoolhouse Rock!” on television with my two brothers. None of these facts have absolutely anything to do with this car, but July 1979 was a different time, for sure.
Much has been written about the fixed-roof TR7 coupe’s somewhat controversial “bubbletop wedge” shape in profile (which I also like), but the convertible, for many, had looks that were a lot easier to love without much effort – especially with the top down. While the coupe had originally been penned by Harris Mann (Austin Allegro, Leyland Princess), the design tweaks for the convertible version came from the studio of Giovanni Michelotti, who had given us the Triumph TR4 and Australia’s Leyland P76.
The TR7 has been covered on CC before (see links below). I’m guessing as to the model year, and chose 1979 simply because that was the year these were first available in the U.S. My intent isn’t to try to rewrite what has already been stated, but rather to express my shock at having seen such a relatively rare car in such nice apparent condition street-parked (in the rain!) in a neighborhood that could neutrally be described as mixed-income and not exactly the safest on Chicago’s north side.
What were the circumstances under which this car ended up parked on the curb outside of the local Jewel Osco grocery store? I mean, did someone take this toy out of the garage in the suburbs that day to celebrate with friends in the city, make a run for some charcoal briquettes at the store, only to return to find it wouldn’t start? Regardless, it was a fitting end to a fun Memorial Day weekend to spot this rakish, red ragtop at the beginning of summer’s unofficial kickoff.
Uptown, Chicago, Illinois.
Monday, May 26, 2014.
** TR7 Performance figures cited from www.zeroto60times.com
Related reading:
1976-1981 Triumph TR 7- America Gets A Wedgie
CC Outtake: Someone Is About To Have Their Triumph TR7 Forcibly Removed
Curbside Classic: Triumph TR7 – The Shape Of Things To Come; Or Not
I never warmed to the TR-7, and I guess I had quite a bit of company. I will agree that the droptop is more attractive than the original, but these have all the charm of HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Efficient, Modern, Cold. All of the negatives of the British sports car experience with none of the positives.
But you present a sympathetic side to this unloved car which makes it at least a little likable.
I guess the world is made up of just two kinds of people – those who find TR7/8 convertibles attractive, and those who like Triumph Stags. 🙂
I do wonder why they waited so long to introduce the convertible, given that all of the previous TR-series cars were convertible-only? Just seems a massive departure.
I like the hardtop as sort of a period piece of design, but the convertible makes the wedge shape genuinely likeable to me. The only question is the interior–traditional british wood and leather, or mid 70’s modernist angular plastic? I know which would be a more pleasant place to spend time!
When the TR7 was designed, it was assumed that impending U.S. rollover standards would eliminate convertibles from contention…so the car was penned up with a fixed roof out of necessity, and the convertible turned out to be an ex post facto afterthought. The Jaguar XJS convertible debuted years after the fixed-roof coupe for the same reasons.
Interestingly enough, the coupe was originally intended to be a targa top, not unlike the Fiat X1/9.
Chris, the interior was definitely 70’s modernist angular plastic. I found this interior shot on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph_TR7#/media/File:TR7_tan_plaid_interior.jpg
Coupe or convertible, these don’t have a traditional “Triumph” appearance, but they’re good looking cars, to me. It’s like a British take on an exotic. Designer Harris Mann should stand proudly by these.
This is the best looking Triumph TR I’ve ever seen. It’s an unforgivable shame that British Leyland back in England had to fuck it up by using piss-poor quality materials and workmanship.
They tried. On hearing complaints about poor quality by BL engineers Lucus just said “Ok well just sell our parts to some one else”!
I have always found the TR7 and TR8s to be really appealing. When I was 13 there was a TR7 convertible in my neighborhood that would have been only 6 years old at the time. It had dull paint, flat tires and looked abandoned. I used to ride my bike by to check it out all the time and made fruitless plans to rescue it. Wound up with a Pinto as my first.
That is so depressing – 6 years old seems far too “new” for a car to be in the shape you described. I would have wanted to save it, too. I remember seeing one of these go off a cliff in a rerun of the 1980 movie “Resurrection”, and I remember feeling sad because it seemed such a waste of a cool car.
I like the sort of 70s modernism of the design, somewhat similar in character to the Fiat X1/9. Makes me think of huge, concrete, brutalist structures, computers that fill rooms with big, square plastic buttons and the threat of nuclear war. And those early synth rythms from Donna Summers “I feel love”…
Great imagery (and that song is still one of my jams).
Over the past 10 years I’ve grown fond of any TR7/8, especially a drop top like this. I get really cranky, though, when a car can’t even reliably transport me around the block on a regular basis, so if these were as bad as reputed, maybe I’m best to admire from afar.
Just unearthed a half-buried memory–I think one of the reasons why I always liked the TR7 is that I had a toy version as a kid, a green metal version. Probably somewhere around 1/32 scale. I guess sometimes when you play with a toy enough, the real version sticks in your head In a funny way!
Just to add to the comments about the Disco Demo night. The event was put on by a local Rock Station and the result was major damage to the outfield. So much damage that the second game of the double header was cancelled!!
Not sure of the name of the rock station but some great Chicago Rock DJ’s from that era were Bob Sirott and Larry Lujack!!
You are bringing back some old memories!!!!
Thanks
The second game was not just cancelled, but forfeited in favor of the visiting team, since (in the eyes of MLB rules) it was the fault of the White Sox and their fans that it could not be played.
I live in Chicago also. There is a TVR (not a wedge) in Edgebrook over by the Costco in Niles. See it out and around every once in a while. Talk about rare.
I remember many years ago seeing a TR7 convertible parked on Angeles Crest Hwy, with “drive safely” written on the rear 1/4 panel. It had been wrecked head on, and the dash and steering wheel were pressed into the seat backrests.
Never liked the look of these but along with the awful Princess I guessed it was the new BL corporate face of the times.
Bryce, I chuckled when I read your description of the Princess as “awful”. Not everyone’s favorite-looking car, for sure. (I actually like them.) A friend I showed its picture to who had never heard of the car before said it looked like a 4-door, English Ford Pinto.
The TR7 was always underrated IMHO, with a chassis and drivetrain that was fully competitive for the mid 70s in a way that earlier cars like the MGB were not.
initially, it was hampered by the love it or hate it styling, the lack of a folding roof, the BL quality and the delays in its availability in the home market.
The drophead addressed some of these, but was really too late. The rising dollar and the 1979-80 oil crisis killed it.
Still , I was very close to getting one 3 years ago…..
Nice photos and great write-up. Yes, amazing find in Chicago.
I once owned a dark green (but not quite British Racing Green) 1980 TR7 convertible. Great fun, drove it all over the East Tennessee and North Carolina roads near where I lived back in the ’80’s. Not a terribly fast car, but great handling and perfect for that type of driving. It was a great little auto-crosser too.
The poor reliability and reputation of these cars is legendary, but perhaps not completely deserved with the later models (at least from my experiences). I’ve owned many cars, and my TR7 is one I wish I had back. And I’ve always been on the look-out for the right TR8 (more power and does away with the engine issues).
Oddly enough I saw a blue tr7 or tr8 yesterday
A co-worker of mine had a TR-7, in bright blue. It was, as expected, a horrible car, but what made it so memorable was watching him get in and out of it. He was 6’4″, and at least 400 pounds, and somehow, he managed to drive it for about a year, when it suddenly was replaced with a Toyota Corolla, which his wife soon started driving when he bought a really nice ’74 SD-455 Trans Am. I drove the TR-7 once, and I had a lot of problems with my feet being too big, let alone my legs being too long to be comfortable in it. It was gutless and I didn’t understand the appeal of it at all.
A neighbor, who collects Citroens, and other oddball cars, had a TR-7 sitting dead, engineless, next to his garage for several years. It was suddenly gone one day, replaced with a ’10 Charger SRT. The Citroens are still there. Some run, most don’t.
A BL deadly sin and a nail in the coffin. The TR7 should have been a convertible from the start but wasn’t. The TR8 should have been more readily available,build quality was poor,the list goes on.
A few years before Triumph made a range of cars for everyone,little 1300 cc runabouts, family cars,sports cars,6 cylinder executive saloons,where did it all go wrong?They were a step up from Austin and Morris but cheaper than Rovers.
A horrid reminder of the 70s along with the Osmonds,platform shoes and cheesecloth shirts
BLMC happened with its mania for building the issigonis rubbish, and rationalising the rest.
The rush to FWD was definitely not well thought,there were some awful cars churned out.
As a wannabe car stylist from a very young age, I would often see a car and imagine putting my own “little” touches on it. Sometimes it would be the paint and/or upholstery colors I’d change….other times the wheels/wheel covers. Occasionally I’d think I would like to make major structural changes, like turning a sedan into a convertible….or at least a hardtop coupe. The TR7 is one of those cars that seemed to defy “improvement”. It looked too short and/or too wide, like it had already been in a very serious collision with a brick wall. The bumpers have to be THE worst integrated design of any 70s car. And the fixed roof models have a design that makes the roof look like it was chopped off with a large blade. As I seem to remember, there was a design proposal that featured “flying buttress” attachments to the rear of the roof (a la the Maserati Bora)…..while another proposal featured a hatchback/fastback, similar to the late 70s/early 80s FWD Mopar 4 cylinder “sport coupes”.
Then the convertible model appeared. In a stroke, all the design faults disappeared.
I would love to own one. Make it one of the (very) limited edition Spyder models, with a manual transmission.
BTW, the article quotes acceleration times for a 1979 model with a 4 speed transmission, wasn’t the 4 speed replaced with a standard 5 speed transmission BEFORE the 1979 model year?
I have seen pictures of the hatchback version, come to think of it! It had giant, wraparound taillights and a greenhouse not dissimilar to the Dodge Omni O24 / Plymouth Horizon TC3, if not quite as fastly-sloped.
Thanks for the correction on the number of cogs…I’ve confirmed via internet research that the 5-speed was made standard for ’78, so I’ve corrected the text. Much appreciate. (See, that’s why I love CC.)
As much as I like convertibles, I’d prefer a Spitfire. That long hood and short deck with the curve makes those look like a predator with the back legs crouched and ready to leap.