Amongst a long list of jobs, the car has had:

• New front wings & rear arches fitted
• New door skins
• New sills
• New headlamp pods & brand new headlamp units/motors
• Professional respray
• New clutch
• New suspension all round
• New brakes all round
• S/Steel back box
• New Minilites
• New hood
• Countless new parts around the engine

Since purchasing the car, we have done the following:

• Fitted new throttle cable (old one was heavy & jerky)
• Fitted a reconditioned starter motor (old one was always lazy & eventually the soleniod died)
• Repaired the kerbed front chin spoiler (remoulded & resprayed the original)
• Fitted Lumenition electronic ignition
• Fitted new ignition leads & got the proper lead clips
• Fitted a 2nd hand metal fresh air scoop (had been missing… made the cabin very smelly & warm having hot engine bay air pouring through the fresh air vents!!)
• Replaced tachometer (original started sticking)
• Re-routed the manifold hot air pipe round the front of the head (I know.... never seen that before.... but look at the pics in your workshop manuals.... Thats where its meant to be!)
• Changed steering wheel to a leather & chrome Mountney
• Bought hood stowage cover
• Thoroughly enjoyed the TR7 experience!!!

Jobs for the future:

• Interior is original – seats will be recovered some day
• Tiny tear in hood to be repaired (someone forgot to undo the poppers before pulling the hood back!)
• Spin on oil filter conversion
• Fit helicoil(s) to head where exaust manifold has slight blow out
• Apart from that… just keeping the car in good running order

As we tackle these and other jobs in the future, we’ll photograph & document them on our Technical page.

First impressions of ownership:

The TR7 is a surprisingly tight car to drive. PIA7070 has been kept true to the original and drives really well. The 2.0 slant 4 engine isn’t a mad ‘power house’, but rather gives a torquey, smooth power delivery. With a Rimmers S/Steel exhaust it sounds great! Everyone makes comment about the TR7 brakes, and how poor they are. In response to that… take a drive in any Mk3 Ford Fiesta 1.1 and you’ll think the TR7 has ABS!! My sister had a Fiat X1/9 back in the early 90’s and it was very ‘compact’. In contrast, the TR7 is a much roomier car inside and feels a lot bigger all round.

Like I said above, I’m no car restorer. I have tinkered with my own daily drivers over the years and hadn’t really gone much beyond doing my own oil & filter changes. That’s why the TR7 (and other Triumphs) make good sense as a practical classic. They are easy to work at. My first big job was to replace the starter motor (see our Technical page for details). If you get your hands on a Unipart workshop manual and follow the instructions – it’s easy! Taking on jobs like this, one at a time as needed, has helped increase my confidence in my own abilities and in classic car ownership. And… if you’re in a club – you’ll have a few phone numbers & volunteers for the time when you get out of your depth.

Running costs are low. Our 1st years insurance, fully comp with agreed value (restricted to 3,000 miles a year) was under £120! OK, the car needs road tax – but asides from that, the majority of spending in our 1st year of ownership has been on things that weren’t really needed. They were just done to improve the vehicle even further, with the exception of the starter motor, which was essential. Parts availability is nothing short of fantastic – you can get almost every part with no trouble – and at a very reasonable cost. I order online every time and find the specialist suppliers most helpful. If you’re thinking of buying a TR7 – check out our Links page and browse round the suppliers that we have linked to. You’ll be surprised!