Ment to replace the Famous TR6 the TR7 was a bit of a flop, and got relagated to being nothing more than a Girls car. Whats even sadder is that after the colapse of British Leyland Honda Introduced the Prelude into the UK badged as a Triumph TR model, poor TR7 got a short production run, and was then replaced by an even more Girly japanese car, its Heritage consisting of some of Brittens greatest sports cars was lost for ever.
Using a Monocoque chassis with a live axle at the back, and to start with no Option for a roadster the new TR7 was designed to be diffret from all that had gone before. Saddly it was a little to diffrent, It shared none of the classic styling cues that had been carried right through the TR range since the TR2, and was one of the first of the Wedge Shapes that would invade '80s car design.
It was also fitted with an underpower 4cylinder engine, and with a curb weight greater than its 6 cylinder powered father the TR6 it was also slower. People wondered at the point of buying a sports car that was slower then the previous model.
Sales were never strong, even after a Convertiable model was added to the line up. It was almost saved by the introduction of a Rover V8 to the frount end, but only a very limited number of Factory V8s were ever made before BL collapsed. Today however a favorite past time of many Triumph enthusists is using one of the avaliable kits to transform an ordinary TR7 into a much faster and slightly evil TR8, giving the car the sort of image and performance it should have had 20 years ago.