Speke to me about TR7s

[RichardMoss]

Interestingly, Solihull was also an exceedingly militant place. That's why SD1 production was shipped off to Canley, where the Maxi assembly line workers were exceedingly happy to have something nice to build, so they did a great job.

You mean Cowley, not Canley

[warren t claim]

The Triumph factory, (Speke Numbrer 2) yesterday.

 

 

 

Main factory.

 

 

 

Warehouse used by JLR to store engines for Freelanders which are made a mile up the road in Halewood.

 

 

 

[Pete-M]

They used to have a Speke built TR7 in a glass box at the Speke 2 site.

 

Until they realised it was rusting massively quickly.

[richardthestag]

my mum had a Speke TR7 in 1984. it was proper speke 4 on the floor spec. At 7 years old it was rusty as fuck, like new sills, inner and outer wheelarches all round.

 

You just dont see rusty 7 year old cars these days

 

would like another tr7 fhc. Mums was canary yellow with "full" length webasto roof which made it a whole lot less claustrophobic. I recall it as being a right larf to smoke around in. the key fault aside from rust, dodgy pop up headlights and the colour was that the clutch plate kept seizing to the flywheel if not used for a couple of days, Got to be quite good at freeing it off, in third gear on the road outside our house, clutch pedal down, and engage the starter. 2 respectable sized kangaroos and a decent sized bang as the plate freed and the engine started, worked every time.

 

TR7 issues can be gotten over on the whole but regrettably Speke rust is probably terminal.

 

Funny really because they made Stag bodies at Speke2 and they dont have any where near the rust issues on the whole.

[warren t claim]

 

I think this says it all.

[Negative Creep]

Was there a trechnical reason they never put the Sprint engine in them? Although the drop top looks nicer, I have to say they have aged rather well

[RedSparrow]

I guess it was a bit to peppy for the US market.

I think they planned to eventually, they made about 3 16v prototypes.

[Ratdat]

They did build a handful of Sprints but never series production. I've only ever seen one real one and that was when I was working for a Triumph specialist in the early 90's. It was white, on an S reg, with a red tartan seats and had some pinstripes and 'Sprint' decals on the rear wings. I could have bought it then pretty cheaply but I really had no interest in them whatsoever at the time, a move I slightly regret now.

[dugong]

Was there a trechnical reason they never put the Sprint engine in them? Although the drop top looks nicer, I have to say they have aged rather well

 

I would imagine it had something to do with production capacity, or some short-sighted nonsense about not wanting to challenge the Dolly Sprint. Then again, it might have been because management came in on Wednesday and looked at one of the shop stewards funny. Who knows?

[cort16]

Has anyone driven a TR8? I imagine they're quite interesting although that v8 must be a bit heavy for such a little car?

It only just occured to me but it's odd they used the Rover v8 rather than the one in the Stag v8.

[RedSparrow]

Yeah but Stag V8s were (and still are) a massive pain in the arse.

[cort16]

That's what I mean it didn't stop them putting them in the stags!

[Guest Breadvan72]

I agree Pete. But the management must also take plenty of blame. The pioneers of these companies - Herbert Austin, William Morris and William Lyons etc - tended to be pretty good at industrial relations. Then a wave of management came in who had no experience of the shop floor and saw themselves as superior to the workers. That's what bred such hate between management and the unions. If Edwardes hadn't come in and put a stop to such nonsense, Austin-Rover would never have happened. It would have all gone to the wall back then. 

 

Interestingly, Solihull was also an exceedingly militant place. That's why SD1 production was shipped off to Canley, where the Maxi assembly line workers were exceedingly happy to have something nice to build, so they did a great job.

 

 

Fatha BV had come up from the shopfloor and ended up in middle to senior BL management, so he saw the arguments from both sides, and he puts most blame on poor management, whilst accepting that the unions took the piss.  My dad sort of hero worships Michael Edwardes, but says that Edwardes was hampered by, of all people, La Thatcherina, who was too hands on and wouldn't let Edwardes get on with it. 

[RedSparrow]

Re. the engines from what I've learnt Triumph blokes wouldn't have been keen on fitting Rover units (and vice versa) but probably by 1980 (TR8) they were paying out so much in warranties for the Triumph V8 that the Rover V8 was the only choice. Also, Stag production had finished by then so there was no reason to keep knocking out a lemon of and engine.

[holbeck]

TR7 Sprint was OK'd for production at Speke. Around 20 pre- production cars were line built, Mass production parts were ordered, delivered and even placed on workstations on the line, and then the unions demanded a technology payment for fitting Sprint parts. No payment, no Sprint.

 

This was a dispute that was unresolved when the big strike happened at Speke which stopped production for best part of a year. It also coincided with the arrival of Edwardes who reviewed the situation and he cut his losses and moved TR7 to Canley.

 

Re the Rover V8 in TR7, this was envisaged from the start.

Rover powered cars were running as early as 1974.

 

Interestingly the only TR7 variant that was unplanned, as it were, was the soft top.