Triumph TR8 | Buyer's Guide

For the money, the Triumph TR8 is a blast to drive in an undeniably appealing package. Watch as Hagerty Classic Cars magazine Executive Editor Stefan Lombard looks over a concours-quality example and talks you through the ins and outs of these spry V-8 sports cars.

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[clarkgriswold]

I once owned a 1980 TR-8 with a 3.5 litre Rover V8 a Buick derived engine from the 60's and boy was it tons of fun!

[mrhardsee]

My buddy just got a 1980 TR8 and he plans on putting it up for sale. Glad I just found this vid I’m gonna do a basic inspection for him

[andybroer]

My dad had one while I was in high school, I got to drive it quite a bit in my small Northern New York GM town. It was a prototype coupé with soft sunroof, resprayed white with no badges, only the dual exhaust gave it away as a TR8. Needless to say in the early 80s I surprised a great deal of people at stop lights 🙂 very fun car!

[derryk]

Right out of high school I got a TR7 drop head blk with grey interior. I went straight away with fixing it up trying to improve upon a car that desperately needed improvements. New this new that, cloth top instead of the grainy vinyl, headers and duel exhaust, front side and rear air dam and valance, new blk paint job, I even found very nice condition grey seats from a Fiero with the speakers in the head rest, slight modification the mounts and they fitted right in. All in all I was very proud of my little project car and to this day I still am because it is still 30 years later sitting in my garage. I don't use it like I used to but one day soon I will get it back on the road again.

[JINXtheTHIRD]

my granddad owns a red convertible fuel injected tr8 he finally let me drive it over the summer and its so much fun to drive definitally my favorite car

[donandnanelmore]

I bought one used in 1982 and it was my daily driver. It was about the only decent and affordable sports car in that era. The engine was bulletproof with a couple of exceptions. In the fuel injected car gas was delivered with a lot of small rubber tubes that were prone to cracking and leaking gas on top of the engine. I had an injector break on my once and I could not figure out why the car developed a miss. I lived in an area with no British mechanics that I could find. Finally I found "British Engineering" in Lancaster, CA and the owner found the broken injector in about 1 minute. The transmission was bulletproof as well. I never had to have work done on the engine except as above, the transmission or clutch. Even the Lucas electrics were pretty darn good with the exception of the multi-stalk on the left of the steering column (turn signals, horn and maybe wipers--I forget). The multi-stalk went belly up a few times and the headlight switch on the dash once. I had paid to have it tuned all the time I owned it except once. It took me half a day to get to the air filter and found that it was FULL of dirt, leaves, etc.. No one had EVER changed it. My biggest disappointments with the car were a whine when under load (something under the hood) and the fact that they had detuned the engine a lot. As I recall, the California car (the only one I knew of where the CA car got better mileage and power than the 49 state car) was rated at 140HP. This was way down from the same motor in the Morgan +8 which produced well over 200HP as I recall. I sold the car to my Dad sometime in the later '90s and I sold it for him in the early 2000s on Ebay to a Triumph collector in Belgium. His mechanic found that the catalytic converter had collapsed internally and, when fixed, the car breathed much better he said. I bought it for $10, 000 in 1982 and sold it for my Dad for $8, 000--not bad after it being in the family for 20 years.

[charlesharrell]

I owned a TR-7 back in the day and I met some nice people while waiting on tow trucks.

[mikeziemba]

I had one of these that I bought in the early 1990's from a guy who raced them in showroom stock class. The car needed lots of work when I got it - on the test drive I noticed that one of the front wheel bearings was broken. I called the owner and he delivered the parts to my friend's house where I had stopped. We were back on the road in about an hour. The car needed other things mostly because of neglect - new stainless exhaust system, new top, new tires, new brakes, minor front fender rust repair, seat covers, etc. The car came with a lot of parts because of the racing history of the prior owner - his race car was claimed after a race and the parts had been supplied by BL, his sponsor. I did most of the work myself and found the car easy to work on especially since I had just restored a TR7. This car had Lucas/Bosch fuel injection that worked well, but did have a slight annoying surge that was fixed by disconnecting the O2 sensors. These cars came standard with power steering. I decided to fit a TR7 non-power unit that was sitting around instead of having the power rack rebuilt. This change removed some weight from the front of the car and I really didn't mind the extra steering effort. Once I got the car sorted, I really enjoyed driving it and put a fair amount of mileage on it before selling it. In 1999, my garage was occupied by two TR7's, two Fiat Spiders, a Jag E-Type, a TR8, a Pontiac Grand Prix GTP, and a Ford Explorer. I sold of all the TR's and Fiats and bought a Saab 93 convertible - my vintage car addiction was coming to an end. I did eventually finish the Jag and sold that off as well.

[shawncweed]

This car looks in great condition...I had a 71 TR6 in the early 80s and when the TR8 came out it made us drool...not fast by todays standards...but a fun toy to have.

[nigeh]

Austin Rover did campaign the TR7/8 in rallying back in the 70s/80s I think. Tony Pond was one of their drivers

[SecondLifeDesigner]

One of the reasons why loved my Fiero was its shape reminded me of the TR7 and TR8s.

[twsmotors]

Well done. We've spent out life working on these. Glad they are getting some attention!

[johnclayden]

Interesting: I am a Brit, I do have a Corvette but had never heard the TR8 referred to as the 'British Corvette'.

[PHOTOGRASPER]

I had a tr7 hardtop. Put some hi-perf totes in it - That thing handled like a dream!

[swordscot]

Given the design is nearly 50 years old, I think it still looks amazing

[kurts]

Many years ago, my first car was a 1962 F-85 Oldsmobile. It came with a "215" Cubic Inch 155 hp 2 barrel Aluminum block V-8 and a 3 speed auto. It was nice but "kids" didn't like 4 doors back then. It ran really great. From what came to understand, that Aluminum V-8 was sold to British Leyland after GM was done with it and it made it's way into the TR-8s. It worked well with the Rochester Carb.

My point... at least engine parts may be able to be acquired from a GM supplier. Life was good in the 60s *S*

[mattnbc]

Interesting, more rare than a Delorean, which is my favorite car from the so called malaise period. I had owned a TR7 and it was a lot of fun to drive. Handled like a slot car.

[Matt_from_Florida]

1:03 You could *option* them with rack & pinion steering? No, *not option. All TR8's came standard with (the exact same) quick-ratio R&P power steering, a GM Saginaw unit.* It's one of the changes that made a TR8 feel like a true sports car VS the slow manual steering that TR7s had. I had two TR8s BTW; an '80 and an '81.
2:01 The solution to *almost* all 'wonky' headlight issues is to buy a new headlight switch... the one you actually touch on the fascia.
3:50 A properly functioning R-12 filled TR8 A/C is a 100% General Motors unit of that era (R4 compressor) and will freeze you out of the car!
6:04 As that same engine (3.5L variant) came in 5000lb Range Rovers the engine will seem like a torque monster in this lightweight car. Also the 3.5L Rover V8 is a 'happy revver' unlike the higher displacement versions (3.9L 4.0L 4.6L) they eventually put in future Range Rovers that had an increased stroke.

[dwilsonjr]

I know the Triumph TR7/TR8's were controversial when it first arrived, mostly due to it's styling and reliability which was typical of most British Leyland cars of the 70's and 80's. But I must admit, the TR7/TR8 is starting to grow on me now and I don't mind some of the British quirks as long as it's not rusty which is good for me because I live in Southern California where rust is hardly an issue compare to other parts of the U.S. Of course if I decide to buy one, it has to be a convertible because they're always better looking than the coupe.

[andrewmc]

I have owned the entire triumph range including the TR7. The TR7 had a built in engine miss. I spent thousands trying to work out the issue which i never did. However in say this the car had presence and character. Certainly not as bad as the critics say.