Original Owner: A Bit of Beer, Peer Pressure, and a ’79 Triumph TR7
Michael Grills and his cousin, Waldo Holden, and best friend, Roland Reidmond, liked to throw back a few beers after work on a Friday night in the rural Ontario, Canada, farmhouse they shared. The home belonged to Waldo’s grandfather. Grills vividly recalls one of those Fridays in 1979, when Roland walked over to a window and pointed outside at where the three guys parked their cars.
“He was looking out the window saying, ‘This is no good. This is no good.’ I went over to the window and asked him, ‘What are you talking about?’ And then he said, ‘This is no good. Triumph, Triumph, Honda. Tomorrow morning, you need to go buy a Triumph.”
Welcome to Original Owner, the Hagerty series showcasing—you guessed it—people who bought a vintage car when new and still own it. The cars don’t need to be factory-original, just still getting driven. Got a car that fits the bill? Email tips@hagerty.com with the subject line “Original Owner:” —Ed.
Grills, who was 21, owned a Honda Civic, while his buddies were both driving Triumph TR7s, the wedge-shaped coupe that replaced the TR6 convertible in 1975. He didn’t disagree with Roland’s mild chiding.
“I’d had a couple of beers, but it wasn’t a dare,” Grills recalled for Hagerty. “The next morning, I headed to a small town called Georgetown and bought my own TR7 at Georgetown British Cars. It was in stock. Roland had a yellow ’76 TR7, Waldo had a brown ’78, and I bought a Carmine Red ’79. I still have it today, to my wife’s dismay.”
The TR7 served as Grills’ daily driver for about 10 years or so. He later had access to a company truck for his job as a civil engineer for Ontario Hydro, the power utility in the province.
“I’d drive the TR7 for six months out of the year and then put it in a garage for winter,” Grills recalled. “I was often out of town during the week. I would travel to the different provinces working on concrete remediation, dikes and water leaks, and controls, all related to the hydraulic structure of the dams. I had a company truck, but when I was younger, I sometimes took my Triumph. I’d drive to the town we were working in and leave it at the hotel, then go back and forth in the work truck with the crew.”
When Grills was 27, he and his wife, Lynn-Del, had their first of four children, and he preferred to spend time with the kids on the weekend. The TR7 got less drive time, and he also had a motorcycle for weekend fun.
The kids are all grown now, and Grills retired in 2023. The Triumph has 62,000 kilometers (about 38,000 miles), and he still drives it when he can. “I take it out every so often, although it needs some work to be driven more than that,” he says.
Almost Bought a Camaro
It just so happened that on that Friday night with his friends 45 years ago, Grills already had a new car on his mind.
“Just before those guys talked me into buying the Triumph, I was thinking about the Camaro Z/28,” he said.
The Z/28 returned to the Camaro line in the spring of 1977, and production zoomed upward in 1978. Coincidentally, the $7200 CAD that Grills paid new for his Triumph would have bought the Camaro, but he said he never regretted choosing the British sports car over the sporty Chevy. He especially enjoyed driving the car with his two TR7 buddies.
“We would drive our TR7s around a lot together, going to baseball games and all over the place,” he said. “Roland used to compete in Pro F2 motorcycle racing, the 250 class. We went to bike races all over, down to Michigan and through other states, and a lot of places around Ontario. Those were some great memories.”
Factory Basics: 1976-1981 Triumph TR7
Replacing the TR6 roadster for 1976, the TR7 was ultimately Triumph’s final car (not including the Acclaim, a rebadged Honda Civic assembled in England from 1981–84). It became the most successful of the TR models, which started with the TR2 in 1953. The TR6 had sold nearly 95,000 over seven years, with about three quarters of those going to North America. The TR7 made it to just past 112,000 in six years, with most of those likewise reaching our shores. The smaller Triumph Spitfire roadster remained a showroom companion until 1980.
While TR models before it had been roadsters or convertibles, the TR7 was offered only as a coupe for its first three years. The car was built around a unitized body/chassis, versus the body-on-frame construction of previous TRs, and it ditched the TR6’s independent rear suspension for a solid axle.
Instead of the TR6’s overhead-valve inline six-cylinder engine, the TR7 used the company’s modern 2.0-liter SOHC inline “slant four” from the Dolomite sedan. Americans didn’t get that car, but the Saab 99 had been using a version of it since 1968 and initially buying the engines from Triumph. In the U.S.-spec TR7, the slant-four gave 92 horsepower, which was not a huge drop from the last TR6’s 103 hp and essentially matched the Audi 2.0-liter four used in the similar-weight Porsche 924. The Datsun 280Z outgunned both with a 149-horsepower inline-six, but it was heavier and cost more than the TR7.
The TR7 debuted with a four-speed manual transmission but would later switch to a five-speed stick and offer an optional three-speed automatic. The TR7’s rear axle on coil springs gave more predictable handling than the TR6, along with a much-improved ride. Brakes were discs up front, drums in the back. Though only a few inches longer and one inch wider than the TR6, the TR7 had a roomier cockpit. The dash layout was modern, rectangular affair with no wood trim like the TR6.
The TR7 arrived in U.S. dealerships in April 1975, starting at $4995 (just under $30,000 in today’s dollars). Triumph’s advertising spotlighted the car’s wedge design as “The Shape of Things to Come,” borrowing the title of H.G. Wells’ dystopian novel from 1933.
The newfangled Triumph received a warm welcome from auto media. Car and Driver’s Pat Bedard observed, “The Triumph TR7’s strong suit is comfort; the cockpit is spacious (wider than either a Corvette’s or a Z-car’s), and the driving position is exceptionally good.” Motor Trend Editor John Christy declared the TR7’s handling to be “on a par with nearly anything of its type save the works of Messers Chapman, Ferrari and, in some instances, Porsche.”
Lights Out for Triumph
The TR7 did well in sports car racing and rallying, but owners’ cars had reliability problems. In addition to the electrical maladies that seemed to plague many British cars at the time, the TR7 suffered issues with leaks, overheating, and even ill-fitting doors in some cases. Such troubles were nothing new for British cars, and blame could go to many sources, including suppliers, poor labor relations, and low morale in British car plants. Making matters worse, Triumph’s unweildy parent company, British Leyland Motors Corporation, switched the TR7’s production among three factories over six years.
In 1980, Triumph sprung a surprise by giving the TR7 a more powerful sibling, the TR8. The “8” was for the Rover 3.5-liter V-8 engine (formerly the 1961-1963 Buick V-8) that offered about 135 horsepower. That extra came at a steep $14,000 price, which was $1000 more than a base Corvette. Just under 2800 TR8s left the assembly line, most arriving in America. And just like that, Triumph sports cars were gone.
TR7 Memories
Hagerty: The Triumph looks great. Have there been any challenges to keeping it all these years?
Grills: One of the hardest things was finding places for me to store it. I kept it in my parents’ garage for a while when I was young. They had a barn up north. I had to cut a door to make it wider to get the car in, which didn’t make them happy.
Hagerty: Did your wife enjoy the Triumph?
Grills: Lynn-Del rode in it a lot when we were younger, but not much after we had kids. We’d take it to my parents’ cottage and baseball tournaments. When we took the car to our first drive-in movie, she thought it would be a good idea to bring our own popcorn. She made about half a garbage bag of it, and trying to fit that into a TR7 with us was pretty funny. Our drives down to Port Dover to the Erie Beach Hotel for perch and a beer were special memories.
Hagerty: There are some beautiful driving roads in Ontario. Did you have a favorite for the TR7?
Grills: Waldo, Roland, and I used to run a road called Forks of the Credit, an amazing hairpin-turn road from a small town called Belfountain to Highway 10. Across from the hairpin turn is where my Aunt Bev and Uncle John’s house was—they’re Waldo’s parents. We used to all meet up at their pool on a Sunday and hang out for the day, ending with the three of us driving our cars to our intercounty fastball game, having fun driving on the way.” (Some Hagerty readers have cited this road as a favorite. -Ed)
Hagerty: Was the TR7 reliable?
Grills: It was not. The electrical system was brutal in TR7s, like most Triumphs. It would just shut down. I had my electrical system redone with a newer setup about 28 years ago. I had the modules replaced, but not with British Leyland modules. Other than that, the only other problem I’ve had is leaking carbs. I had them rebuilt, but now the intake manifold is leaking a bit.
Hagerty: Any issues keeping it maintained?
Grills: Parts are easy to get. The biggest issue right now is finding someone I can trust to work on it. That’s my baby, right? Most of the mechanics are gone. I’m not going to start taking this thing apart. I’m not that mechanical. There are some big Triumph clubs up here. I’ll probably join one and go to some meets. That would probably help me find someone to work on the car.
Hagerty: With the low mileage, is the TR7 mostly original?
Grills: It’s original other than the electrical system and the different wheels I installed. Back in the ’80s, Roland was trying to sell these three-piece wheels to Waldo, but he didn’t like the price. Roland wanted to bug him, so he sold them to me for less.
Hagerty: Do you take the TR7 to car shows?
Grills: I’ve never taken the car to a show. I live far out in the country, so it’s more of a drive. I see some TR6s around, but I very rarely see another TR7.
Hagerty: Did your kids enjoy the Triumph?
Grills: I used to take my daughter for drives, but that’s gone by the wayside. I like going out on a Saturday morning and heading north. I want to do more of that. I retired in September 2023, so now I have the time and no more excuses.
Hagerty: Did your cousin and friend keep their Triumphs?
Grills: No, Waldo and Roland both sold their TR7s long ago and say they regret doing that. I’ve just hung on to mine. Since before I was 20, I lived out in the country, and I’ve taken the TR7 from house to house. It sometimes drove Lynn-Del crazy. But I love the car. It’s just something I don’t want to give up.
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