"The shape of things to come" quickly became the shape that came and
went, in a great cloud of "good riddance." The doorstop-shaped TR7, and
its rare V8-powered sibling TR8, were the last Triumphs sold in America
and among the last the company made before it folded its tents in 1984.
The trouble was not necessarily the engineering, or even the peculiar
design, which looked fit to split firewood. It was that the cars were so
horribly made. The thing had more short-circuits than a mixing board
with a bong spilled on it. The carburetors had to be constantly romanced
to stay in balance. Timing chains snapped. Oil and water pumps refused
to pump, only suck. The sunroof leaked and the concealable headlights
refused to open their peepers. One owner reports that the rear axle fell
out. How does that happen? It was as if British Leyland's workers were
trying to sabotage the country's balance of trade. Oh yeah.
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