I love these weird-looking, very-period convertibles.
- Car: Triumph TR8
- Location: San Mateo, CA
- Photog: Peter Nelson (IG + Twitter: @16vPete)
- Camera: Canon 6D, EF 50mm 1.8 AF
The Triumph TR8 doesn’t look like any other British convertible, and because of that, I really like it. It’s got some odd design features, such as that sloping crease on each side, and just generally looking like a wedge of cheese. There has to be someone who’s put black vinyl spots on a yellow example to make it resemble a hunk of cheddar.
It looks very much of its era as well, which spanned from 1978-1981.
Triumph threw the Rover 3.5-liter V8 under the hood, which I believe is a forefather to my Land Rover’s all-aluminum 4.0-liter V8. I’m not sure it was all that fast, but it did warrant doing some modification and making it a pretty well-campaigned FIA Group 4 race car. It was also a potent little beast in SCCA club racing back in the day.
Obviously, this very clean, road-going TR8 I spotted at Radwood, looking at its best angle, is far from a race car. But it sure had its place in the show, because it is peak early ’80s design. I wonder if these can be scooped up in project car shape for cheap.
