TriumphTR8

Triumph TR8 Images

Pictures of the TR8 taken long after it was new: convertibles at shows, a cockpit, its two engines, Group 44's racing colours, a rally car that is not a TR8, and one of the experimental cars of the British project.

A pale blue TR8 convertible, its dark blue hood up, seen from the front on a show hall's grey floor, a club's banners behind it.
A TR8 decal on the nose and louvres on the bonnet of a pale blue left-hand-drive convertible, its hood (soft top) up, at the Classic Motor Show, NEC Birmingham, in November 2025.kitmasterbloke, CC BY 4.0

The cars here are as they were when photographed, one of them on later wheels, as its caption says. The date in each caption is the photograph's, and a year given for a car is its photographer's unless the car shows it. Colours are as the camera saw them; the versions page lists the paints by name.⁠1

Convertibles

Almost every TR8 was a convertible. Most of the cars seen from the front carry a TR8 decal on the nose and the larger bonnet (hood) bulge that Road & Track says came late in the 1979 model year; from behind, a TR8 has two tailpipes and its name in raised letters on the tail. Every North American TR8 has energy-absorbing bumpers and a front spoiler, as the brochure lists them. Ate Up With Motor's captions give the later cars a Triumph roundel on the nose and a mirror on the passenger door, both visible on the car photographed in Sausalito. Badges, pipes and roundels can all be fitted to a TR7, so none of them proves a factory car.⁠2​3​4​5

Convertibles 4

  • A dark green Triumph TR8 convertible with its black hood up, parked on grass beside a circuit's guard rail. Opens a larger view

    1 A dark green TR8 convertible, black hood up, beside the guard rail at Lime Rock, Connecticut, in September 2024; its photographer dates it to 1980, and its plaid trim fits.

  • A silver TR8 convertible from behind with its top down and bonnet raised, TRIUMPH and TR8 lettering on its tail, on a show lawn. Opens a larger view

    2 From behind, hood folded and bonnet raised, a silver TR8 on wheels that are not original, at the European Classic Car Meet in Alberta, Canada, in July 2008.

  • A silver-green TR8 convertible from behind in a car park, its hood up, with raised TR8 letters and a tailpipe at each side. Opens a larger view

    3 Raised TRIUMPH and TR8 letters across the tail of a convertible with North American side markers, at Valkenburg, the Netherlands, in May 2019.

  • A white wedge convertible with a tan hood and rust along its bonnet edge and front wing, in an industrial yard. Opens a larger view

    4 A tan hood, plain tan seats and rust along the bonnet's edge: a convertible its photographer calls a 1981 TR8, in Sausalito, California, in January 2013.

Picture credits (4)
  1. 1 Charles from Port Chester, New York, CC BY 2.0
  2. 2 dave_7 from Lethbridge, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0
  3. 3 Rutger van der Maar, CC BY 2.0
  4. 4 Mic from Reading - Berkshire, United Kingdom, CC BY 2.0

Inside and under the bonnet

Inside, the TR8 convertible of the 1980 model year had the TR7's plaid seats and grey dashboard, with its own small leather-rimmed steering wheel; the plaid gave way to cloth for the 1981 model year. Under the bonnet the two American engines are easy to tell apart. The carburettor engine of the 49 states wears black airboxes, made for the TR8; the injected engine, California's in the 1980 model year and every North American car's in 1981, carries a long cast plenum on top.⁠6​2​7​8

Inside and under the bonnet 3

  • The cockpit of a TR8 convertible: plaid seat inserts, a small leather-rimmed three-spoke wheel and a grey dashboard. Opens a larger view

    5 Flash-lit from the passenger's side: plaid on the seats and door trim, a grey dashboard and a small leather-rimmed wheel in a left-hand-drive TR8 convertible of the 1980 model year, its radio gone, at the Lane Motor Museum, Nashville, Tennessee, in March 2005.

  • The engine bay of a light blue TR8, the V8 fed by a carburettor under a black airbox, with orange ignition leads. Opens a larger view

    6 Orange ignition leads and a black airbox on the V8 of a carburettor TR8, in Alberta, Canada, in July 2008.

  • The engine bay of a silver TR8, the V8 topped by the grey cast plenum of its fuel injection, with blue ignition leads. Opens a larger view

    7 Blue ignition leads and the grey plenum of the injection on the V8 of a car its photographer titles a 1980 TR8, in Alberta, Canada, in July 2008.

Picture credits (3)
  1. 5 1779Days, Public domain
  2. 6 dave_7 from Lethbridge, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0
  3. 7 dave_7 from Lethbridge, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0

Racing and rally

The car in the colours of Group 44's TR8s at Lime Rock in 2021 is one of them only by its photographer's account. The racing engine with its eight trumpets stands under a panel lettered TR-8, but no source read says more of the car it belongs to. The rally car is a TR7 V8, of the kind BL's works team ran on the TR8's recognition; its story belongs to the TR7.⁠9​10

Racing and rally 3

  • The white and green racing TR8 from the rear, with a tall rear wing, wide slicks and a roll cage. Opens a larger view

    8 A rear wing and wide Goodyear racing tyres: a TR8 numbered 144 in Group 44's colours, one of the team's cars by its photographer's account, in the paddock at Lime Rock in September 2021.

  • A racing V8 with yellow rocker covers and eight polished carburettor trumpets, TR-8 lettered on the panel in front of it. Opens a larger view

    9 Eight polished trumpets over the V8 of a racing car lettered TR-8, at Techno-Classica, Essen, in April 2019.

  • A red, white and blue TR7 V8 rally car, number 63, at speed on a sandy forest track. Opens a larger view

    10 Panned through the trees: a red, white and blue TR7 V8 rally car, not a TR8, on the forest rally stage at Goodwood in July 2021.

Picture credits (3)
  1. 8 Mr.choppers, CC BY-SA 3.0
  2. 9 Thomas Vogt from Paderborn, Deutschland, CC0
  3. 10 Neil, CC BY 2.0

The experimental car

Of the right-hand-drive experimental TR8s built for the British project in 1980, EXP 923 is the one in a free photograph. The company kept it after the project ended and sold it in 2003.⁠11​12

A silver TR8 convertible with its hood folded in a show car park, a red TR7 convertible beside it.
Hood folded, TR8 decal on the nose: the experimental car EXP 923, shown at the British Motor Museum's BL day at Gaydon in July 2023.kitmasterbloke, CC BY 2.0

Sources

Sources are given as plain text; their addresses are on the sources page.

  • Primarymade at the time, by the maker or by people who were there
  • Referenceserious later work: clubs, specialists, magazines, books
  • Databaseresults and listings, entry by entry
  1. Wikimedia Commons, "Category:Triumph TR8", Category:Triumph TR8. Database
  2. Road & Track, "Triumph TR8: Good news from the other side" (road test), Jun 1980, pp. 76–79, p. 76, the bonnet bulge; p. 76, the plaid and the wheel; p. 77, the two engines. Primary
  3. Don Sherman, "Triumph TR8" (road test), Car and Driver, Aug 1980, pp. 36–40, the twin exhausts. Primary
  4. Jaguar Rover Triumph Inc. (Leonia, N.J.), Triumph TR8 (sales brochure), USA, printed 4/80, 1980, bumpers and spoiler. Primary
  5. Aaron Severson, "Way of the Wedge: The Triumph TR7 and TR8", Ate Up With Motor, 5 Feb 2012, pp. 1–5, p. 4, picture captions: the late cars. Reference
  6. Walt Woron, "1980 Triumph TR8 Convertible: RT's Selection for 'Best New Sports Car of 1980'", Road Test (US), Jul 1980, pp. 16, 83–86, p. 83, the grey dashboard. Primary
  7. triumphtr8.com, Pages (group): "TR8 VIN/CHASSIS", "TR8 Paint Codes", "TR8 trim codes", "TR8 Documents", "TR8 Adverts", "TR8 Clubs", "TR8 Efi – Injection system and sensors", "WL9 Camshaft", "Leyland Special Tuning", "TR8 FIA RAC", "TR8 Auto Choke", "TR8 Badges where do they go?", parts pages, posts "RHD TR8 UK SPEC" and "Round Britain Reliability Run 2023", the carburettor airboxes. Reference
  8. Michael L. Cook, "1981 Triumph TR8: Fast and Last", Special Interest Autos, no. 156, Nov–Dec 1996, pp. 10–17, p. 10, the 1981 cloth. Reference
  9. racingsportscars.com, "All Results of Triumph TR8" (1979–1999), Group 44's TR8s. Database
  10. Chris Turner (credited by the club), "The Works Triumph TR7 V8 Rally Cars" and the car pages (group), TR Drivers Club, the works TR7 V8s. Reference
  11. triumphtr8.com, "Right hand drive TR8 Home Market UK" and "TR8 RHD Production Story", modified 23 May 2026, RHD Experimental TR8s. Reference
  12. Canley Classics, "TR7 & TR8 Experimental Records", the experimental fleet list. Primary