This one comes from the Florida panhandle: 1980 Triumph TR8 with some rust problems. Other than the obvious rot, this car looks pretty complete, and the asking price of $2100 is well below the market value of a driving example, according to Hagerty's valuation tool.
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Wow. LOTS of work there, but I'm glad it's that far away so I'm not tempted to make an offer.
In reply to stan:
Yeah, unfortunately this one's a mess. And $25K+ of effort and expense would yield a $15-$20K car. Just a couple years ago excellent examples of TR8's were listed for $10-$15K on CL, at least around here in southern New England. The prices are creeping up slowly, but not enough to justify resurrecting a fright pig like this.
The one in the add is DOA in my estimation. Question for the experts: Can a 4 pot shell be converted to a V8 spec if you have a V8 spec donor?
NOHOME wrote: The one in the add is DOA in my estimation. Question for the experts: Can a 4 pot shell be converted to a V8 spec if you have a V8 spec donor?
I'm not exactly a TR8 expert, but I believe the answer is yes. I was thinking that car and a clean TR7 coupe shell may be a good starting point for a rally car.
Strictly a parts car. Throw away the stock engine and keep the hard parts. Then go pluck a 4.0 or a 4.6 out of a Rover in the junk yard. The bell housing, flywheel, oil pan, timing cover, subframe, v8 tach, etc. bought separately add up to $2K plus and they are hard parts to find. Rover swaps are more sought after by the MGBV8 crowd than the TR7 looking to do a Rover V8 swap crowd. Now that there are a handful of us in the process of doing LS swaps, I suspect that will just about be the death of TR7 to TR8 swaps. For what it costs to do the swap, your better off just buying the real thing.... if you can find one. Most of the TR8s that are left are in the hands of enthusiasts and are well cared for... and modified... and fast. Thats why there are a bunch of TR8 owners that have more than one.
But yes, you can build a TR8 clone from a TR7. You'll need the front subframe, maybe the rear axle, trans, and hood, depending on how old your 7 is.
I am going to look into my crystal ball and forecast that the TR8 prices are going to follow the same curve as the Tigers. Long years of no interest until suddenly someone realizes that they are a Classic RWD V8 and there are not many available.
The TR7 is actually not a bad little cruiser. Quite modern if compared to an MGB. Biggest problem is that there was nothing that great about them and they came out in the face of Japanese quality and performance.
NOHOME wrote: I am going to look into my crystal ball and forecast that the TR8 prices are going to follow the same curve as the Tigers. Long years of no interest until suddenly someone realizes that they are a Classic RWD V8 and there are not many available.
My thoughts exactly. Maybe others, too, because the listing is gone.
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