The TR7 modelled was built on February 13th, 1981, at Rover’s Solihull plant, the third factory in which the Harris Mann-designed wedge was manufactured. Earlier cars were first produced at Speke, near Liverpool, then at Triumph’s historic home in Canley, Coventry. 

It’s always been well looked after, and is a rare original survivor rather than a restored example, although a small amount of rust in the near-side door was dealt with in 2018. 

The car’s first owner purchased it directly from BL Cars at Longbridge and registered it on November 16th, 1981, nine months after it was produced. He kept it until early July 1984, by which time it had completed only 16,217 miles.

The second, third and fourth owners used it sparingly too. When it was photographed in a studio by well-known automotive photographer, Tom Wood, for a TR7 buyers guide in the May 2014 issue of Classic Cars Magazine, it had still only covered 64,000 miles. The current owner, Yorkshire-based Rover and Triumph enthusiast Guy Gilfillan, purchased it in May 2023 and is its fifth custodian. 

The previous owner, Herefordshire-based enthusiast Dick Tudhope, in his own words, ‘cosseted’ the car after being gifted it in 2010 by a good friend who had lost their storage facility. While in his care, it was exhibited on the TR Register’s stand at the 2018 NEC Classic Car Show and won numerous trophies at TR Register events.