Somehow, I ran into this bunch a car fiends 
- and rediscovered the Triumph TR8. Some folks recall the TR7, a late 70s 4 cyl wedge shaped sports car from British Motor Company. Well, the 7s looked great, and they made 100,000 of them,but quality control was an issue, and owners of TR6s and earlier Triumph Roadsters that were performance oriented cars weren't excited about that next generation design having a somewhat underpowered 4 cyl. So the refinement became the TR8, very similar to the 7, but equipped with an aluminum V8 designed by GM, with the design, tooling and ownership transferred to the English! Its estimated only 2724 TR8s were sent to the US (nearly all convertibles) before the British Gov't cancelled funding and crashed the British auto industry - and a number of firms closed, including Triumph
But I got a ride in one last month, and decided life is too short to not have a fun car - at least while they are still affordable.
So I checked Hemmings and other sources, bid on a couple cars via Bring-A-trailer, and discovered TWS Motors (formerly The Wedge Shop) in Taunton, MA - (owner Woody Cooper). They not only fix and restore the 3.5 liter (213.5 cu in.) cars, they hot rod them with drop in Rover motors of 4 l, 4.6, and even 5 liter! (Once Triumph went under around 1983, Rover continued manufacturing and using those all aluminum V8s of the same basic design in the MG-V8, Morgan, TVR, Rover and a number of other English brands).
Anyway, I found a cool green 3.5l TR8 at TWS in MA, and a 4.6l silver TR8 in nearby Hartford CT. So we made a 2 day trip north in my Fit to go check them out -
and wound up buying a 1980 green 3.5l TR8 (about 215 cu in). It had been a private owner car, garage kept and serviced by Woody's shop for many years, and when the owner passed, his widow passed the car to Woody to sell. It's very clean for a 43 year old car, and has just 20k on the odometer! And had been sitting for nearly a year
It had been upgraded with a mild cam, manifold, Holley 4bbl, headers and a few other go faster parts, rollbar & and upgraded brakes, and it drove amazingly.
Because its been sitting a while they are going to go over it and shake it down a bit, make sure its solid, Fix anything needed, and ship it down to us in a couple weeks.
Oh, while I was touring the shop I spotted an aftermarket hardtop, VERY rare, so I made an offer and bought that too. They are gonna install it and get all the brackets right.
Sure - I coulda bought a Miata, an S2000 or something similar for the money - but my grandmother was English and I've always had a fondness for English motors.
Anyway, That's what we were up to Tues & Weds - more info once its here ...
No 2 liter 4 in here, we gotta factory V8!
We also test-drove David's award winning TR8 with 4.6 liter motor in CT (est 100+ HP more!), super-clean, and also for sale.
Picture of some spare blocks at Woody's shop -
Woody's personal ride - a rare factory V8 Coupe upgraded with a 5 liter motor and - many many HP ...
He started it up for us - what a SOUND!
- and rediscovered the Triumph TR8. Some folks recall the TR7, a late 70s 4 cyl wedge shaped sports car from British Motor Company. Well, the 7s looked great, and they made 100,000 of them,but quality control was an issue, and owners of TR6s and earlier Triumph Roadsters that were performance oriented cars weren't excited about that next generation design having a somewhat underpowered 4 cyl. So the refinement became the TR8, very similar to the 7, but equipped with an aluminum V8 designed by GM, with the design, tooling and ownership transferred to the English! Its estimated only 2724 TR8s were sent to the US (nearly all convertibles) before the British Gov't cancelled funding and crashed the British auto industry - and a number of firms closed, including TriumphBut I got a ride in one last month, and decided life is too short to not have a fun car - at least while they are still affordable.
So I checked Hemmings and other sources, bid on a couple cars via Bring-A-trailer, and discovered TWS Motors (formerly The Wedge Shop) in Taunton, MA - (owner Woody Cooper). They not only fix and restore the 3.5 liter (213.5 cu in.) cars, they hot rod them with drop in Rover motors of 4 l, 4.6, and even 5 liter! (Once Triumph went under around 1983, Rover continued manufacturing and using those all aluminum V8s of the same basic design in the MG-V8, Morgan, TVR, Rover and a number of other English brands).
Anyway, I found a cool green 3.5l TR8 at TWS in MA, and a 4.6l silver TR8 in nearby Hartford CT. So we made a 2 day trip north in my Fit to go check them out -
and wound up buying a 1980 green 3.5l TR8 (about 215 cu in). It had been a private owner car, garage kept and serviced by Woody's shop for many years, and when the owner passed, his widow passed the car to Woody to sell. It's very clean for a 43 year old car, and has just 20k on the odometer! And had been sitting for nearly a year
It had been upgraded with a mild cam, manifold, Holley 4bbl, headers and a few other go faster parts, rollbar & and upgraded brakes, and it drove amazingly.
Because its been sitting a while they are going to go over it and shake it down a bit, make sure its solid, Fix anything needed, and ship it down to us in a couple weeks.
Oh, while I was touring the shop I spotted an aftermarket hardtop, VERY rare, so I made an offer and bought that too. They are gonna install it and get all the brackets right.
Sure - I coulda bought a Miata, an S2000 or something similar for the money - but my grandmother was English and I've always had a fondness for English motors.
Anyway, That's what we were up to Tues & Weds - more info once its here ...
No 2 liter 4 in here, we gotta factory V8!
We also test-drove David's award winning TR8 with 4.6 liter motor in CT (est 100+ HP more!), super-clean, and also for sale.
Picture of some spare blocks at Woody's shop -
Woody's personal ride - a rare factory V8 Coupe upgraded with a 5 liter motor and - many many HP ...
He started it up for us - what a SOUND!
