Nebraska's flatter than the fourth grade. Which is good, because with a Triumph TR7, there inevitably comes a time when you may need to get out and push.
So, new day, new Nice Price or Crack Pipe. And how could you go wrong with a steak and kidney pie mixture of British socialist labor union build quality, and 1970s American safety and emissions standards? That's right — it's a 1980 Triumph TR7 30th Anniversary Edition for an asking price of $6,495. Not only that but this seller loves the exclamation points!
This car has it all — poorly aligned bumpers, corduroy seats, tiny radio speakers, and inscrutable heater controls. Or is that the choke? No, it's the wipers — wait, why does it have that swirl symbol on the knob? Argh!
It does warm our hearts to see MG Mitten sisal mats in the foot-wells, lets hope they're not hiding rust holes in the floorboards the size of the English Channel.
Now, in case you are not familiar, the TR7 replaced the hair-shirt of a car TR6, and was British Leyland's attempt at a modern sports automobile that would meet all the crazy safety and emissions standards the colonists could throw at it. That meant that on its 1975 debut, it was only available as a hard top, as the general expectation was that the U.S. government was about to ban convertibles and fun. Well I don't know about fun, but topless cars didn't get legislated into extinction, and so in 1979 a fabric roof version was offered, making the car about 10 times more appealing, but sadly not overcoming its other shortcomings of insufficient power, lackluster handling, and poor build quality. The 1998cc engine pumped out a meager 105hp (92 in anti-fun American guise) and it's replacement in 1981 by the Rover-powered TR8 was too little too late. Triumph withdrew from the US market the next year, and eventually went the way of Elvis.
I mentioned that the seller likes exclamation points. It seems they got a deal on them somewhere, as every sentence ends in one. Or maybe they're just so damn excited to get rid of this car! They also claim that they have an appraisal! From 2001! It says the car is great! Isn't that awesome?! So maybe it's not as bad as you might think?! And it's got some shiny-ass paint! It also sports the 5-speed transmission so highway driving is possible without engine-drone induced insanity resulting!
The only sentence that is denied the emphatic punctuation treatment is the one alerting you that the gas gauge works "sparatically". I guess it was also denied spell check. But hey, what the hell- it's English and old, and much like Prince Charles, it's expected to have a few warts and be a little wonky- that's the charm.
So with Summer on its way, and the siren call of top-down motoring luring you to Craigslist, what do you think of this $6,495 TR7? Will the sun never set on its Nice Price empire? Or is the seller living in a Crack Pipe world of warm beer and questionable dental hygiene?
You decide!
Omaha Craigslist or go here if the ad disappears.
Thanks to snidelywhiplash for the tip.