1980 Triumph TR8 - Reader Ride

By: Guy Allen

Date: 10.08.2018

We caught up with Rob & Dee Pennay and their TR8 at the recent Classic Rallye in Tassie

Rob and Dee have owned the Triumph for around a decade, so clearly they love it. "Plus," Dee quips, "We’ve been too busy to sell it!"

They knew exactly what they were getting into, as they own an automotive workshop in the ACT that did much of the build for the previous owner. "I did all the electrical and cooling system work on it," says Rob, "So we knew it very well."

Part of Triumph’s break-away wedge-shaped series from the seventies, this car started life as a TR7 with a four-cylinder engine and was converted over to the Rover 3.5 V8. This is a popular conversion.

| Gallery: Classic Rallye, Tasmania 2018

"Originally we worked on the car at our workshop and the guy who owned it said he wanted to sell it, so we sent a tow truck round and collected it," explains Rob. "He had spent all the money and done all the hard work, but had hurt his back and couldn’t get in and out of it, so we bought it."

However the couple happily admit there’s no such thing as a finished project car. "I’ve kept track of all the jobs he’s done on it," says Dee, "working on the gearbox one week, or something else the next. It’s like a house, really, it’s never finished!"

She doesn’t generally drive it, citing the "cranky clutch" as the prime reason, and prefers to play with her Toyota 86. However it is used by much of the family, including their daughters.

The spec includes the V8, a five-speed Tremec transmission and a limited-slip diff, all of which adds up to very lively car.

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