History

I feel like I am making a new history for Bessy the TR7, but have always wanted to chronicle its past. There are a load of old documents in my possession and I have now had time to go through them and work out the timeline. So, here's the entire back story to the car.

TR7 production at Speke. Thanks to @Auto_Attic

Bessy was built at British Leyland's Speke plant on 22nd March 1977 and dispatched on 4th April that year. Looking at the records, she went to a BL/Triumph dealership near Solihull in the UK's West Midlands, Archer's (Shirley) Ltd. Archer's was a long standing dealership which dated back to the 1930s and alas is now long defunct.

Archers (Shirley) Ltd. Thanks to the Miniforum.

Archer's didn't register the car until 19th May 1977, the same day it was sold to a new owner. I guess it was/is usual practice for dealers not to register the cars until sold, to avoid them aging in the showrooms. The new buyer was W.E. Wassell Ltd, a company in the same region (Walsall, Birmingham) and the paperwork suggests it was used as a company car. Wassell started life selling motorcycle spares after WW2 and appears to be thriving today. In my imagination I have the TR7 being run by a stylish 70s sales rep, zooming around the country in the car wearing huge sideburns (unless "he" was a lady, of course), purple shirt with big collars, a tank top, flares and platform shoes.

Wassell parted with the car two years and eleven months later, on Friday 2nd May 1980, which I guess is about the normal period of ownership of a company car. The new owner was Bole Bridge Garage in Tamworth, another BL dealer since the 1960s and one which is now owned by Friars Gate and seemingly still in business. I wonder if our sales rep part-exchanged Bessy at Bole Bridge for another BL product, maybe a Rover SD1 or even another TR7? Or maybe he did a part-exchange back at Archer's, with the latter passing it on "in the trade" to Bole Bridge Garage.

Whatever, Bessy didn't hang around long in the Bole Bridge Garage showroom, finding a new buyer the following Tuesday, 6th May in the shape of a Mr Towers of Burton-on-Trent. Then on 2nd May 1981, Mr Towers sold the TR7 to a Ms Towers, which I assume was a family member.

Perhaps Bessy wasn't to Ms Towers' liking, as she parted with the car just a year and four months later, on 28th September 1982. This time the car moved further south, in the ownership of a Ms Marriott of Boughton Astley, Leicestershire. Again, the car was moved on after a year and four months of her ownership and this time came to Northamptonshire where she still resides today.

The new owner was someone who I will call "Dr C", for reasons which will become clear. He acquired Bessy on 7th February 1984 and was - and still is - a car man. How do I know this? Well, I worked at the same place as Dr C for over ten years, and knew him well. We worked together on various projects but never once did we make the connection over the TR7 and I only found out about his ownership of the car long after I left, and when researching its history. I have since been in touch with Dr C and he remembers it well, telling me he was extremely fond of it. Apparently he only sold it due to some engine problems. Dr C is now a very respected academic in his field and has a huge online footprint, so would be easily identifiable if I used his full name. So we'll leave him simply as Dr C.

So, on 20th January 1987, the TR7 became the new toy of a Mr Spear in Northampton, who perhaps was responsible for changing the original engine after discovering the issues acknowledged by Dr C. I wonder if he knew he had fitted a Dolomite 1850 lump instead of the correct 2-litre version? I guess we'll never know.

Things get a little murky here, albeit temporarily. On 3rd August 1980-something (could have been 87, 88 or 89) Mr Spear sold the car to a Mr Juby in Northampton. However, looking at the documents it would appear the new keeper section of the registration form went astray, and the only record of this transaction is the tear-off slip filled in by Mr Spear notifying DVLA of the sale. A registration document in the name of Mr Juby appears not to exist.

We're nearly done. At some point after Mr Juby acquired the car, it ended up at the village garage at Cogenhoe, Northants, from where I bought it for £100 on February 7th, 1994.

So, there you have a 95% complete history of RJW307R. There are a couple of mysteries, however: why, when I bought it, did it have a Dodwell's of Hinckley dealer sticker in the rear window, when that dealership doesn't get a mention in the otherwise joined-up history/documents?

And who added the brown vinyl roof and (presumably dealer-fitted) fabric sunroof?

I hope you found that interesting and, of course, if you can add some detail to the car's history then do get in touch.

Catch-up

Hi people

I appear to have reached that stage where the restoration jumps about all over the place, and the blog can't keep up. So, this time, I thought I would put together a photo montage of some of the items worked on over the last few weeks. Enjoy.

New carbs from Robsport fitted to a lovingly restored manifold.

Don't you just love building things back up with shiny new bolts etc?

Rear bulkhead panel added, together with B-post trims and original fitment (but new) map reading lamp.

New door trims pulled out of hibernation and fitted. 

Underfelt kind of chucked in, ready for proper fitting. You'll also notice new lower A-post trims in the same state.

Boot mat "fitted" - it doesn't really fit very well but I'll have a play with it another day. Inner wing side panels also in place. Now I need to get hold of a new bulkhead mat.

Again, door card fitted although I am missing the door handle eustachians (ZKC926 and 927). They break and are unobtainable. Anyone got a pair they'd like to sell? 

Another look at the interior.

Heater unit fitted with new control knobs.

Side light blanks and drip channel trims ready for attention. While I'm at it, may I say thank you to my local District Council for providing this excellent work bench.

Bumper and grille finally fitted.

Erm, as above.

Glass!

Refurbished heater duct/plenum thing installed and with new seals. The car didn't have one of these before, so it is a mystery as to why Neil and I didn't get asphyxiated on our European adventure in 1994. Perhaps it was because we never had the heater on. 

Looking good? Judge for yourself.

Brothers or sisters?

Today was interesting. Neil, Terry and I went to UK specialist Robsport to buy some bits and out in the car park was a very rusty (and very yellow) FHC. What struck me was its registration/licence plate. Not only is the car of the same year as Bessy, but the plate is very similar. Yet its VIN was 10### whereas mine is 17###.

A quick search suggests that the yellow car was registered in November 1976 whereas Bessy was born in May 1977. Both "RW" and "JW" are Coventry numbers.

Does the number look vaguely familiar?

I thought it did.

The yellow car was incredibly rusty, I would say beyond it although the floors looked OK. It had an awful retro-fit vinyl roof which extended to the A-pillars.

After all that excitement we went to the excellent Imperial War Museum at nearby Duxford, whereupon three old duffers got to look at old planes and had a nice cup of tea. I was heartened to see that some of the aircraft in the throws of conservation had in fact been so since 1973, which makes their restoration time-line even longer than my TR7. To be fair, the planes probably take a little more work.