First seen as a TR7 rally car with a V8 engine in the hands of Tony Pond, the TR8 is where the TR range should have ended up; a powerful compact sports car, exactly what the TR2 was in its day. When introduced after a 2-year delay due to industrial action, the car arrived with a 133BHP/3528cc V8 engine.

The TR8 really only sold in North America, where variants included a Lucas fuel injected engine for California initially then all North America. Development work as a result of the rally program moved the marque forward with better brakes and suspension and was well on the way to being an exiting sports car when it was axed by Leyland: this was no reflection on how good or bad the car was, just politics. Had the program not been axed the Tr8 would have been introduces to the UK/Rest Of The World from late 1981.

2722 care were built from 1979 to 1981

Almost all so-called TR8 cars on the road today in Europe are TR7's with a Rover V8 retro-fitted. This makes the supply of replacement parts rather difficult as the donor engine may be of origin unknown to the vehicle owner. Order parts with care!

Neil Revington