We always have to double-check photos that are forwarded to us and after a bit of too-ing and fro-ing the story often becomes clearer. These two photographs were taken at Canley showing the new TR7 convertible.
The majority of TR7’s were assembled at Speke (Liverpool) and Solihull but a few were assembled at Canley – with the date of 18th May, 1979 suggesting that these very early models were being finished off prior to the official launch day.
Because of proposed US legislation on roll-over protection at the time of its launch, he TR7 was not initially available as a convertible. In early 1979, Triumph belatedly introduced a convertible version, called the TR7 Drophead Coupé (DHC), which first went on sale in the US (the original hardtop model being known as the Fixedhead Coupé, or FHC). A small number of pre-production cars were manufactured at Speke in 1978, soon after the pre-production TR7 V8 (later designated TR8) and TR7 Sprint cars. The British market received it in early 1980. The prototype for the convertible version of the original Harris Mann design came from Michelotti and the engineering to make it work was done by Triumph