1980 Triumph TR8 - Andy Salter

“I’d always wanted a TR7 ever since seeing them on my walk to school, and I bought my first back in 1989” says Andy. “I kept it for six years and I’ve owned and restored others since then, but what I really wanted was a TR8 coupe in right-hand drive.”

The problem was that the right-hand drive cars were all convertibles, so a different approach was going to be needed. Dismissing the idea of building a TR7-based replica, Andy was offered the chance to buy this example in 2019, a left-hand drive car imported from the US by a friend. It was in his favourite colour of Inca Yellow, and better still it had covered just 43,000 miles and retained all of the original factory parts.

“I made the decision to restore the car and convert it to right-hand drive at the same time, and the work took around eighteen months which included a full respray. That last bit was the only job I didn’t do myself and I’d say the only real challenge was making the bespoke wiring loom.” The result is stunning, but while the plan was to keep things broadly original the owner did decide to include a few upgrades.

The stylish Triumph now features the likes of uprated brakes with four-piston calipers and vented discs, improved suspension, fifteen-inch Revolution alloy wheels and a bespoke hydraulic power-assisted steering system that had to be engineered for right-hand drive. An LED light conversion brings things bang up to date, too.

Since completing the restoration in 2021 Andy has covered around 4000 trouble-free miles and considers this to be his ultimate TR8. We can certainly understand why, and the standard of his restoration work speaks for itself.