The Original TR7 Sprint

This part of the web site is dedicated to the original TR7 Sprint. A very rare car in the TR line. The first article by Jim Johnson (TR7 Sprint owner) is shown below. The links here are to subsequent articles.

Original TR7 Sprint Update June05.
Early TR7 Sprint Competition Cars.
TR7 Sprint Article 1991.

TR7 Sprint by Jim Johnson

I will start the series, with a request for help with any information on these cars. The information available is poor, to say the least, with records being lost and British Leyland making it hard, and to my knowledge, the V5 registration does not mention TR7s. The general information I can find out, shows the genuine Sprint on the V5 registration does show Triumph under ‘Make’ and under ‘Model / Type’ 2 AXLE RIGID BODY ''SPORTS or COUPE''.  This is the case with my own TR7 Sprint and all those owners I have been in contact with.

The first Sprint produced was Registration WAC 274S with Commission number ACH1F , the  next known car is WAC 253S with chassis number 20 these are in the same batch as WAC 272S,WAC 275S and WAC 276S which are TR8 FHC. These rare cars were all made at Speke in 1977. The Sprint was ready for full production but the disastrous Speke strike occurred late in 1977 causing the cancelling of this Engine option to the range.

The only information I have up to now is the following registrations numbers: WAC 274S,WAC 253S, ARW 181S, VVC 696S, VVC 697S and SJW 520S to SJW 550S.

The available information shows the Commission Numbers are unique ACH series ACH 1 to ACH 25, ACH 00501 to ACH 00536 and ACH 00700 on its own.
The information available so far shows the Following Survival Rate.

No.	Reg.	Information	Owner
1.	WAC274S	survived	Peter Sheppard
2.	ARW181S	survived	John Wood
3.	VVC696S	survived	Unknown
4.	VVC697S	survived	Graham Fountain
5.	SJW525S	survived; White	Derby area
6.	SJW526S	survived; Tahiti Blue	Stockport area
7.	SJW528S	survived; Reg. Transferred/Car in Bits
8.	SJW530S	survived; Carmine Red	Chris Turner
9.	SJW532S	survived; Inca Yellow (Now Black)	Nigel Trott
10.	SJW533S	survived; Works Rally car
11.	SJW538S	survived; Inca Yellow	Jim Johnson
12.	SJW539S	survived; Tahiti Blue	John Gibson
13.	SJW540S	survived; Gaydon; Works Rally Car; Ex Tony Pond
14.	SJW541S	survived	Adrian Hill
15.	SJW543S	survived; Brooklands Green
16.	SJW545S	survived; Tahiti Blue; pictured in Bill Piggotts book.	Chris Turner
17.	SJW546S	survived; Rally Car
18.	SJW548S	survived; Works Rally Car Steve Rockingham
19.	SJW549S	survived; Brooklands Green
20.	SJW550S	survived; Tahiti Blue; Simon Robsport International.

Reg.	Information	Owner
WAC274S	survived	Peter Sheppard
ARW181S	survived	John Wood
VVC696S	survived	Unknown
VVC697S	survived	Graham Fountain
SJW525S	survived; White	Derby area
SJW526S	survived; Tahiti Blue	Stockport area
SJW528S	survived; Reg. Car in Bits
SJW530S	survived; Carmine Red	Chris Turner
SJW532S	survived; Inca Yellow (Now Black)	Nigel Trott
SJW533S	survived; Works Rally car
SJW538S	survived; Inca Yellow	Jim Johnson
SJW539S	survived; Tahiti Blue	John Gibson
SJW540S	survived; Gaydon; Works Rally Car; Ex Tony Pond
SJW541S	survived	Adrian Hill
SJW543S	survived; Brooklands Green
SJW545S	survived; Tahiti Blue; pict. in Bill Piggotts book.	Chris Turner
SJW546S	survived; Rally Car
SJW548S	survived; Works Rally Car Steve Rockingham
SJW549S	survived; Brooklands Green
SJW550S	survived; Tahiti Blue; Simon Robsport Int.

We must take into account that four of the above were used by the British Leyland Competition Department and most likely others were used to for re-shelling after heavy accident damage. This gives a total at present of sixteen genuine Sprints. So far, to date, I have found out that of the roadworthy Sprints, there is a total of four which are numbers 2, 12, 19 and 20, two of which are in show room condition: No 12 and 20. No 20 at time of writing is for sale from Robsport international. My Own car no 11 will be back on the Road in 2005. The remaining cars I believe are in various stages of restoration or storage.

On the Sprint Front TR Drivers member John Wood’s Sprint which was originally registered ARW181S but now currently carries the plate CYD138S. This was due to the previous owner transferring the plate in 1991 to a Jag, the good news is when he returns from the USA soon he has agreed on a deal to reunite the car with its original registration. Luckily his parents still lived at the address on the old log book copy John got from the DVLA. When the transfer is complete John Wood will write a complete article of the car’s history for the TR Drivers magazine. Looking forward to it.

Thanks to all who have helped in suppling the above information and more information on missing Sprints will be gratefully accepted; not forgetting Malcolm Paris’s offer to pool information on the Sprint front.

James Johnson
Sprint Owner of SJW 538S
Email me on james.r.johnson@btinternet.com.