Reunited and it Feels So Good

by Kevin Turner

In 1982, I was a sophomore in college when I got an unexpected phone call from my father, saying he had a car for me that one of his friends wanted to get rid of. I had always been a car fanatic, getting Road & Track, Car & Driver, Motor Trend, and even Autoweek from an early age, so naturally my first question was “What kind of car?” When he told me it was a Triumph TR8, I nearly dropped to the floor! I had read about the TR8 but never in my wildest dreams did I think I would own one.

I owned that 1980 Triumph TR8 from ’82 until ’86. I had to sell it due to perpetual mechanical issues and a lack of funds to support them or a second car. I can honestly say that the experience changed my nervous system in both positive and negative ways. As all TR8 owners know, there is no car more fun to drive. Fast, great handling, more American than British because of the V8 and rear-wheel drive, but not so reliable. The issues I had while owning the car would’ve bordered on comical if I weren’t experiencing them firsthand.

I quickly became at the mercy of the one mechanic in my college town willing to work on the TR8: Forrest Black. With his fancy name came a fancy labor rate and a waiting list to get service. One of the many challenges was getting the Zenith Stromberg carbs to work right. The car had a nasty habit of wanting to idle at 3,500 rpm on hot days while in stop-and-go traffic. Running the air conditioning probably didn’t help.

I had more than a few adventures getting stranded due to a variety of random part failures. Like the time the distributor rotor cracked halfway through my 250-mile drive between university and home. You can only imagine how hard it was to get a Triumph replacement part to rural Michigan in 1983 without the internet. I had to check into a motel and convince a used car “dealer” to rent me a car for the 2 weeks it took for the replacement rotor to be shipped to the repair garage.

My favorite breakdown was right after graduation, while moving back home. I was driving down I-94 in a caravan on our way to Chicago. Sunny day, top down, music blasting, TR8 purring, when a beautiful woman in a Porsche Carrera 911 SC Targa pulled up next to me, smiled, and gave me the go sign–hit it! Hit it I did, and snap went the accelerator cable! The RPMs dropped like a rock as I limped to the side of the road in her dust. I had to rent a flat-bed trailer to pull the car home.

After college in 1986, I landed a job in Texas, got an apartment, and my need for reliable transportation eventually forced me to sell my TR8 to a car broker. When I arrived at the broker’s home office, I was surprised to see a handgun lying out in plain sight next to a briefcase that had a built-in portable phone. But soon enough, we were heading to the bank to get my money in a Porsche 911 (another Porsche villain!) that the broker had recently acquired.

It was a chilly, rainy day. We were sitting at a stoplight waiting for it to change when a Camaro IROC Z pulled up next to us and started revving its engine. When the light turned green, the race was on, and I remember watching the tachometer needle sweep quickly from left to right multiple times before we lost control and started spinning. Fortunately, we hit a curb, which broke the wheels on my side of the car. We were sliding toward a house when the remaining tires caught traction on a crescent-shaped driveway and stopped us just inches from the front door. Once I caught my breath, I asked, “We’re still going to the bank, right?!?” The broker pulled the phone from his briefcase and called his insurance agent, a tow truck, and a taxi. That near-death experience was the perfect metaphor for how I felt about selling my TR8.

All that being said, that TR8 was a highlight of my younger years and I would not have traded it for the world. The TR8 Car Club of America inspired me to keep going and to make some key performance modifications like an Anza exhaust, Koni shocks, and Perelli P77 tires. I had tried to get the Holley 4-barrel conversion done, but could not find a reliable mechanic to do the work.

On December 21st, 2021, my father passed away at the age of 90. He knew how much I enjoyed the TR8, and I know that he was really proud that he made it possible. In an emotional moment, the next day I looked up and called a TR8/Rover V8-focused mechanics shop that I had seen on Instagram to ask if it was even possible to get one’s hands on one of the 1,000 or so surviving TR8s. The mechanic I spoke with was very supportive and told me that periodically a customer lets them know they want to sell, and offered to let me know if one became available.

When I told him that it had to be Persian Aqua, it tipped off a chain of events resulting in being re-united with a Triumph TR8, and to the building of the TR8 restomod of my dreams that I own today.

One of their customers had just acquired and was storing with them a 16-thousand-mile “survivor” for a future project, and it happened to be Persian Aqua. It had been owned by a family that had a sports car dealership in rural Massachusetts, a true Sunday driver garage princess that had never seen rain or snow. It was all stock and had not been driven in 15 years. After sharing my story, the customer agreed to sell me the car, and the shop reserved me a place in line to have it restored and modified to my specs.

Having restored and modified many TR8s over the decades, the shop’s owners provided expert guidance on the most valuable updates and how to meet my goals for performance, safety, reliability, and appearance. Remarkably, the 100% rust-free exterior and well-maintained interior of the car were in near-perfect condition, requiring no more than a thorough washing and waxing. This meant that our total focus could be on the mechanicals and parts. In all, over 160 updates were made to the car.

My TR8 is an absolute delight to drive, exceeding my expectations—truly my dream car! It has all the best characteristics of a British roadster, with the heart and soul of a ’60s American muscle car. Horsepower is up from the 135 bhp on a stock car, to approximately 225 bhp now. It’s beautiful, fast, safe, handles like it’s on a rail, and has got that V8 rumble.

Some of the highlights of my build include:
•Holley Sniper 2 EFI conversion
•High-performance camshaft, new manifold, headers, lightened flywheel, and stainless-steel exhaust with Magnaflow mufflers and tips
•New clutch, short shifter, and poly shift bushings
•Upgraded aluminum radiator, aluminum valve covers, and a breather kit
•Upgraded springs, KYB shocks, polyurethane bushings, 15″ Minilite wheels, and performance tires
•Wilwood Big Brake Kit, new rear-wheel cylinders
•All LED lights inside and out
•New cloth top with matching boot cover, and new front spoiler

Having a history with a sports car can be surprisingly emotional. It’s more than just a vehicle—it becomes a symbol of something else, such as bonding with family and friends, freedom, growth, and a bunch of other memories packed into one machine. When I told my mother about re-acquiring my TR8, and how the plan immediately came together with just one phone call, she teared up and told me that my father was looking over me.

My original TR8 broke down a lot, was dangerous during rain storms, challenging during winter, and only fit one passenger, but it was mine and a lot more fun to drive than anything else available to me. Even years later, seeing my current TR8, same year and color—Persian Aqua, can hit me with a wave of nostalgia.

In episode 304 of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Jerry Seinfeld explains the joy of owning a sports car to comedian Todd Barry, who had never been in a sports car and was riding around Manhattan with Jerry in a 1966 MGB Roadster:
“You’re not going skiing. You’re not going hiking. You’re not going hot air ballooning. All these fun things are mostly a giant pain in the ass. Now here’s a thing that embodies all of those things. And you can keep it in your garage!”

Well said, Jerry!