‘It was a challenge – our motor industry was in big trouble’

Richard Hunt was responsible for the Triumph TR7’S interior design and striking colour palette, at what was a tricky time for British Leyland and the industry in general

We all did styling exercises for the TR7 to start with,’ says Richard Hunt, as he reveals an intriguing alternative concept that never saw fruition. His vision is a buttress-roofed, wedge-shaped mid-engined coupé with more than a hint of Fiat X1/9 about it, and actually predated Harris Mann’s wedgeshaped finished article. ‘I did this small clay-model concept mid-engined version,’ he says. ‘Management didn’t say anything, but we had a lot of freedom in the design studio back then. However, my role was primarily to work on interior design, with responsibility for the facia, door casings and seats, working in conjunction with Ray Innes, who was in overall charge of the studio at the time. I did the interior of the Lynx four-seater too, which never made production although tooling was created for the Speke factory to build it.’

Hunt thinks back to the early pre-mann, Les Moore proposals, ‘The whole process was a challenge. The TR7 concept was a convertible to start with, but then it looked like America would outlaw it during the design process, so a hardtop was added on. It was tricky succeeding the TR6, because all the early concepts had been for open-top cars.’

Hunt recalls the management of the styling departments being messy, ‘There was a Triumph styling studio, a Rover styling studio – one for every old BL marque originally. And they didn’t want us to work together. It was largely because the directors of the various marques didn’t want to relinquish their positions of influence on different BL boards, but in the end, during the TR7 project, all the management came under Rover. I remember working on the clay model for the TR7 in the Triumph styling studio, then having to relocate to the Rover studio in the middle of the process.

‘My interior design for the TR7 ended up being very stark. The British motor industry was in financial trouble in the Seventies,

‘I wouldn’t do now what I did then. I’d be much more adventurous’

and there was no money for anything extravagant. It was a frustrating time – there were a lot of talented people working at BL and yet a lot of their ideas never saw the light of day. Spending on TR7 design and development had to be kept to the bare minimum, so the facia I designed was deliberately simple. It’s interesting that it looks and feels so modern for its time – that all-plastic style still looked contemporary throughout the Eighties – but I wouldn’t do now what I did then, I’d be much more adventurous with it. But management ultimately decides what gets built.’

Hunt had a major advantage when it came to getting the car to appeal to the American market, ‘My sister relocated to southern California in the late Fifties. The quality of sunlight out there is very Mediterranean, and because most of the cars were going to the US, and California in particular, I felt the car should reflect the market it was intended for.’ Of the ten launch colours the TR7 was available in for 1975, only BRG is particularly subdued, the rest being a strident riot of white, reds, yellows and blues as well as the Porsche-referencing Java Green, all echoed in bold plaid interior trim patterns too. ‘I got criticised a lot at the time!’ says Hunt today. ‘The magenta ended up in the range because my flat at the time had walls that colour – my wife and I loved it! But in order to understand these colours, you have to understand the American environment.’ Russet Brown was added to the paint options once the car became available in the UK from 1976, and immediately became popular.

Hunt is still proud of his stillborn mid-engined TR proposal. ‘Funny thing is, I never really did clay modelling at the time, but during the TR7 project I worked with modellers, made alterations to the models, and picked up techniques on the way.

‘In 1969 the Institute of British Carriage and Automobile Manufacturers came to Triumph asking for concept drawings to exhibit at the Earls Court Motor Show. I did a proposal for a city taxi, and I finally decided to turn it into a clay model as a lockdown project. The first Triumph concept car in 40 years!’