Here At Last.....

This is the car I compared with the Fiat X-19, albeit a late, convertible model.
It is the Triumph TR7, as produced by what was once the Standard-Triumph motor company.
Triumph always had a reputation for producing wonderful sports cars,(TR2,TR3,TR4,TR5,TR6,Spitfire,GT6) and the sporting saloons(Triumph Dolomite,Triumph 2000, Triumph 2500).
For a long time the Triumph company built its reputation on dadvanced straight sixes, the 'PI' designation referring to early (automotive)fuel injection from Lucas(now TRW).
The Bosch injection was based on German wartime experience, and was already working properly when Triumph and Lucas were playing catch-up,which was a problem.
Then came the disastrously underdeveloped V8 for the Stag model; a beautiful car, nevertheless destroyed by the merger with BMC and US regulations due to the 'oil crisis'.

The TR7 was the great white hope, the last gasp; failure meant political end for Triumph.
And fail it did.
The car in the picture shows how it was always meant to be, a convertible.
Just before launch, feared American regs meant a change to a solid roof, which critics didn't like.
The engine was a clever and advanced answer to the fuel crisis, a 2-litre four which may have been a multi-valve(the Dolomite Sprint saloon used an 1850, 3-valve per cylinder design, again ten years ahead of the competition).
But the critics whined about the loss of the six-cylinder engine.
Judge for yourself.
Obviously, build-quality issues were all to do with the overall crappy business of which Triumph was now a much-milked part.
Financially.
Not technically.
What a bunch of losers eh?