TR8owner wrote: In reply to Rupert: "Really? Where do you think the design idea of the TR7 & TR8 came from?" Rupert, Would you care to tell us which Japanese car the TR7/TR8 wedge design was copied from? it was an in house design and when you consider the TR7 wedge first came out in 1975, it was AFAIK, one of the original wedge shapes. The earliest Jap car than I can think of at the moment with that shape is the Toyota Supra which resembles the TR "wedge" from the front, but came out later. The Japs are not renowned for original design, their best cars were copies from other countries, - Toyota 2000 (E type), Honda 800 (MG Midget), Datsun 1600/2000 (MGB) Datsun 510 (|Ford Lotus Cortina), Miata (Lotus Elan), Accura NSX (Ferrari 308), etc, etc, That's not to say that Japanese classics are not great cars. They copied and improved on original designs and even hit a few home runs - Datsun 240Z for example. But name me one totally original design that ever came out of Japan?
Sorry,
I haven't looked at this board for a while. Otherwise I'd have responded sooner. I must answer your question about the truly original design issue. I don't know any truly original design coming from anywhere in quite some time. Every manufacturer is affected by others. Having said that, I believe the RX-3, RX-7 etc. was the first practical application of the Wankel rotary. And by the way, the Datsun 1500 predates the MGB which some think copied it.
As to the TR-7 & 8? Look at the original designs for the Datsun which became the 240Z. These were drawn up in the late 60's as a wedge shaped convertible with covered headlights and almost a totally flat hood front and a bump for the trunk.
And yes there were driving Fairlady prototypes and even racing setups with high airfoils which might remind you of a Plymouth Super Bird. They even designed a car with movable airfoils that looked like it was built to compete in Can Am.
Of course right about then was when the US government started talking about "safety." They were saying all cars had to have 5 mph bumpers soon and convertibles would no longer be allowed. And of course any car sold in California would have to have headlights the CHP guys could attach their headlight aimer to and California said no separate bulb inside either. So that ruled our covered headlights and all headlights had to be sealed beams with the little tits on them.
Then is when the 240Z was re-created into the coupe. And they decided rather than go to the trouble and durability issues of flip up headlights, they just took the covers off. At that point the hood didn't look nearly as flat as the original did. And no, the 240Z isn't a pretend Ferrari, Aston Martin, etc. It is as close to a standalone design as almost any from that era regardless of country of origin.
Some of the original Fairlady concepts are not just found in the Tr-7 & 8 but also in the Mazda RX-7 which came out about when the TR-7 came out.
