TR7 & TR8 Trim and Material Code Data

Continuing with the DATA theme, the next subject is interior trim and material. This was initially written by Paul Towle in 1988 so I have drawn some of my information from his article and incorporated it into this article. The object of the following chart is to give a guide to the interior trim combinations compared with their year dates. It is accurate for the mainstream production cars, but some pre-production, prototype or special edition cars may fall outside the year dates. The major change from Red/Green Tartan to Blue/Tan Check took place in March 1980 but for the sake of simplicity I have just given the year date of 1980.

One myth that I would like to dispel is that of the TR8 only being fitted with the velour interior. This is not the case. From the start of TR8 production in 1977 its interior remained similar to that of the TR7. The velour trim was first introduced half way through production at the Canley plant. Later, with different door lock buttons, it was fitted to all UK Specification Solihull built TR8’s and European export TR7’s. In the same way many of the Canadian and USA spec TR8’s sporting this interior, would have had it fitted as a factory option. A similar, but not identical, material was fitted to the Rover SD1 and in a number of cases has found its way into TR7’s and TR7V8’s. Sadly this material would have been more widely available had not BL decided to literally dump it. I have heard a rumour that it was used as curtain material – what a waste!.

Key to TR7 & TR8 Trim Codes Chart