Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

I bought a book all about the TR7, if only to scratch the itch and try and stop me from wanting one. It didn't work. I thought they were great when I was a kid. As Merak says, popup lights were all that mattered.

Anyway, I digress. In that book the claim was made, several times in fact by ex employees, that the TR7 Sprints were far more fun to drive than the TR8s. Maybe less powerful, but more revvy and sporty. Given the choice of which to take home, most chose the Sprints. So if I was going to get a TR I'd be looking to put a Sprint motor in it.

And then that got me thinking. The Triumph slant 4 engine is also the basis for Saab's motors, albeit much modified when they went to turbocharging.
- Look - it's even got Stanpart on the head.
And they had a 16 valve that actually worked. I bet you could swap one straight in. Maybe a turbo version.

And then that got me thinking more. The Stag V8 was a pair of Dolly cylinders (or the slat 4 was half a Stag V8), so maybe you could have a 4 litre 48 valve Stag, using Sprint engines.
And then I found out that Saab had a similar idea when developing the 9000:

300bhp apparently. They only made 5.
That would be nice in a TR7.

The v8 was lighter than the sprint, also there were a few conversion such as grinnal that improved things.

Its a car that best bit was the pop up lights. Seats were unconfortable and wore out quickly..