WAC275S RESTORATION

Page 2

The information on this page has been gleaned from numerous sources and should not be taken as "gospel" Please e-mail me at croydebay@aol.com if you have any other relevant info...

    The pilot build TR7V8 's were created mainly to enable the Works Rally Cars to use the V8 in competition. The car was engineered to take the V8 from the outset and this initial batch of cars would also serve to test consumer reaction. Approx 135 cars chassis prefix ACN were built. Nearly all these cars were shipped to the USA.

The ones I know for certain that did not go to the USA are...

1/ WAC275S (ACN01091UCF) my car. 

2/ WAC272S (no further info) could be one of 2 below... 

3/ ###### (ACN1006UF)

4/ #######   (ACN00024)

5/ TUD682T (ACN#####) Works Rally Car 

6/ ANOTHER (ACN#####) Works Rally Car

7/ YRW606S (ACN1040UCA) Also reg as XPF557S?

8/  ######   (ACN1103UCA)

Other possibles... YDU617S and GDJ499S

Also worthy of note... WWB966S (ACN1098UCA) (re-imported back from USA)

    So it would seem that from the initial batch of approx 135 built around 8 or 10 are known not to have been exported. Of the ones that went about 49 still existed in the USA and Canada. (Up until quite recently at least).

    It is said that these V8 cars left the UK without decals. The UK marketing men decreed that the V8 engined TR7 as used by the works team's should be called the TR7V8. This was because the general public could only buy a TR7 at that time, the TR8 was not yet ready to be launched in the UK.

    So what happened when these cars reached The States? Certainly these first cars were used as demonstrators by JRT dealers to give people a taster of the forthcoming model. It seems that the Americans were expecting a continuity of supply(!) as a TR8 Coupe brochure was produced.

This brochure was produced in the USA and bears the date Sept 1977. The car is quite clearly badged now as "TR8".

To confuse matters further, the sticker under the bonnet of these cars vary, some say TR7V8 and some say TR8!

Under bonnet sticker ACN1091UCF	Under bonnet sticker ACN1081UCA

    Conclusion...It seems to me then that owners of these early ACN series Speke built V8 cars can refer to their cars as either TR7V8's or TR8's as they wish. In addition this is also proof that the TR7V8 is an official BL model in it's own right. The term TR7V8 however has been used over the years to refer to any TR7 with a V8 conversion so I refer to my car as a "works TR7V8 or TR8". The problem   with using the "works" word however is that people are inclined to think of it as a Rally car.

It's about now though that the plot thickens.... It seems that JRT also tried to move cars on by contacting likely purchasers who would be interested in using these cars in Motorsport. One purchaser claims that when he arrived to pick up his car JRT employees were busy stripping off anything they could sell off separately... such as the jack!

ACN cars that have some connection with or actually became race/motorsport/rally cars...

1/ (ACN#####)  TUD682T   Bert Smeets     Works Rally Car 

2/ (ACN#####)  UYH8##S  Works Rally Car 

3/ (ACN0030)   Originally owned by John Buffum Team Group 44    

4/ (ACN1017)   Norwood Racing Enterprises

5/  (ACN1030) Originally owned by Ken Slagle     

6/  (ACN1078) Originally owned by Bob Tullius          

7/  (ACN1086)   GTI Canadian Champ 

Information is obviously patchy and the history of race/rally cars tends to be confusing to say the least so I suspect that there are many errors and omissions in the above. Any info or pix of any of these cars and others (especially ACN series) would be appreciated... please e-mail me at croydebay@aol.com

The ACN series owes it's very existence to Motorsport of one type or another on both sides of the Atlantic.

This page will be updated as and when more info comes to light...

What about the LeMans car...could that be a "ACN"?

Next Page... Restoration and Modification of WAC275S

Other known ACN cars...

ACN1081UCA... Owned by Paul MacDonald, Ottowa, Canada. Aug '77 White/red trim (now green trim), Auto, Sunroof. Eng. 13E00158.

ACN1015UCA... Owned by Bill Sweeting, NY, USA.  July '77 White (Was originally Tahiti Blue) Auto a/c and sunroof.

Any info on any ACN Series cars would be appreciated. e-mail me at croydebay@aol.com

Next Page... Restoration and Modification of WAC275S