Good for you Ronald! Best of luck with your project.
It was common for these cars to spend some time in the pipeline between
Coventry and their final dealer destination in the US and "stockpile" a bit on
either side of the Atlantic, sometimes selling one or two or even more years
after
actual manufacture. They would be registered to the year in which they were
sold. My TR4 was built in October '62, but sold in '64 and has always been
registered as a 1964.
That's why the commission number is so important when ordering parts. Plus,
with all the swapping that's happened to some of these cars, the engine number
and gearbox numbers can be very important, too. You are smart to get the
Heritage certificate and see if the original stuff is still in your car, so you
can
best order parts for it.
Often there is little or no difference, a later part may be the same or work
fine, or differences might be subtle. But, in some cases the differences are
critical.
For example, you may already know, your car should have the 0 degree castor
front steering geometry, unlike my car which has 3 degrees. So, yours uses
different upper control arms, trunnions and ball joints. And, in the engine,
you'll have different size valve stems and guides than some later cars.
Even the frames have a number, stamped on top of the large, front cross
member. I've got two TR4 frames right now. "C" is original to my car, and
there is
a slightly earlier one marked "B8". The only difference between these was
that the earlier frame lacked gussets on the steering rack mounting ears (and,
sure enough, the base welds cracked).
Hmmm. That's a cool mother-in-law! My ex M-I-L had a Plymouth Horizon. It was
a simply awful little car that I hope has been sent to the crusher. I recall
she told me, once, when it was very near new, the dash fell off in her lap
while she was driving. Fortunately she never drove much over 25 mph.
Keep us posted about your progress!
Alan Myers
San Jose, Calif.
AMfoto1@aol.com
http://hometown.aol.com/amfoto1/amfoto1.htm
Date: Sat, 8 Jan 2005 16:41:26 -0800
From: "Ronald Griffing" <ragriffi@smt-net.com>
Subject: [none]
I finally started digging out the Triumph TR-4 I asked y'all about starting
after 20 years of storage.
The commission Number is CT1550L, which tells me it was built in '61 even
though it is registered as a '62.
Time to send for the commissioning/as built data and start restoring...
I'm sure I'll be asking for a LOT of advise as I get the car going again. I
wish it was mine! However, it is my mother-in-law's. At least I'll get to
drive it whenever I want!
Ronald Griffing
Ronald Griffing
62? TR-4 CT1550L
Scio, Oregon
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