I've been reading the queries posted over the last 24 hours
(I'm only in digest mode now) and nothing seriously untoward
in terms of what P.E. was. There were a number of ways to
buy on P.E.
1. Order the car through your local dealer, pay for it in
local currency, collect in London or at the factory, export
within twelve months from the date of delivery. Ship from
wherever you happened to be in Europe at the time. If you
were still in the UK, the car went back to Standard Triumph
who shipped it for you.
2. Order the car in the UK for exclusive build to your
requirements (took 8 weeks if there wasn't a strike!) or
order a completed car that was available from export stock
pay in
$'s or sterling, collect in London, Coventry or have car
delivered to wherever you happened to be (applied to 1
above) and export within 12 months.
3. Order the car through your local dealer, pay for it in
local currency. Upon arrival in London, visit company
showroom in London and sign a shipping form authorising the
car to be shipped. By doing this, you were technically
deemed to have taken delivery of the car and it was shipped
to the US fittec with UK licence plates and no more than 10
miles
on the speedo. As it had already been licenced in UK, it was
still deemed 'used' by US Customs, even though it was brand
new. This clobbered the import duty to miniscule
proportions.
Anyone with a Heritage Certificate on which the UK licence
number is shown will be the owner of a car which was
originally supplied under these arrangements. There were one
or two other minor variations on a theme but the above were
the most popular methods. See my website
http://www.toolbox.ndirect.co.uk/plates for further info
Re headlamps and steering locks.
HEADLAMPS: Prior to 1968, many P.E. cars were delivered with
vertical dip bulbed headlights. This meant you could drive
in UK or Europe without dazzling oncoming traffic. Usually,
they were changed by ST to US spec lamps prior to shipment
if finally exported from the UK. When sealed beams became a
Federal requirement, sometime prior (?) to 1968, vertical
dip lamps were abandoned. You got right hand dip lights from
the start, dazzling UK road users but not the rest of Europe
(except France) where the lamps had to have yellow bulbs and
this meant you couldn't see damn all when they were switched
on..
STEERING LOCK: This was available as an extra, but not line
fitted if the car was going to a market where they were not
a legal requirement. AFAIR, they were made by WASO, a German
company and this would explain the German writing on the
lock barrel. WASO locks were more often than not a standard
fitting on Belgian built cars and it's clear some of those
with Belgian origin have ended up in the States- e.g.
Injected TR5's and 6's
Hope this clarifies.
Jonmac
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