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Re: [Fwd: Q re late TR-3A insignia]

To: Vintage Triumph Register general list <vtr@Autox.Team.Net>
Subject: Re: [Fwd: Q re late TR-3A insignia]
From: Andrew Mace <amace@unix2.nysed.gov>
Date: Wed, 28 May 1997 13:28:25 +0600 (EDT)
Cc: BHMcM@aol.com
In-reply-to: <338C674E.549E@sanders.com>
Reply-to: Andrew Mace <amace@unix2.nysed.gov>
Sender: owner-vtr@Autox.Team.Net
On Wed, 28 May 1997, BHMcM@aol.com wrote:

   The web pages are fantastic! - many thanks to all who made this so
impressive.      

   I have a question re the "TRIUMPH" letters on the nose of my late TR-3A
(TS No. 80486, built in October 1960): a highly-regarded authority says that
all TR-3As had ribbed letters, with the smooth ones appearing on the TR-3B,
notwithstanding Bill Piggott's statement on page 33 of  Original Triumph TR th
at smooth letters were used beginning with TS 60001.  Can anyone confirm
this?  The nose on my car appears to be original, and has holes drilled for
the ribbed type letters.   Many thanks!

=============================================================================

First rule of Triumphs (and British cars in general): Never say 'never';
never say 'all'; never say 'always'! ;-)

General consensus of opinion seems to be that almost anything went on the
later TR3As and TR3Bs. It seems possible that the tooling for the front
apron changed at some point fairly late in TR3A production, and later
aprons seem to to slope smoothly down to the top of the grille opening,
whereas earlier ones seemed to have a very slight "lip" at the top of the
grille opening.

Nonetheless, ribbed letters appeared fairly late on TR3As, along with the
later smooth letters. This also seems to have been the case with TR3Bs,
which to some extent used up some remaining supplies of TR3A bits.
Complicating the matter even more is the fact that there appear to be some
documented original TR3As and TR3Bs with no lettering at all! Often, later
replacement aprons were supplied with no holes for lettering, but it seems
that some of those might have made their way to the production line as
well.

I believe that the smooth letters were introduced with the Herald in 1959
and then incorporated on other models such as the TR3A/B to cut costs by
"commonising" parts across model ranges. 

For reference points, my own cars:

TR3A, built 3/28/60, TS71909L: ribbed letters, original apron
TR3A, built 4/15/60, TS73624L: no letters, replacement apron
TR3B, 8/21/62, TCF1564L: smooth letters, original (but very smashed) apron

I recently sold TS80315L, which I'm pretty sure had a: the original apron
and b: smooth letters. 

--Andy

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* Andrew Mace, President and                *
*   10/Herald/Vitesse (Sports 6) Consultant *
* Vintage Triumph Register                  *
* amace@unix2.nysed.gov                     *
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