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TR2/3/3A 2nd commission [vin] number??? Help.

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M

Momikey

Senior Member
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Hello,
I tried to register my tr3a that i got from Illinois at the aaa office in California and they said they need to see both vin numbers? The only one I knew about was right there on the plate under hood but we looked all over and did not find what they call the 2nd vin number. Does anybody know where this is on my tr3a? If I can't find it I have to fill out three sheets of paperwork and take it to the dmv.
Help.
 
Doesn't exist and was not a requirement when the car was new.
You might try explaining that to them, but my guess is you'll have to do the forms.
 
I once had a California Highway Patrol officer spend some time convincing himself of that same fact. The only thing he could come up with was the numbers on the front crosspiece of the frame. And those few numbers were meaningless.
Charley
 
Whatever you do, don't even MENTION any numbers other than the one on the commission number plate that should read something like TS12345L. Unless that doesn't match the number on your paperwork, in which case I suggest moving to a state that doesn't care. ;)
 
With only one VIN number, I believe the procedure is that California assigns a new number and will happily deface your car with an ugly new VIN plate riveted to the forward (I think) driver door post. Perhaps it can later be un-riveted and attached somewhere else on the car that's less offensive to the eyes - down on a chassis rail, for example.
 
Nope. CA has never had a problem with only one commission number. They only gave me a new tag for Stag #2, because the existing tag was obviously from another car.

And since unriveting it ("tampering") is against both state and federal law, I'm leaving it right where it is. No sense tempting fate a second time!
 
When I registered our 250 The Lady at the CA. DMV could not understand the short vin number. She had never seen one so short. It took awhile but we did get the TR250 registered in CA.
 
Regarding the short VIN number one of the stories around is that CA did not like the short numbers that we have on our cars and that is why some of the earlier cars also have a second tag which is STC1962 or what ever the date the car was sold. I believe it was to show what year the car was sold. One of my cars has this added to the VIN number while a second car also has a tag but the number is NOT added. But I have never been required to show any second tag on the car. I believe the first TR to have that is the TR6 ( found one on a '74) with a tag on the windshield.
Charley
 
DMV in California is so fun to work with!

Back in '54 when my TR2 was sold, either the dealer or someone at DMV copied down the commission number wrong. Instead of TS 4085 L
they wrote down T 54085 L. Fast forward to three years ago when I got the TR2 back on the road. I thought now is the time to fix that
registration number. Wrong! After sending paper work in twice, once with the actual numbers verified by a deputy sheriff and later again with the
correction noted by a CHP officer, DMV still has it wrong. I can't convince them that only 6,000 total TR2s were made, not the 54,000 plus that
their reg. number indicates.

I guess some battles are best walked away from.
 
Many years ago I had a '67 Saab Sonett II, which was an early 3 cylinder, 2-cycle of which they made 258 vehicles before they went to the V4 engine. I had number 238, and that was the VIN number on the car...just plain old number 238. I don't recall exactly when Saab lengthened the VIN number to include the Sonett model designation of "97", but it was somewhere after the V4 was introduced. Another interesting fact about New York state is that there were no titles for cars issued before 1972, and they don't retroactively give them out. My TR3 has no title to this day, only a registration card that can be used to transfer the vehicle. How all of this would play in the Republic of California is anybody's guess.
 
Triumph commission numbers at least begin to look like "real" serial numbers to some DMV folks. Even long ago, it was highly "entertaining" to get the DMV to believe that a Morgan Plus Four's 4-number sequence really WAS the serial number of the car.

Overall, though, if having non-standard VIN numbers keeps our Triumphs out of the database-driven craziness that exists in many segments of the collector car world, then it's a benefit - even with the odd DMV tussle here and there. IIRC, the requirement for a VIN number in two (or more) places became a DMV-rule only 4 or 5 years ago.
 
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