TR2/3/3A Pressed steel body plates??????

[kjman55]

I just found an EB plate and body plate I removed from a long door 2 ( around TS3500 ish from memory) back in 1975. It was in a box of stuff lost/ misplaced for over 40 years. What was odd was that these plates were made in pressed steel, not brass. The numbers were correct for the commission number and date of the car (June 54) and they were identical to the usual brass plates in every respect other than the material. They were sprayed body colour--olive yellow-kak colour correct for that 1954 car, which was very rough but 100% original (with the rare red and black houndstooth trim.)
Has anyone else ever encountered steel EB and body plates? The car is long gone but I am intrigued by the plates...

 

[Geo Hahn]

Interesting - certainly the early cars had some differences and it is plausible that some of them have not been well-documented. Next time I see a friend's long door I may ask to test his plates with a magnet.

 

[ckeithjordan]

kjman,

I’d love to see a photo of the plates with the olive-yellow color. Thanks!

Keith Jordan
1957 TR3 TS20447LO

 

[kjman55]

Keith,
i will get them on the weekend and then try to figure out how to post a photo.I am new to this forum but no doubt there is a sticky somewhere on how to post photos.
Keith Manion
TS166

 

[kjman55]

Hi Geo
Not a bad idea...maybe the factory ran out of brass one day?
I have only ever seen or heard of brass plates on 2/3/3A/3B cars before discovering these ones. I bought the car for $150 in 1975 just for the houndstooth trim which was perfect, and gave the rest of the car to my brother as his 21st birthday present, which he restored on a shoestring while at Uni. The plates got lost under our parents house and came to light a week ago, and I just made the discovery when cleaning the paint off them. There was no (apparent) reason why they would have been fakes, and the stamping and size is 100% identical to the usual brass plates... A mystery.

 

[2long]

FWIW, the last olive yellow car was TS 1911 LO, so a TR2 with Comm #3500ish would not be that color originally.

Dan

 

[ckeithjordan]

Keith,

Posting images. At the bottom of the page where this thread appears, there's a "quick reply" box. At the top of the box are several icons, the third from right is one that is used to "insert image" (you may have to hover over it to see the pop-up description as I don't find the icon image to be intuitive). Use that to post a picture, following the prompts.

 

[kjman55]

Thanks for those directions, Keith.
Thanks 2Long. Now you have got me wondering...I always assumed the commission plate was right, maybe it was an identity swap and maybe the plates are dodgy. If fake, someone had an embossing machine / stamps the same as the factory, but not bright enough to use brass. None of it adds up!