TR2/3/3A TR3 Spare Tire Cover - Lock

[luke44]

Hi - was wondering if someone can take a picture of the <span style="font-weight: bold">back side </span>of the spare tire cover for a TR3 showing the lock the square key fits into? I hope I have the locks in one of the many boxes of parts I have but I don't know what I am looking for.

TRF doesn't show it, but they have the outer eustacheon cover cd22241 @$16.95. Moss lists the outer "overrider" 802-800 at $62.95 (why so much more?) along with what they call "budget locks" but listed as for a Jaguar p/n 802-420 and 802-430 @ $12.95 and $19.65.

Thanks in advance,

 

[martx-5]

There's a mistake in the parts plate in the on-line listing at Moss. If you pan over the number of the escutcheon it comes up with "65 over rider" and it should be 61. which is part # 407-510 @ $15.60. If you look to the box left of that, you'll see part #65 again listed as over rider (the bumperette) . The budget lock is the actual locking device that has the arm that twists as you turn the carriage key in the square hole. The escutcheon is the chrome piece on the outside, sometimes referred to as the toilet seat covers.

 

[luke44]

Thanks for clearing up the error in Moss's online catalog - I see it is correct in the print version.

Any chance to still get a picture of the back side and the lock? I don't want to purchse the locks if I have them in all the boxes of parts I have.

Thanks again,

 

[martx-5]

OK, here's a pic of the budget lock with the arm in the closed position. The carriage key is sticking through the square hole.

 

[luke44]

Thanks Art. I don't recall seeing anything like that in my review of the parts boxes. Oh well, at leat now I know what I'm missing...

Update: March 8 2010. I found them! They were tucked away in a box of stuff in the trunk. Now to clean them up.....

 

[Don Elliott]

Here is the chromed "Toilet seat" on the rear of my 1958 TR3A where you flip up the lid to insert the coach key. BTW, you will have to spend ten minutes (or more) to grind the long tapered end on a new coach key to get it to fit the Dzus fasteners for the front engine compartment as well as to get it into the opening for the rear "Toilet seats".

Do you know why it's called a coach key ? These were used by the coachman when someone of high rank (read rich folks) would be taking a coach say from Coventry to London back in the days before automobiles (and when highway robbers were plying their skills). It seems that the coachman would use the coach key to lock the doors of the coach once the travellers were inside and this was supposed to keep them safe from attacking highway robbers (who didn't have a key).

I can't say if the story is true or not or whether this really occurred, but it is a facinating story for strangers who come to car shows and I tell the story.

Right or wrong, now you know the rest of the story.