TR2/3/3A TR3. Would you put it back to right hand drive?

[Bruce100]

My tr3b body was right hand drive. Some previous owner welded plate over the right side firewall, moved steering box and shaft to the left. The parking brake is on the right (as opposed to left) side. Am doing a frame off restoration. What else do I need to do other than remove that plate? Worth it? Thoughts?

 

[mrv8q]

Have you driven a RHD car, and do you like it? From what I hear, it can be a little unnerving sometimes to pass, i.e. a large semi truck....

 

[Bruce100]

No. And my wife was nervous at the thought as well being the most frequent to be passenger
But still curious...

 

[Russ Austin]

The parking brake was only on one side, that is the right side, you commission number will tell you if it was a right hand or left hand drive car. The last letter in your commission number will tell you. Kevin’s 59 TR3 is TS58370L L for left hand drive.

 

[Bruce100]

Well it shows TCF/1673-L in the British Motor Heritage Registry. Previous owner bought a replacement tub from hemmings

 

[TR4nut]

Left hand drive all the way then in my opinion. If you were given a right hand drive car it would be worth keeping it that way I think, but sourcing the parts to make this car a right hand drive would be very expensive - most spare parts of that type have been taken to convert exported US cars back to UK form by other hobbyists.

 

[6TTR3A]

Bruce,
All 3Bs were LHD. Your PO probably got a good deal on a RHD tub. Is the tub a post 60,000 with raised plinths for the bonnet & boot hinges? If so, just clean up the welds and holes for the steering, leaving it LHD (like it is supposed to be) during your restoration. If you have a pre 60,000 tub, it will never be Concours material, (if you care about such things) so go with colours that you like rather than what is "correct" I painted my 3A my own shade of yellow and trimmed it in Jaguar Sherwood Green and never regreted it !!
FRank

 

[Bruce100]

Raised plinths front & back.

 

[Andrew Mace]

Just curious: was whoever swapped tubs smart enough to have saved the original body number from the 3B tub? It should read xxxx/TSF, and there was just the one body number plate on the 3Bs, as opposed to the two on earlier cars (one a six- or seven-digit number and the other EB xxxxx).

 

[HerronScott]

My tr3b body was right hand drive. Some previous owner welded plate over the right side firewall, moved steering box and shaft to the left. The parking brake is on the right (as opposed to left) side. Am doing a frame off restoration. What else do I need to do other than remove that plate? Worth it? Thoughts?

Why do you think it was a RHD body tub and not just a TR3/early TR3A tub which had cut-outs on both sides (and used blanking plates as appropriate)?

Also, as someone else stated, the emergency brake was always on the right.

Scott

 

[TR3driver]

Why do you think it was a RHD body tub and not just a TR3/early TR3A tub

Well, the raised plinths would mean it had to be at least a later TR3A. The plinths didn't start until TS60000 (along with a lot of other little changes).

The "welded" plate seems curious too, since the factory blanking plates (if present) were always bolted in place.

Seems more likely to me that the welded plate is the remains of some previous experiment (perhaps a previous attempt at RHD?) and the car (& body if it has been changed) were originally LHD.

It's your car, it should please you. But I don't see any advantage to making it RHD (I hear it's really uncomfortable to drive with your left leg against the handbrake lever) and you would be turning a fairly rare car (less than 3000 TCF cars were made) into an obvious fake. I wouldn't do it.

Oh, BTW, they didn't just move the steering box. The RHD & LHD boxes are mirror images of each other.

 

[Bruce100]

I think I will remove the welded plate and go left hand drive. That plate confused me