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TR2/3/3A TR3A year?

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HerronScott

HerronScott

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All,

Trying to confirm the actual year of my TR3A which has the commission number TS51339L and body numbers EB49811/1054832. The title shows 1961 but according to the VTR information it appears that it's really a 1959 but was perhaps sold in 1961 and thus titled as a 1961? Has anyone had any luck getting Virginia's DMV to fix a title when it has the wrong year?

I'm also interested in any opinions on the value of the Heritage Certificates for TR3A's and TR4A's?

Thanks!

Scott
 
It would have probably been built around May 1959. In mid-April of that year some changes were introduced and the commission number skipped a thousand or so to have the changes begin at TS50001 (starter, flywheel, bellhousing, et al).

The certificate is a nice item if you like to know as much as is known about the build, original equipment, shipping and destination as well as the dates built and despatched.

I managed to changr my TR4 from a 65 (registered year) to a 64 (build year) but states (and even individual employees) will vary on their willingness to do that. I suppose a build certificate could help sell the idea.
 
Over the years, I've come to the conclusion that when the car was titled becomes part of the history or provenance of that particular car, and it's best to leave it alone. It might have been a different story back in the mid-1980s, when state DMV offices and insurers said a car had to be (for example) 25 years old to qualify for special plates or insurance, but that's long ago now. On the other hand, I suspect Virginia might accept official information such as that on a Heritage Certificate as proof, should you want to change the title.

Yes, the Heritage Certificate do have value, if you're interested in the information they can provide about how and when your car was built and shipped. Whether it's worth the money they currently charge, that's up to you to decide!
 
Andrew Mace said:
...I've come to the conclusion that when the car was titled becomes part of the history or provenance of that particular car, and it's best to leave it alone.
Click to expand...

Good point. The reason I had mine changed to a 1964 is that Arizona allows cars to be registered with year-of-manufacture plates and AZ plates were not issued every year -- no plates in 1965, nice blue plate in 1964.

LicensePlate2.JPG
 
HerronScott said:
I'm also interested in any opinions on the value of the Heritage Certificates for TR3A's and TR4A's?
Click to expand...

I don't know what the exchange rate is now, but it's still got to be cheaper to get a Build Record from Triumph Register of America triumphregister.com than a BMIHT Certificate.

The Build Record is $20 and it gives most of the information (including date of manufacture) that a Certificate gives. It does not give the shipping info.

As for value, that's up to you. I think it's $20 worth of interesting to know the optional equipment and colors my car was built with, as well as when.
 
Andrew Mace said:
...which begs the question: what happened back in 1965 with a brand-new car? What plates would have been issued?
Click to expand...
I assume it worked like CA did for some years; you got an older plate with a sticker for the current year.
 
Don do you know what the ('Do not Slush' 'Car to be Waxed') means!
 
I can't say for sure what those notes mean, but maybe they refer to the coating they might have used on some cars as protection against the weather during shipments across the Atlantic in the winter and maybe some cars were shipped "on deck". Mine was "born" in February, 1958 and possibly shipped sometime in March or April and maybe it was in the hold. Just guessing.
 

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Andrew Mace said:
...which begs the question: what happened back in 1965 with a brand-new car? What plates would have been issued?
Click to expand...

They got a 1964 plate with a little '65' sticker in the corner. That same corner is now needed for the current expiration sticker.
 
My 1958 TR3A and all cars registered in the province of Quebec do not have a date stamped into their license plate, nor do we have a "sticker" indicating this years date. It has all been computerized since about 1992. It was about 12 - 15 years ago that I ran out of gas on a rural road about 100 miles from home and coasted to the side and parked on the gravel shoulder. Oddly enough, about 10 minutes later, a police cruiser came over the hill and stopped about 100 feet behind me on the shoulder. I knew what he was doing. He was on his computer, checking the data in the licence bureau to find out the name of the owner of my car and to see if the annual fee had been paid. Then they drove forward to check if it was really me.

BTW, a kid about 14 from the first farmhouse had seen me parked there and came on his bike to talk. When I told him that I needed gas, he said, "No problem, we have some you can have". His father was the owner of an MGB. Small world isn't it ?
 
All,

Thanks for the information and confirmation that it is a 1959. I've updated my signature. :smile:

Also, thanks to John and Don regarding getting the factory build record from TRA as an option to the Heritage Certificate. I assume that $20 is per vehicle and is after the current $25 annual national dues?

Scott
 
HerronScott said:
Also, thanks to John and Don regarding getting the factory build record from TRA as an option to the Heritage Certificate. I assume that $20 is per vehicle and is after the current $25 annual national dues?

Scott
Click to expand...

That is correct, Scott.

Oh, I just read your signature. Sorry, TRA only has records for TR2-3-3A. So you would have to use BMIHT for your TR4s.
 
Thanks for the info John! I'll probably go that route with the TR3A.

Scott
 
Even though my TR3B is titled as a 1963 and I use that for the owners card and insurance, my front plate that I bought for the car says 1962 TR3B and that is what I list for shows, etc...
 

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Frank - You write that your TR3A is TS 58476 and was built on Sept 1st. Have you checked out or done any research (possibly with the Heritage Center) as to how close you car was to the end of the "early" TR3A production ? Did you know that there is a gap in the TS numbers and when they started to build the new "late" TR3As in October, they started at TS 60000. So maybe yours is among one of the last "esrly" TR3As produced. I have heard that there are over 1000 numbers where TRs were not built.
 
Similarly, many years ago a fellow local club member had a 3A in the very high 50000's and assumed to be original...that had a post-60000 body (raised hinge posts, squared off floor behind front seats, etc., etc.)! Anyone else ever seen something like that?
 
Bill Piggot, as most of you know, is the Registrar and Archivist for
the TR Register in the UK. As such he has access to the sidescreen build records.
In a couple of his books he makes note of several pre 60,000 cars with the
revised body stampings, as well as many POST 60K cars with the old stampings.

The one thing that is consistent in changes to sidescreen TRs is the
inconsistency !!

The missing Commission numbers occurred leading up to TS50K not TS60K.

I did a VERY PRIMITIVE equation a number of years ago to determine specific build dates for TR3 & TR3As. Using known build records as proof, I've never been more than 3 days off.
So Scott, my guess is that TS51339L was built on 07 May 1959
Frank Conklin
 
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