TR4/4A TR4 A New purchase. Can you say " Saaweeet " ?

[Brinkerhoff]

I'd only heard about this one for 35 years but only saw it this morning for the first time. Hasn't been run in 5 or so years and not driven in 30. The carpets were pulled out so the floors are dry. Very knowledgable seller so I paid dearly . I had to buy it , I couldn't find any rust or accident damage anywhere and its got the IRS with the nicer seats , top and trim . Wire wheels, tool kit. I loved the TR3A that I restored and sold last summer ( to buy an XK 120) but miss the nicer seats and rack and pinion that a TR4A has and at 6' 2" I fit better in these than anything. I'll be the third owner , its gone to a good home !

 

[Marvin Gruber]

It does look nice! I'm saving a green one just like it. No rust on it either. Ones like that are very hard to find and worth keeping.
Marv

 

[M_Pied_Lourd]

Very nice! Congrats and have Fun!

Cheers
Tush

 

[HerronScott]

Very nice looking! Would love to see pictures of the tool kit as I don't think I've seen a TR4A one. What are the objects installed on the rear trunk on either side of the handle? Some kind of aftermarket backup lights?

Scott

 

[Mstanleyfl]

If I lived on that steep of a hill I'd get a bigger rock on that beauty's rear tire.

Didn't think earless knock off came until the 250...

 

[M_Pied_Lourd]

Very nice looking! Would love to see pictures of the tool kit as I don't think I've seen a TR4A one. What are the objects installed on the rear trunk on either side of the handle? Some kind of aftermarket backup lights?

Scott

They look like my TR3A licence plate light but installed upside down...

Cheers
Tush

 

[KVH]

looks fantastic; is that a Black IRS?

 

[HerronScott]

They look like my TR3A licence plate light but installed upside down...

Cheers
Tush

I was thinking they looked like that as well (or the early Spitfire version).

Scott

 

[BL50]

Nice looking TR! I knew that looked like northern Michigan. Im in TC for the weekend - I'll watch for you!

 

[TRopic6]

Great looking 4A! I recall seeing a 4a at a car show in the 90's that had plate lamps mounted like that. The owner said the car was brought back new from Germany by a GI. I checked a Lucas parts list for 1966 that I have and for "Number plate illumination (Export Germany)" it specifies 467-2, which is the TR3A plate lamp. Hard to tell, but I can't see the usual platelamps in the rear bumper guards. Maybe it is a GI bring-back as well, which may explain the amber top lens for the turn signal.

Jeff

 

[sail]

Great looking car. BTW we are camped for the night in Leelanau State Park. Very nice.

 

[Andrew Mace]

Great looking 4A! I recall seeing a 4a at a car show in the 90's that had plate lamps mounted like that. The owner said the car was brought back new from Germany by a GI. I checked a Lucas parts list for 1966 that I have and for "Number plate illumination (Export Germany)" it specifies 467-2, which is the TR3A plate lamp. Hard to tell, but I can't see the usual platelamps in the rear bumper guards. Maybe it is a GI bring-back as well, which may explain the amber top lens for the turn signal.

Jeff

Jeff, you beat me to it. It's almost certainly a "Personal Export Delivery" car in German-market specification, which would have included that unique number plate lamp setup as well as the 'earless' wire wheel knockoffs, etc. Oh, and NICE BUY! :thumbsup:

 

[Tybalt]

Being a German spec car would explain both the license plate lamps and the fact that it has rudge nut knockoffs instead of eared ones prior to eared ones going away on US spec cars in 1968. Just out of curiosity, does it have a steering lock/ignition switch below the steering wheel instead of the standard dash fascia mounted ignition switch as well? German spec cars were required to have those before any other market that I can think of and year wise for initiating that requirement I think was around 1965 or 1966 which would coincide with it being required on a German spec TR4A.

 

[TomMull]

I can say Saaweeet but it loses something with my Boston accent. The sentiment is still there, though, it's a really fine caah.
Hate to mention the Herald in the same thread, but mine does have a similar plate light setup, although right way up.
Tom

 

[Brinkerhoff]

There is a ignition key lock steering column and the overriders have the holes for the std. lamps . The lamps that are on it have nice plinth bases that let the lamp stand higher. The horns are not Lucas but have a German name. The original owner was in the Air Force.

 

[Tybalt]

That pretty much confirms it then and the USAF original owner is a perfect tie in. A friend of mine bought a 1966 MGB in 1989 and showed me some pictures and there were several things on it that didn't seem "right." Then he mentioned that the original owner was a USAF guy that had bought the car new in Germany and brought it back with him. Suddenly it all made sense.

AAFES (Army & Air Force Exchange System) at one time had a car sales department for US military personnel stationed overseas (it may still exist, don't really know for sure) but the cars were sold to conform with whatever the local requirements happened to be, hence a fair number of German spec cars made it over here. This pretty much came to an end in the late 60s though as the US kicked in more and more with the Federal Safety Standards and Emission controls and the requirement became to bring the car back it had to be be built to US market specs. There is an ex USAF guy I met through VTR from the San Antonio area that just made in in under the wire and was legally able to bring in his TR5 that he bought when he was stationed at Mildenhall RAFB on his return stateside. Very nice car, wire wheels, overdrive, green with white hard top/surrey top.