chassis plate

[RUBY131]

At last this is the plate on the body inside the nsf wheel area of my South African TR3a. Any one seen one before?

[irrational]

I have not seen one but I can ask the local registrar as I am seeing him tomorrow.

Do you have a plate on the bulkhead on the right (as looking into the engine bay) with a number?

It is likely that this is a CKD locally assembled car and that plate is a local requirement.

[RUBY131]

Thanks for that. The car has the normal commission number plate on the r h bulkhead and all the numbers match. On the screen there is also an old tax/registration disc which also carries the vehicle details and again they all match. I do know the car was owned by a tr register member for 17 years up till 2 years ago when it was imported back into the U.K.

[Don H.]

What numbers match, RUBY131? There usually aren't any that truly "match" on the car, unless you're referring to numbers on the build records or BMIHT certificate.

 

Does the commission plate look original (reproductions are available, but it's not hard to tell by patina and the style of number stamp). Does it look like the plate's been off the bodyshell at some point? What kind of rivets on the commission plate? Drive rivets? Open end blind rivets? Closed end blind rivets?

[Alec Pringle]

Don,

 

we've discussed this before - http://www.tr-register.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/62140-chasis-plate-stamping/

 

The plate illustrated in the first post is similar to ones I've seen before on ex-SA cars (not just Triumphs) and as far as I'm aware the additional plate style varied somewhat and was applied both to imported cars and to locally assembled from CKD kit cars.

 

Cheers,

 

Alec

[RUBY131]

Hi Don, it is pretty obvious the commission plate has been changed at some time but according to the records held by the South African branch of the club it has carried that number for many many years. The engine number did not match the original but records prove the engine is from an earlier TR3 also a club members car but that is not surprising. To put you in the picture, my aim is not to have a garage queen, my car is used at every opportunity, rain or shine, it is not perfect and never will be but that suits me, if it is a "bitser" its my "bitser" but I love it. The documents are all in order, the numbers match the docs and that is all that matters to me. Having spent my working life in body paint and restoration I have seen many vehicles that claim to be genuine when really because so much of the car has been replaced they are no more than a very expensive kit car and have no place in the market as "genuine", not unlike my late Fathers car which when sold at auction by a later owner was billed as a restored original car when in fact when Dad found it all that remained was a bent chassis, which I realigned, and a log book. Despite its real history it sold for in excess of £200,000 pounds. So its bitsers for me.

[vivdownunder]

Haven't contributed for a while, but may be able to help. Your supplementary commission plate looks identical to those fitted to South African assembled TRs.

 

My SA assembled TR3A has the same sup plate, but mounted on the bulkhead above the normal plate, and stamped with the build sequence number - 1011 of 1050 total TR2-3A output (sorry no pic as it's elsewhere). Just 72 TR3As were assembled in SA, so survivors could be considered something of a curiosity.

 

Of two known ex SA TR3As in Oz (one Signal Red one Pale Yellow), both had engines wildly out of sequence. My car, 1958 CKD kit TS337**-O, likely not assembled until 1962 or 63 due to unsold TR3s, was fitted from new with TR3 engine TS171**E.

[billy l]

Hi RUBY 131, thought these attatched documents might interest you, start with image 003, 001,002. cheers, Bill.

Edited July 8, 2017 by billy l

[irrational]

Hi.

 

I asked the registrar and he said they usually just fit the plates as received from the UK and he thought that specific plate might have been added by the owner himself before.

The local build number is a smallish plate and will have a plain number in the 1000's for a 3A I think. I have just seen a "78" on a TR2 (TS7xxx something) before.

This plate should be on the bulkhead for a CKD car, but I suspect during restoration such a plate may have been lost.

 

Dirk

[RUBY131]

Thanks everyone, sorry for the delay in replying been away for a few days. will read info and digest, thanks again.....Chris.

[RUBY131]

Just to further confound the issue, very close inspection of the bulkhead panel above the commission number plate are evidence of 4 small holes making me think there was another plate fitted there possibly the one under the wheelarch. I will try to get a measurement of the holes on both places and compare.

[billy l]

Hi Chris , glad to have been of some help, attached is a pic from my ex South African TR3 showing the original local comm no TR609 just above the normal comm no plate.some plates had Durban motor assemblies on them, some were plain ally plates. 609 simply means it was the 609th TR to be assembled. Cheers, Bill.

[RUBY131]

Hi Billy, that looks pretty close to the plate I have and almost spot on for the location on the bulkhead. My commission plate is larger than yours shown and the extra plate carries the commission number . The search goes on. Thanks again for the info Cheers Chris