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  • 1 year later...

I'm resurrecting this thread as a final attempt to identify my car!

 

To re-cap when I bought the car the commission plate was missing. It had been replaced with a homemade plate which stated the commission number was 1958224. Clearly this number is wrong but that is what had been put on the import documents and the V5 and is the official ID of the car according to the DVLA.

 

British motor heritage and Bill Piggot both came up blank with the engine number TS16646E, other than being able to say based on that number it is a disc braked TR3 that was built in Feb/March 1957 as CKD kit for shipment to SA. The SA register found records of engine number TS16648E with a corresponding commission number TS16156 and TR538 as the local South African assembly number. Based on this my commission number would be in the area of TS16000-TS1700.

 

However from bulkhead holes and pressings it looks like the car originally had a lockhead brake system, it is now a girling system as is the back axle so this does not match with the spec from the engine number or those commission numbers. The rivet holes where the commission plate was fitted match the larger commission plate from a TR2/3. The number stamped on the chassis under the rad looks like Z24, which apparently means the chassis was built in February 1954 (a TR2)

 

I know that a previous South African owner was called Lance Hugh-Walton (he inscribed his name on the homemade commission plate!)- the SA register have a record of an L Walton as the owner of a TR2 which had the local assembly number of TR173, engine number TS18186 from later tr3 but no corresponding commission number- they guessed it would be somewhere between TS8362-TS8500.

 

So from this information would I be right to conclude that: The frame is from a TR2 with a commission number of TS8362-TS8500 and the engine was installed later along with various other modifications such as disc brakes?

 

I have given up on ever being able to get the exact commission number but I would really like to put the standard commission plate back as the homemade plate looks completely wrong. I am unsure whether to just use the wrong but official 1958224 commission number or use a close approximation of a commission number from a car which I know is no longer on the road?

 

Also does anyone have a SA assembly plate or a photo of one?

 

Tom

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Tom,

 

My reaction would be to go with the "official" number for the moment.

Then if, one day, you find out the true commission number to go with

that, you can change it.

 

You are probably aware that Bill Piggott cannot do traces for the moment,

and probably for many months, due to the demise of the guy who held the

records. These records should be able to find your car from the 1958224

number you have, but it would be a bit of a "hunting around" search.

 

From what I recall, many many moons ago when I did these traces, the

records follow the number series that you have quoted more closely than

they follow the TS commission number. (Bill P may well correct me on my

recollections from way way back).

 

Your conclusion of a TR2 frame and bodyshell with later TR3 engine and

disc brake upgrade seems to me the most logical. Does the frame have

(what look like) factory brackets for drum brakes or disc brakes?

The earliest 3 I have owned was an early disc brake one - never owned

a drum braked car, so I don't know if the brackets are the same, but if

there is evidence that brackets for disc brakes were NOT factory fitted,

then that would be consistent with the Z24 number and TR2 chassis.

 

I wouldn't like to speculate on the origins of your car, especially with the

"local assembly" factor, if there is one. Strange, though, that the PO

should make his own plate, like he was trying to hide something.

 

AlanR

Edited by TR 2100
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I would keep as is.

 

Theres a very interesting history with your car and the home made plate is a silent witness of that.

 

I think more people will ask you about the origins of this plate than looking at a regular plate they will vind "on every" TR..

You have a tale to tell!

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...The number stamped on the chassis under the rad looks like Z24, which apparently means the chassis was built in February 1954 (a TR2)...

 

As Viv noted a few years ago, the chassis plate number is an engineering designation from Sankey. Do you have a source for the number being a production date? I've always been taught that it isn't -- or at least, isnt' a strict production date code -- for all I know the numbering system might be based on the date when some sort of engineering change was made that led to a new designation.

 

My late car, commissioned April 1962, has a "Z31" plate on the chassis crossmember. Does that mean the specific design of my chassis was laid down in March 1961? Dunno -- appealing, but nothing in the official records to support that AFAIK. I'm pretty sure my chassis wasn't built more than a year ahead of my car.

 

ISTR somebody was trying to compile a database of Sankey chassis number vs sidescreen TR commission numbers to see if a pattern emerged. I'm not sure where that project stands. Perhaps someone here knows more? ...Maybe my archive email has a contact from a few years ago.

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I’ll probably have to keep it the same, explaining all this to the DVLA wouldn’t be easy! I’ll try and put a photo of the homemade plate on here.

 

I’ve also heard that the Z number on the chassis is for engineering changes. On page one of this thread Don Elliott mentions that he thinks it related to date, not sure what to believe!

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Hi Tom

My TR3 -TS16239-O was built 26th February 1957 and shipped to New Zealand, chassis Z28. So your car could be late 1956 in CKD form. From memory the disc brake /girling system came in at the beginning of 1957 so your car is likely to have had Lockheed system and upgraded by a previous owner.

 

Good luck in your search for more history on your car

 

Brian

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