MOTOR MUSEUM BUILD RECORDS FOR TR4

[Willie]

Hi All,

I wondered what the general TR ownership thinks about a refusal I had from the Motor Museum [formerly BMHIT}. I requested either a copy of the build record, or to obtain a photo permit and photograph my car's record. This was refused - see below for details of the correspondence. Surely as the registered owner, and having paid my £50 for a Cert, the record effectively belongs to the individual car? I would be happy to pay an additional charge to take a picture [or, preferably, be sent a scanned copy] of the record.

 

Feedback appreciated. Willie.

 

Feb 22 at 9:06 AM

No, I'm sorry but taking photographs of the actual build records is not permitted

Regards

Richard Bacchus
Certificate Officer

British Motor Industry Heritage Trust

 

Show original message

On 19 February 2016 at 13:39, JOHN WILLIAMS <johnwilliams06@btinternet.com> wrote:

Thank you for the info Richard. I note that photos of items are allowed subject to obtaining a permit and not using flash. Would a photo of the record be possible by prior arrangement?

 

Best wishes John

 

On Friday, 19 February 2016, 10:31, BMIHT Archive <archive@britishmotormuseum.co.uk> wrote:

 

Dear Mr Williams,

 

The Heritage Certificate is a certified copy of the factory record, so you have all the information we have. We do not produce copies of the actual records

 

Regards

Richard Bacchus
Certificate Officer

British Motor Industry Heritage Trust

 

 

From: JOHN WILLIAMS <johnwilliams06@btinternet.com>
Date: 17 February 2016 at 11:41
Subject: TR4 PRODUCTION RECORDS
To: "enquiries@britishmotormuseum.co.uk" <enquiries@britishmotormuseum.co.uk>

Good morning,

Do you hold the production cards for TR4's. If so, is it possible to obtain a copy of the production card for my car [built 10/7/1964]. I already have a Heritage Cert for the car.

 

Please advise.

 

Best wishes John

[RogerH]

Hi Willie,

why not contact the TRR registrar and see what he has.

 

Roger

[Willie]

Thanks Roger. I'll follow that up. What do you think of the Museum's line on the issue?

[RAHTR4]

Hi Willie,

 

I really do not see this inability of taking or providing of photographs as a problem, it would certainly not be an easy thing to do given the state of the existing records.

 

Last year I arranged an appointment to review these records, when the Staff were most helpful making it a very pleasant visit.

 

No paper copies of these records exist, at some point Triumph had micro film copies made of each card after which they disposed of the original paper records, probably in a move to consolidate records and reduce the amount of storage space required.

 

These micro film copies have subsequently been scanned and are thus now available to view on a computer screen.

 

The original documents were hand written paper sheets or cards, each card containing the details of a number of cars and do not appear to have been prepared with any particular care or to a high standard as I assume they would have been deemed to be temporary working documents.

 

Also when the micro films were made it appears that the operator did not bother too much about getting the best copy possible as the quality is very variable, some are clear and concise whilst others are part in focus, part out of focus and others quite blurred.

 

Don't forget this operative was dealing with thousands of card and at the end of the process the micro films were to be placed in storage for possible future use.

 

 

Also this scanned information is listed in what I consider to be a very random order and thus it is not a simple task to locate a specific entry.

 

Thus clever bit is understanding how to locate a specific entry and deciphering the written details - I have every admiration for the Staff as it is down to the years of experience that enables the proper production of the Heritage Certificates.

 

It should be noted that even some of these micro film records are missing, lost over time

 

Having checked I noted that other manufacturers such as Jaguar, Austin Healey and most of the BMC range do not present the same research problems......!!!!!

 

Regards, Richard

[Willie]

Wow Richard, tremendous clarification! Presumably the record for my car IS legible as the Heritage Cert contains all the basic info! However, I guess creating a legible copy is the challenge! Best wishes Willie.