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Mystery: from Inverness to Ceshire and North Wales. TR3 KST 277


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Another Inverness Mystery Sidescreen TR

On Thursday, 17 November 1955, an early 3 -- the last 2 had been assembled only a month earlier -- rolled off the production line and was taken to Scotland. Intended for the home market, this TR's commission number was TS 9204, body shell number 84226, and engine number 9685.

The UK registration numbers show that KST 277 was first registered in Inverness, on 9 August 1956.

Why did it sit in a car dealership for almost a year? A mystery.

Forty Years Later

Fast forward forty years when, some time in the mid-1990s, this Scottish sidescreen TR3 underwent a ground up restoration, carried out by Mark Mason in Ceshire.

More than a decade later, Mason sold the car, in 2008, to a gentleman from Denbighshire in North Wales. The retired dentist only clocked up 7,500 miles, in a car that had only done 7,500 since restoration, and was still as good as new.

First Mason fitted a recored radiator with no crankhole, then he replaced it with one with a crankhole, also recored; the same one? He also replaced the steering box with rack and pinion, but then he rebuilt the box, so that it was even better than the steering rack, with no play whatsoever, no wandering, and the handier tighter turning circle, upgraded the shock absorbers to Konis, fitted a thicker rally front anti-roll bar, a tow bar, rally rear springs. He dumped the weak Lockheed differential prone to leaks and breakage for Girling, and the list goes on. Or did he?

Was KST 277 held back after msnufacture? Was it really a late TR2, and fitted with Girling differential and discs long after its recorded assembly in November 1955?

One thing is certain. Mason restored the car and rallied KST 277, at least at one event, the 1998 RAC Rally.

Semi-retirement

But over the next ten years, this early TR3 went into semi-retirement, driven from car show to car show in North Wales. Before its ground up restoration, the previous anonymous owner or owners had totted up 88,000 or so miles and by the time Mason began to restore it, this car had needed a lot of work. It was Salvador Blue, as the paperwork states, and as the fuzzy colour snapshots partly documenting its restoration confirm. But he painted it a nicer colour, Midnight Blue. Perfect.

Information please

Do you know anything about KST 277, during those intervening years, from its purchase in August 1956 in Inverness to when Mark Mason bought it in the 1990s?

Is Mason even in the Register? Was he ever? Has he owned other TRs? Can you shed any light on these questions?

Edited by David Brancaleone
Spotted further typos!
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David,

Interesting, did Triumph have sales issues with the early '3s?  Mine is TS8938 and built a couple of weeks earlier, 27th Oct 1955. Then, like yours, mine was not registered until August 1956 and was supplied to Motor Macs in Exeter - I wonder where yours was delivered to? I have spent hours & hours trying to find what mine was doing for most of it's first year. 

Regarding seeking the person you mention, if you e-mail Jo at the 'Office' and ask her to forward to the person if they are a current member. GDPR being a pain in the exhaust and probably stops us searching past members too.

Hope you find the answers,

Mike J

 

 

 

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I do know, Mike. Inverness. Just like the HST TR, yours? What I do know about this Mason is that we are two minds who think alike in terms of choice. One big difference: he really knew what he was doing whereas I don't, though in the distant past a few kind Register members in the Oxfordshire Group of olde taught me the odd thing. Peter Goodwin showed me how to take off a head in the rain and decoke it; as for John Laherne, the list is too long...

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I'm showing my abysmal ignorance. My apologies.

Edited by David Brancaleone
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My early '3    TS 9551  O  was built 16th December 1955 between 1 & 2 PM.

Delivered to Wests of Lincoln, first registered 15th June 1956

Bob

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Is there any evidence that these cars actually went to the destination dealers  straight after manufacture? Or did they get held back......I’m just wondering if they were 2 s updated to 3 specification? I read that happened somewhere but can’t remember where. Need to ask BillP? Certainly one to two press cars appear as a 2 and later as a 3. 

 

Iain

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54 minutes ago, iain said:

Is there any evidence that these cars actually went to the destination dealers  straight after manufacture? Or did they get held back......I’m just wondering if they were 2 s updated to 3 specification? I read that happened somewhere but can’t remember where. Need to ask BillP? Certainly one to two press cars appear as a 2 and later as a 3. 

 

Iain

Good point, Iain. The fact that TR2 parts were used in early TR3s which has already been established in this Forum would suggest something like that might have happened. By the way, when did the scuttle vent come in? KST has it. Wasn't that a late 2 addition? Anyway, the early 3 is really a late 2. Girling disc brakes don't appear until August 1956, if I'm not mistaken.

 

 

23 hours ago, mikej said:

David,

Interesting, did Triumph have sales issues with the early '3s?  Mine is TS8938 and built a couple of weeks earlier, 27th Oct 1955. Then, like yours, mine was not registered until August 1956 and was supplied to Motor Macs in Exeter - I wonder where yours was delivered to? I have spent hours & hours trying to find what mine was doing for most of it's first year. 

Regarding seeking the person you mention, if you e-mail Jo at the 'Office' and ask her to forward to the person if they are a current member. GDPR being a pain in the exhaust and probably stops us searching past members too.

Hope you find the answers,

Mike J

 

 

 

 

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53 minutes ago, friarmike said:

David yours is a nov 17th 1955 mine is nov 30 1955 TS9365-LO man that's close mine was shipped to Alaska where it still resides. 

14 hours ago, David Brancaleone said:

Good point, Iain. The fact that TR2 parts were used in early TR3s which has already been established in this Forum would suggest something like that might have happened. By the way, when did the scuttle vent come in? KST has it. Wasn't that a late 2 addition? Anyway, the early 3 is really a late 2. Girling disc brakes don't appear until August 1956, if I'm not mistaken.

 

 

 

Mike,

That is really extraordinary! We've been chatting away recently and I've been following your Youtube footage on your restoration and now this news. I'm amazed. What a coincidence.

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On 3/6/2020 at 1:17 PM, Lebro said:

My early '3    TS 9551  O  was built 16th December 1955 between 1 & 2 PM.

Delivered to Wests of Lincoln, first registered 15th June 1956

Bob

Bob, this seems to strengthen Iain's point. Cars held back from sale, built towards the end of the year, past the prime selling season. Did Standard Triumph already have plans for an improved model, I wonder? Or were sales just slow. External factors? When was the Suez Crisis? 26 July 1956. No, too late. The R& D of TR rallying developments, such as Girling discs? Late August 1956. Girling discs and diff? Don't know.

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1 hour ago, David Brancaleone said:

Mike,

That is really extraordinary! We've been chatting away recently and I've been following your Youtube footage on your restoration and now this news. I'm amazed. What a coincidence.

and my cars date is 4 days after my birthday  and 5 years. has your car been fitted for the disk brakes? I think I will do the upgrade if for any other reason for safety. 

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11 minutes ago, friarmike said:

and my cars date is 4 days after my birthday  and 5 years. has your car been fitted for the disk brakes? I think I will do the upgrade if for any other reason for safety. 

Yes it has, Mike, and they are very effective, nice and sharp. I was surprised: not heavy. My 2, OGB 800, (Commission no. TS5497, Engine no. TS5957E) had a brake servo and drums. I never had any fading with the 2, even in extreme driving conditions, but nowadays I would not risk it. Safety first, originality second, that is how I see it. If I had a choice, I'd go for drilled discs, enhanced by Goodridge braided hoses and lighter, alloy calipers. But the current set up is just fine. I need 4-point harnesses is all.

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there were servo brakes available in 55 for the TR's ? I didn't know this ya Iam going drilled disk's and braided lines as for the calipers they will be stock for now I need to spend money elsewhere. Iam fitting a custom 4 point roll bar I used to make them for my race cars and I want a tight fitted one and to clear my factory occasional back seat----------ya occasional and there will be 4 point belts also fitted with proper mounts as fit works did it

.  

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10 minutes ago, friarmike said:

there were servo brakes available in 55 for the TR's ? I didn't know this ya Iam going drilled disk's and braided lines as for the calipers they will be stock for now I need to spend money elsewhere. Iam fitting a custom 4 point roll bar I used to make them for my race cars and I want a tight fitted one and to clear my factory occasional back seat----------ya occasional and there will be 4 point belts also fitted with proper mounts as fit works did it

.  

No, I don't think so. From memory, the brake servo was a 1970s or later mod. Probably quite popular. Iain Cornish would know.

Safe. Those harnesses. 3/4 inch anti-roll bars, the thicker ones? And a skid shield under to fit them to for extra strength?

Edited by David Brancaleone
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My '3 had drums originally, they faded badly with standard linings & sustained heavy braking :o

I fitted harder linings & a servo I found in a breakers yard (from a ford I think) that improved the brakes a lot.

I now have the later '3 discs, in fact I have the later Girling setup all round including the later axle. (having snapped two Lockheed half shafts)

Bob.

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14 hours ago, David Brancaleone said:

No, I don't think so. From memory, the brake servo was a 1970s or later mod. Probably quite popular. Iain Cornish would know.

Safe. Those harnesses. 3/4 inch anti-roll bars, the thicker ones? And a skid shield under to fit them to for extra strength?

Sorry David you guys say "roll bar" you mean what we call a "sway bar" I was talking about a roll over bar. I will be running a 3/4 inch sawy bar and a works type skid plate. 

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7 hours ago, Lebro said:

My '3 had drums originally, they faded badly with standard linings & sustained heavy braking :o

I fitted harder linings & a servo I found in a breakers yard (from a ford I think) that improved the brakes a lot.

I now have the later '3 discs, in fact I have the later Girling setup all round including the later axle. (having snapped two Lockheed half shafts)

Bob.

Iam also going to later Girling rear end and Iam putting up the Lockheed for sale some tr2 guy may want it and its setup with the nock off wheels. 

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