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Engine number TS51566E Reg 31UKJ


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Hello All,

Sometime in the mid to late 1970’s I had the brilliant idea of buying a cheap TR3A, cleaning it up a bit and selling it in the south of France for many thousands of Francs.
I soon got bored with trying to sell it and, after having to change the big end shells on a beach somewhere near Monte Carlo I decided to turn the trip into an adventure.

Eventually I came home and sold the car to a dealer somewhere on the south coast of England. (He was a small man who had a very large grand piano in his living room.)

Before I delivered the car to him I had to change the engine (It was a bit knackered, even with the new bearings) so I exchanged the engine from my own TR3A (The car I still own.)

I have a feeling the car went overseas, (there is no mention of the Reg. number on the DVLA data base), but I would guess it still has my original engine.

I always wondered what became of it.

Anyone know?

Charlie

31UKJ_TR3A.jpg

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2 hours ago, Charlie D said:

 

Hello All,

Sometime in the mid to late 1970’s I had the brilliant idea of buying a cheap TR3A, cleaning it up a bit and selling it in the south of France for many thousands of Francs.
I soon got bored with trying to sell it and, after having to change the big end shells on a beach somewhere near Monte Carlo I decided to turn the trip into an adventure.

Eventually I came home and sold the car to a dealer somewhere on the south coast of England. (He was a small man who had a very large grand piano in his living room.)

Before I delivered the car to him I had to change the engine (It was a bit knackered, even with the new bearings) so I exchanged the engine from my own TR3A (The car I still own.)

I have a feeling the car went overseas, (there is no mention of the Reg. number on the DVLA data base), but I would guess it still has my original engine.

I always wondered what became of it.

Anyone know?

Charlie

31UKJ_TR3A.jpg

Hi Charlie

The registration looks reasonably saleable so surprised there is no record of it, as it seems quite plausible  it could’ve been sold and transferred to another vehicle.
 

Do you know the commission number of the car by any chance? This might be another way of tracing it?

Kevin

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Helo Kevin,

Unfortunately I don’t have any more details. I only know the engine number because I still have the original documents that came with my TR, and I only know the reg number because I found the photo last week while having a clear out.

When I delivered it to the dealer there as another bloke there delivering a Healey 3000.
I got the impression that the dealer bought UK sports cars to ship abroad. I can also assume that the price for number plates was not as high as it is now, otherwise I would have moved the number on before I sold the car.

Charlie.

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