On Fri, 16 May 1997, Kurt Oblinger wrote:
> Darrell Leach asked about how to determine details for a restoration on
> an early TR4. Can't answer the specific questions as I don't know much
> about 4s but here are some general ideas. Original road tests in magazines
> such as Road & Track. For an early TR4 these would provide some good
> information because since it was a new model it would receive an extensive
> review and road test. The test car would probably be an early car beacuse
> Triumph would want to get a car into the press fleet to get to the magazines
> for testing as early as possible because of their lead times.
You have to be careful about relying on very early road test reports,
very early editions of dealer's brochures and owner's manuals, because
they are often based on pre-production models.
Somewhere around here I have the first Road & Track issue to carry a TR4
road test, and the test car appears to be a pre-production prototype. If
you examine the photos closely you'll see some differences between it and
even the earliest production TR4s. That issue is packed away in the attic
so I can't lay my hands on it, but I especially remember a non-standard
dash layout that I've never seen on a TR4, and I seem to remember some
engine compartment oddities as well.
That same non-production dash layout also appears in a very early edition
of the TR4 owner's manual (unfortunately in that same box in the attic).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Chip Old 1948 M.G. TC TC6710 NEMGTR #2271
Cub Hill, Maryland 1962 Triumph TR4 CT3154LO (daily driver)
fold@mail.bcpl.lib.md.us
If cars had evolved as fast as computers have, by now they'd cost a
quarter, run for a year on a half-gallon of gas, and explode once a day.
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