Wayne Brazinski wrote :
2) Are there any build records that are more in-depth than
BMHT?
No. BMIHT holds all the former production build records.
Before your certificate is issued it will have been compared
against the original 'line setting ticket' (displayed on the
car's windscreen as it went down the track) and the original
sales invoice from Standard Triumph in England to the US
importer. All these records are on microfilm and detail
everything of significance about your car.
For example - my cert says the car had Disc Wheels. Does
this mean Disc Brakes,
or solid wheels?
Disc wheels meant just that. They would have been steel
wheels and not the wires the car now has. These would have
been fitted at a later stage as a dealer fit, though in the
event the car was UK delivered as a personal export model,
it was possible for the wheels to be changed from discs to
wires. This change however would not show on the sales
record as it would have been done in either the Coventry or
London Service Departments prior to delivery and
consequently would not relate to the car *as it left the
line.*
The cost for this changeover would have been 'excessive'
owing to the fact that the hubs would have had to be
switched. The company did not approve the use of splined
adaptors for a wire wheels conversion as there had been too
much evidence of owners and dealers not being careful in
ensuring the 'handed' hubs were fitted to the correct side
of the car. Disc brakes would have been fitted. An anomaly
that some do not realise is that while certain componets or
features were *stock fit* for certain markets, they might
well have been extras for others. For as long as a feature
like 'disc brakes' shows on the build record, this means the
parts were not *stock* fit for that destination market. Only
when they were stock-fit for all markets would that feature
not show on the build record. As another example, IRS on the
TR4A was charged extra for the US/Canada market. All normal
TR4A's Atlantic bound would have had beam axles unless
otherwise specified by the importer. This was a conscious
marketing decision by ST, based on a possibly shaky
assumption that IRS would not be as well received in its
most important export market until it was proven. IRS only
became stock for North America with the emergence of the
TR250. Everyone else got IRS from the start - suggesting
that they were not as important ? <G> Equally, and this was
an nice twist, if a market scheduled to receive a 4A with
IRS wanted one with a beam axle, the rigid axle was charged
as a production 'extra'. In that instance the company won
financially in both directions.
Mine now has spokes which I know was an option for North
America (Piggott)?
Wires were options for all markets.
How do I know if it had the sidecurtains etc.?
It would have done. The factory would not have despatched a
vehicle with a softtop without sidescreens. Those items
would have been stock - a tonneau was a line fitted extra
and would show on the build record.
Jonmac
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