Can't speak to the STC info but worked for a Triumph dealer in the late '50s
and early '60s. Every fall we would get a call from the distributor to tell
us that all the unsold new cars on our lot, plus any on order, were the
coming year model. At this point the cars had only a certificate of origin or
CO. When applying for a state title we simply stated that the car was what
ever the current year was. This also held true with Volvos which we also
sold. The theory was that the Europeans didn't pay attention to model years
and only changed cars when they felt like it. Of course this changed later
when the Europeans caught on to the idea of annual changes.
I recall that this created a major hassle when Volvo went from a 3 speed
trans. to a 4 speed in the middle of 1958. Try explaining this to a customer
with one of the older cars. The first we knew about it was when the lot boy
unloaded a new Volvo 444 and claimed it had a 4 spd.-we didn't believe him at
first.
Doug Ross
Rosebud Racecar
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