I'm glad to find that I am not the only obsessive panel beater out there.
Yes, there is a "dip" in the nose of a TR3A, both pre and post 60000
commission #s. It doesn't photograph well but I can attempt to give a
description of it. I used these dimensions to beat the nose panel back into
a uniform shape by duplicating the shape of a cheesy but undamaged nose from
the donor car. Luckily the Triumph designers, in order to keep down tooling
cost, kept to simple curves and radii.
The "dip" goes from headlight bucket to headlight bucket in width and blends
into the bottom relief for the headlights. The start of the "dip" begins at
a point that is about 1/8" below bottom of the large Triumph badge (not the
letters) and extends to the radius above the grill opening. The length from
the start of the dip, just below the badge to the radius above the grill, is
consistent the entire width between the light buckets..
If you lay a straight edge on the center line from the badge to the nose
radius, the lowest part of the dip is 1/8" deep and is exactly half way from
the high point on the radius to 1/8" below the bottom of the badge. For
reference, this low point is just below the bottom of the Triumph letters.
I hope that this will help and not confuse you. Contact me off line if you
want to call me for clarification.
Gary Bouffard
TS 58399
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