Peter,
What a great mystery to solve. Based on reading your note and the replies of
others it seems like it is a TR4. I have a '62 TR4 with a '66 TR4A engine,
gearbox and other bits here and there... but there is no way to confuse the
two cars after even a cursory inspection.
I will reply in the of your note if I can add anything to the already advice
you have received.
>Last week I purchased what I was told is a 1964 TR4A. From what I understand
>from reading Bill Piggott's book, "The Original Triumph", the first TR4A was
>not made until January of '65. I will not get the title to the car for about
>another two months so I thought I would try to find out just what I bought.
The Piggott book is the bible for originality. the TRA (Triumph Register of
America) Judging Book is evem better. But this is not a big mystery unless
some put a 63 body tub on a 65 TR4A chassis... or something like that.
>
>After bringing the car home, I found that there was no VIN tag on the
>firewall. Only the body tag. The car had an electrical fire in the engine
>compartment and the VIN plate was destroyed. I checked the body number and
>found that it is 24422CT which means the car had to be made in '63. I then
>checked the engine number and found that to be CT58007E. That would be from a
>'65 TR4A but it has SU carbs, not Strombergs. I then found the number 301603
>on the diff. I have no idea what means.
My TR4A engine in 66xxx series has HS6 carbs but in every other way looks like
a 62 engine with the open breather. Only a real TR4 freak can tell the
differences. This was a common thing to do 20 years ago instead of an engine
rebuild... take a low mileage engine and gearbox out of a wreck TR4A.
>
>My question is, is there any other place on the car that I can find the VIN?
>If not, would I be correct in assuming that my VIN would be STC 63 24422 L ?
Not that I know of. Why don't you buy a new blank plate from TRF or Moss...
get the BMHIT to find the correct CT number... stamp in the correct number and
rivet it into the car. When I refurbished and cleaned my engine bay... my
commission number plate was all beat up and stripped of black paint. Just for
cosmetic reasons I made up a new plate and had riveted into the body. No big
deal.
>
>Other clues as to what I have, the hand brake and seats are TR4 but it has a
>wood dash. There are three taillight lenses. Two have 61 on them and one has
>66.
This means that the chassis is a TR4... the handbrake is drastically different
on a TR4A. So TR4 body and chassis... I'd say it was very like a 1963 TR4.
My car came from NY and CA before that. It had a blue STC 63 aluminum tag on
the body next to the commission plate. This STC is "Standard Triumph Corp"
and was a way of marking a car in some states, like CA, as to "model year"
when Triumph really did not make a distinction.
Hope this helps. My website is full of TR4 pictures in the bare and finished.
Check it out. I would be happy to help you with any questions. It's great
to have another TR4 on the list.
Brian Sanborn
62 TR4 CT16260L-O - Groton, MA
My TR4 Restoration Web Site
http://www.net1plus.com/users/sanborn
E-Mail: sanborn@net1plus.com
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