I was wondering about that and some other inconsistancies I have found in the
serial numbers vs reported dates of the Spits I have received for the Spitfire
Database. It seems that a lot of that has gone on world-wide.
Joe Curry
HDRIDER570@aol.com wrote:
> Art Kelly wrote asking about an additional plate in the engine compartment
> marked "STCxx" (xx for a year ie.66 for 1966).
>
> In California the plates were added by the dealer. They did this as when they
> sold the cars they were licensed as the model year that the car was sold to
> the consumer not the year that the car was built. Thus my TR4 that was built
> in Nov 1964 had STC 66 in the engine compartment. This way the dealers got to
> sell their old inventory as brand new cars. In my case the fact that the car
> was "Offically" a 1966 model ment that the PO's had to fight with the Smog
> Check people as the car did not have the required smog equipment and it could
> not be purchased any more. I used a BMHT certificate to prove the actual year
> of the car to solve this problem.
>
> The "STC" stands for Standard Triumph Company and the number indicates the
> year that the car was sold. The STCxx was added to the end of the Commision
> number to create the V.I.N. number and as such showed up on all the official
> paperwork.
>
> The practice of licensing the cars to the year they were sold was not unique
> to California. My first TR4 was regestered as a 1964 though the commision
> number was CT1323 L O. When I bought the car from the original owner he told
> me that they did the same think in Chicago when he bought the car.
>
> By the way in California any car built after Sept. 1 is considered the next
> model year thus my Nov. 1964 built TR4 is a 1965 car.
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