Brad Kahler wrote:
I recieved 13 different responses to my question about the brass plug
in the
valve covers on TR3B's and TR4's.
3 TCF cars had the plug (100% of respondents)
8 CT cars had the plug (80% of respondents)
2 CT cars did not have the plug (20% of respondents)
I was kind of surprised to see there were not reponses from TSF
owners.
I'm not sure what to make of that....
One of the CT cars that didn't have it has been owned for 30 years by
the
same owner and he feels that the car most likely came this way. The
other
was a very early CTcar.
Also, one of the CT cars was originally shipped to Australia and it
had the
brass plug.
As usual with a Standard Triumph product it would seem that anything
could be original in this case!
Ahhhh, the truth is beginning to dawn? <Big grin> Take one product -
doesn't matter whether it's a whole car or almost any part of the car.
Multiply
the perceived 'norm' by upwards of 100 different export markets, each
with its own
*peculiar* national legislations as to what is required in terms of
specific equipment, attachments and modifications. Then *blend* with
ideas from Engineering on improvements with production cut-overs for
different models at different times to meet changing national
requirements - and build cars to suit.
As part of this exercise, annually reprint repair manuals and parts
books (copiously illustrated with some in-built errors to keep readers
and later historians' on their toes) in at least twelve different
languages resignedly accepting "that next year the bastards will want
something different."
Thirty plus years down the track, when 'x' number of people have
shipped those same cars to 'y' new owners in different parts of the
world (and often more than once) - or the original owners have
relocated with the car as part of a job, or someone has used a donor
vehicle to restore an earlier or later version and not recorded what
he/she did, the question of what was fitted when and why causes things
to become a little muddied.
It's not so much a question that ST used whatever happened to be
available at the time (which is an unfair indictment anyway) but that
many enthusiasts around the world tend to assume that one
specification or fitment was more likely to be a cover-all for the
whole world - or for predominant markets.
Far from the truth!
This is why I find it hard to convince myself that a car owner seeking
to ressurect a vehicle to be original in every respect may sometimes
fall well short of the mark.
In life, everthing except death and the rent man is a variable - and
never was this more of a truism than when it comes to rebuilding an
old car, whatever the make.
Just do the best you can to get it running, then drive it as if today
might be your last and enjoy the moment.
Happy Christmas everyone
Jonmac
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