[TR] An *oops* day, and a question about Aprons.

[John Macartney]

David Ljung Madison wrote

>  In 1958, Triumph opened up the grill to increase air flow and the
>  TR3A "wide mouth" was born.
> However, the first TR3As (including mine) were actually built in 1957.
> I don't know if that's a mistake on vtr or not.  According to Bill
> Piggot the wide-mouth *did* occur with the first TR3A.
> My car is the 113th TR3A, built in Sept of 57, the first month
> that TR3As were built, so I'm considering the possibility that it
> was originally *not* a wide mouth car.
> I have no idea if this is the original apron from my car, so that's
> not much of an indicator.
> Anyways, I have a feeling there's no way to find out the truth,
> but does anyone have any thoughts on where to get more info?  Or
> if I should just trust Bill, perhaps?

Dave, presumably you have a Heritage Certificate to confirm the build date? 
The fact your car was built in Sept 1957 is entirely possible and I'd guess 
it was built as a widemouth as well.
Why so early?
Shipping the car from the UK to the US took at least two to three weeks 
voyage - more if to a Gulf or Pacific port. There would have been a lot of 
'hanging around' in transit parks in the UK and at the UK ports as well. 
Building in Sept was to ensure the new variant was the 1958 model when it 
hit the showroom. That's why they had to start building them early

Jonmac