[TR] Antennea body holes

John Macartney john.macartney at ukpips.org.uk
Mon Jun 8 15:18:17 MDT 2015


It was always possible to order any Standard or Triumph car from the factory with a fitted radio but they were not line fitments. North American models would have had AM (obviously?) in the Medium waveband with a choice of manual or five push-button tuning, Europe had Long and Medium wave sets five PB and the rest of the world had Medium and Short wave manual tune only. The units were all made by Smiths under the brand 'Radiomobile' and were all valve (tubed) units until the early 1960's. They required a 'warm up' period after switch on and had a continuous current draw of about 7 to 10 amps.
We continued to fit later transistorised Radiomobiles to cars on the Personal Export Scheme but the factory was always reluctant to equip cars where the Bill of Lading and the invoice manifest confirmed the presence of a fitted radio. Obviously, it was far safer, cheaper and more effective for selling dealers to fit their own locally sourced radios instead of relying on the Radiomobile dealer network that was even thinner on the ground than the average Triumph dealer. As an aside, on the PES scheme, we always advised owners to remove the radio from their car when handed over for shipment and to put it in their hand luggage to refit when they collected their car Stateside. Most failed to heed this, most lost their radio. I've lost count of the number of women (particularly) who thought they could return cars for shipment with the trunk stuffed full of cashmere sweaters, two piece suits from Paris, art, dinner services and crystal glasses. Each car that was delivered had a large notice stuck on the boot floor that said "YOU ARE ADVISED TO ENSURE THAT WHEN YOUR CAR IS RETURNED TO US FOR ONWARD SHIPMENT AT THE END OF YOUR EUROPEAN VISIT, IT HAS NO PERSONAL POSSESSIONS IN IT WHATSOEVER OTHER THAN ESSENTIAL EQUIPMENT AS PART OF ITS SPECIFICATION." Most people entirely failed to read that notice - or understand it, so there was a sudden rush to buy extra cases and an hefty excess baggage charge as well.

Jonmac

-----Original Message-----
From: Triumphs [mailto:triumphs-bounces at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Patrick Huckels
Sent: 05 June 2015 15:54
To: triumphs at autox.team.net
Subject: [TR] Antennea body holes

Hello all.
I've always wondered if the anntennea holes where pre-punched into the body panels at the UK body plant as Triumphs appear to have been sent over to the US without radios and speakers (dealer installed). 
So my question is: Did dealerships punch the holes for the anntennea when a customer ordered a radio and speaker option or where the holes pre-punched? It would make sense to see a Triumph without a radio to have plugs covering the pre-punched holes in their cars if this was the case.
Your thoughts please.
Cheers,
Patrick


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