TR2, TR3 GLOVE BOX COMPANION
121
BODY SHEET METAL COMPONENTS
This "chapter" has been in development for many months. We attempt in the
following sections to show clearly how the TR2 and TR3 body shells are assembled from
components, and we bring products together from a number of sources to provide a fairly
complete service, although this goal has not yet been completely realized. We would like
to enable customers to resurrect virtually any car from a barn or a field. The parts cars of
the past may be turned into the concours winners and daily drivers of the future.
Several levels of components have been available. When TRF started business in
1978, a number of repro panels were available at fairly reasonable prices. Things like
floors, inner and outer sills, trunk floors, rear quarters, etc. All of these panels were
fairly flat, and they were manufactured by a now-defunct company on inexpensive
tooling using a "rubber press." Attempts were also made to produce fenders and aprons
using some tools that had been produced earlier in California to make fenders sold by
J.C. Whitney. These tools were problematic, and eventually, they were lost. Other
attempts were made in the early 1980s in England to produce rear fenders and other
panels, and these were used to save many cars there, but they were unacceptable in the
U.S. market since they required a high level of skill to fit to a car. In the U.S., used
panels were the preferred choice for outer body panels as long as they lasted, and some
used parts remain available today.
Making body shells for sports cars is a cottage industry in England, and companies
exist which make body panels by hand from flat sheet metal using the skills handed down
from their fathers and grandfathers. The photo above shows a complete body shell
produced in this fashion by North Devon Metal Products. TRF will continue to supply
low volume components produced by hand. These are usually produced for specific
orders, and lead time is a factor.
Over the past couple of years a European source has begun to produce a new range of
popular inner and outer panels with the goal of reaching the standard of original Triumph
parts or better. We are listing these among the parts in the following sections. Generally,
we add the suffix "BP" to the part numbers of these components. We are also including a
page of photos of these better panels at the end of this chapter, on page 138. All of them
come well-packaged and presented in high-quality primer. Generally we will try to
maintain stocks of these, and they are supplied fairly quickly even when we run out.
Parts illustrations and descriptions included in this chapter attempt to provide an
understanding of original details of specific components as they were developed for the
TR2, TR3, TR3A, and TR3B range of cars. This presentation is limited by the confines
of a parts catalogue. A book could be written on this subject, but in the space we have
here, we have tried to aid enthusiasts to avoid mixing model variations on one car, a
problem which has reared its ugly head many times in the past.
We hope you find these listings to be useful in restoring or improving examples of
the TR2, TR3, TR3A, and TR3B range of cars.
