Kirby,
Early Spitfires that were assembled in Belgium had the letter "B" in
front of the Commission number to denote this. (Brad Kahler's Mk1 is
such a car.)
Later, Triumph began designating those cars assembled off-shore by a
numeric prefix. Belgium is the number 1 (one). So a US market 1500
that was assembled in Belgium would have a commission number similar to
1FM14567IU.
These cars were shipped to their off-shore assembly points in CKD
(completely knocked down) kits for the purposes of avoiding import
duties on fully assembled vehicles. In the case of those shipped to the
US after off shore assembly elsewhere, I assume that it was done because
of capacity limitations rather than tax purposes. Since the US market
was the largest, it stands to reason that extra capacity at assembly
points would be used to feed the US market where possible.
Regards,
Joe Curry
P.S. Since the only car I have for you in the database is a running '80
model, I must assume you have another that is not registered. Lets have
it!!!! :)
"Kirby T. Kenyon" wrote:
>
> While sitting in my project car in the yard the other day, I noticed a
> small placque right below the Commission number placque on the door post
> that said it was assembled in Belgium.
>
> Anyone have any information about this? I'm just curious.
--
"If you can't excel with talent, triumph with effort."
-- Dave Weinbaum in National Enquirer
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