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Re: Heritage Certificate? VTR Records on TR2s? (long!)

To: Blubaugh <rblubaug@netnitco.net>
Subject: Re: Heritage Certificate? VTR Records on TR2s? (long!)
From: Joe Curry <spitlist@gte.net>
Date: Sun, 03 Dec 2000 10:43:34 -0700
Cc: Triumphs@autox.team.net
References: <200012030722.eB37MsK84526@ibmx3.netnitco.net>
If you go to the SPitfire Database Home Page, 
http://home1.gte.net/spitlist/index.html, there is an icon that takes you to a 
page with
all the instructions.

Joe

Blubaugh wrote:
> 
> Hello again Triumph listers:
> 
>         Recently, as a new list subscriber, I posted a HELP request with 
>numerous
> questions about the engine and transmission overhauls I intend to undertake
> on my TR2 (#TS7690).  I got a tremendous response with lots of words of
> encouragement.  I can clearly see the great value of participation on the
> list.  I tried to send a separate note of thanks to all who responded
> although I may mave missed on a couple of the later responses (apologies)
> and one of my letters "bounced."  The one that bounced was to Mr. Randal
> Young who now resides in California but was once form the very small
> village in the middle of a very large, flat, cornfield (now my hometown),
> Rensselaer, Indiana.  Thanks for your reply Mr. Young!  I will follow up on
> the machine shop references you gave me for Rensselaer, Lafayette, etc.
> 
>         Now I would like to bring another question to the group.  This 
>question
> probably shows my lack of general knowledge about Truimphs and LBCs in
> general.  It relates to something that Mr. Steve Thorton of Bowling Green,
> KY said about the TR3B on Ebay.  He made reference to a "Heritage
> Certificate."  (Mr. Thorton, my original home town was Bowling Green,
> ........  INDIANA.)  Could someone please tell me more about the Heritage
> Certificate?
> 
>         Actually, I think I may have seen one.  At Auburn, IN at the Kruse 
>auction
> this past Labor Day, there was a 55 TR2 that went through the auction and
> it brought (apx.) $24,000.  The owner had some formal looking papers that
> told the date and even the hour of the manufacture of the car.  WOULD THIS
> HAVE BEEN A HERITAGE CERTIFICATE?  I was really surprized to see the car
> bring the price it did.  (My TR2 is also a "signal red" '55 model, but it
> will NEVER bring that kind of money!)  The car at the Auburn auction was
> somewhat unusual as it was a right hand drive car.  The owner speculated
> that it might be the only right hand drive TR2 in North America.  (Did a
> serviceman buy it overseas and ship it to the States??)  I think the seller
> was from Michigan but he did not seem to have any connections with VTR.
> The car was not a #1, but it was very nice.  I rather imagine that we'll be
> seeing it at some future VTR events.  I was showing "comparison" photos of
> the car since I had my digital camera in hand and I had several photos of
> my TR2 stored on the flash card.  (The owner refused to believe me that
> some TR2s had a three quarter surround chrome trim around the "mouth" of
> the apron operning.  My car had the piece and his did not. So my digital
> camera helped to support my claim.)
> 
>         How would someone obtain a "Heritage Certificate" on their car?  Does
> anyone with VTR have any estimate of how many TR2s surrvive?  Is there data
> to show what engine numbers would have been been installed in certain
> commission series?  I have a book which indicated there were apx. 8600 TR2s
> made with almost 6000 produced for export.  Does anyone know how many of
> the nearly 6000 made it into the United States?  I think with a commission
> number of 7690 that my car must have been very late in the TR2 production
> run.  Other owners have pointed out that my "2" has some things in common
> with the early TR3s  (air vent forward of the windscreen).  Is it possible
> to find out what dealer may have sold the car?  I bought the car last July
> from a man in Covington, Indiana which is about twenty miles from Danville,
> Illinois.  In the glovebox of my car I have found a dealership decal from a
> Danville, IL dealership.  I am wondering if my car has ever gotten very far
> from it's "home" dealership.  (The agency has certainly long since
> vanished.)  Would VTR have any records to show if any other owner of this
> car had registered with VTR?
> 
>         I am sorry to write so long a letter to the list.  I don't know if my
> inquiry is properly "technical" for the list.  I know there has been some
> expressed concerns about list content of late and I surely do not wish to
> violate the list ettiquet.
> 
> Respectfully yours,
> Rob Blubaugh
> Rensselaer, IN
> TR2 (#TS7690)

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