I bought our 66 TR4A CTC 74217LO out of state this spring, and it was
registered in CA as a 68, and previously in WA. Both titles had incorrect
commission numbers, the LO being rendered L0 (zero instead of "O") in one
state, and "LD" (huh?) in the other.
So when I went for the Oregon title, I enclosed a copy of the BMHT
certificate and requested that the year titled be changed from 68 to 66, the
build year, arguing that there was no 68 model year for 4As. This they did,
but there was trouble with correcting the mistake in LO, Oregon says that
they have to maintain links with previous out of state registrations for
agency tracing purposes, and so they dropped off the LO. The title now has
the correct year 66, but uses as the VIN "CTC74217", basically, they refused
to correct the previous mistakes. And of course there was an uproar with the
insurance since now the title VIN and the insurance numbers are different,
since I had to get insurance before I could register and apply for title.
Sheesh
January
=========
"Augustine, Richard S. (LNG-SHEP)" wrote:
>
> Yes, import cars back then were registered in the year they
> were sold. There weren't a lot of changes from year to year so the
> cars all looked pretty much the same. My early '59 is actually
> registered and titled as a '60. I can't remember exaclty but there is
> at least a year between the build date on my BMHT certificate and
> purchase and first registration of my car in the spring of 1960. If
> you look at the production numbers I believe 1959 - 1960 were the
> years of the highest production of the TR-3 and if a car was a slow
> mover for some reason, bad color, over optioned, etc. it could take a
> while to sell it even after it got shipped half-way around the world
> to So. Cal. etc.
I believe this is also about the time that cars started being registered by
"year first sold" rather than "Model year". Prior to that, "Model year" was
not emphasized so much as a selling point, so for instance a 55 TR3 would
still be registered as a 55 even if it weren't sold until 56. From the
factory sales literature I've seen, I'd guess it wasn't ST that started
emphasizing the model year, but rather the US dealers felt at a disadvantage
trying to sell "last year's model". So it was probably a dealer that sold
my 58-made TR3A as a 59 model. This "abuse" is also probably the reason for
the "STC" plates on later cars.
BTW, I've heard tales of American car dealers in the late 50s actually
changing trim pieces and whatnot to move a hard-to-sell car as a later model
year than it was originally. I'm not sure how true that is, but it seems to
be a persistent myth.
Randall
58 TR3A TS39781LO - registered as 59
63 Sports 6 HB7826LCV - registered as 65 !
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