British-Cars.org

Welcome to the DMR Site for British Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

TR parts and Triumph parts, TR bits, Triumph Car Spares and accessories are available for TR2, TR3, TR3A, TR4, TR4A, TR5, TR6, TR7, TR8, Spitfire and Stag and other TR models are available from British car spares and parts company LBCarCo.

Triumph TR3 - TR3A Grill Curvature

hi Guys,

I am fairly new to the TR3's. I have recently purchased a beautifully restored 1958.

My question is; I have noticed that many of the grills look different. My grill, (wide mouth), has a concave curve inward. A slight "C" shape to the grill. I have seen others that seem to curve outward. I have also seen a couple that appeared to be perfectly flat.

What's the story on the shape of the grill? Which is correct?
Danny T

They should all be perfectly flat. See the attachment photo below of my 1958 TR3A in 1990. When I was restoring it in 1987 to 1990, I had to use a 5" long hydraulic jack IN THE GRILLE OPENING IN A VERTICAL POSITION with a piece of wood to support it below and another above. The upper piece of wood was 1/2" thick plywood and with the jacking force in the hydraulic jack, the plywood followed the upper curve.

I continued the jack it up about 1/8" at a time - then released the force and checked if my new grille would fit into the cavity so it was flat. I continued till it fit flat.

Maybe the newer grilles are higher - I can't say. But they should be flat. Mine was flat when I bought it brand new from the Triumph dealer in May 1958.

Any bodyshop that has a small jack can do this for you and they shouldn't even scratch the paint. Then yours will be vertically flat too.

Don Elliott, Original Owner, 1958 TR3A

http://www.tr-register.co.uk/images/memberscars/trusty.jpg (1990)

Also (2001) : -

http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/trebor/don3a_big.JPG

Don Elliott

This is something I have noticed. And probably because my grill is a bit concave, the cars I see with flat grills look funny to me. I'll have to look at some of the original ads on ebay to check my theory. No matter what I find, I prefer the look of cars I've seen with grilles that are a bit concave.
Tom

This thread was discussed between 13/11/2004 and 14/11/2004

Triumph TR3 index

This thread is from the archives. Join this live forum now