Confusing VIN number!

[oldmanbitter]

My car is a DHC, registered on 1st August 1978, with a VIN number ACG37562. I understand that the Speke plant ceased production in May 1978 and VIN numbers only went up to ACG27053 and ACG means that it should be a FHC! Does this mean that my car is several cars stuck together? Or does it mean that the VIN plate is a fake? Or does it mean that BL messed up the numbers? Can anyone help?

[Beans]

As far as I know the DHC officially went on sale in Europe early in 1980.
So I'd say it is either a pre-production car or something "thrown together"

<center>
<font color="blue"><i>1981 TR7 FHC Sprint (better known as 't Kreng)
1981 TR7 DHC (now completely dismantled)
Also a 1980 TR7 DHC, 1980 TR7 DHC FI, 1981 TR7 FHC</font id="blue">
<font color="red">http://tr7beans.blogspot.com/</i></font id="red"></center>

[jclay (RIP 2018)]

You can double check the vin number. It should be stamped in the rain gutter of the boot.

jclay

[url="http://web.mac.com/jclaythompson/iWeb/Site/Welcome.html"]My Triumph Site[/url], [url="http://web.mac.com/jclaythompson/iWeb/Technical/Intro.html"]Technical Stuff[/url], [url="http://homepage.mac.com/WebObjects/FileSharing.woa/53/wo/HJMTK8gsojtwKleP.1/0.2.1.2.26.31.97.0.35.0.1.1.1?user=jclaythompson&fpath=Triumph_Articles&templatefn=FileSharing4.html"]Download Page[/url]

[oldmanbitter]

Nothing on the boot gutter. The car looks original though. The same colour paint throughout (underneath the top two resprays). It's a proper DHC and drives like it should. Maybe someone just stuck a VIN plate from another car on it.

[TR Tony]

Well ACG is certainly a FHC prefix but the VIN/chassis numbers went up to ACG37661 so that plate looks like it came off a very late Speke FHC.

However if your car is a genuine DHC & was registered on 1.8.78 i.e. well before the DHC was launched in the UK, then just possibly it is a pre production car that got allocated a late chassis number at Speke from the FHC run of numbers - things were pretty anarchic there so anything is possible!

Any history with the car? Have you tried getting a Heritage Certificate - that would confirm the original spec of the car. Would be interesting if it was indeed a pre production example.

Tony

<font size="1">1981 2L FHC Cavalry Blue
1980 3.5L V8 DHC Jaguar Regency Red - sadly sold!</font id="size1">

[birminghamtr7]

i dont think the rain gutter stamped vin started till 80 81

ive only ever seen it once on any of my cars

if you factor in the earth's rotation, we are all speeding

[Beans]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by birminghamtr7</i>

i dont think the rain gutter stamped vin started till 80 81<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
All Canley and Solihull cars (so model year 1980 onwards)should have the VIN number in the boot's RH rain gutter.

<center>
<font color="blue"><i>1981 TR7 FHC Sprint (better known as 't Kreng)
1981 TR7 DHC (now completely dismantled)
Also a 1980 TR7 DHC, 1980 TR7 DHC FI, 1981 TR7 FHC</font id="blue">
<font color="red">http://tr7beans.blogspot.com/</i></font id="red"></center>

[oldmanbitter]

No history at all with the car. Pre-production DHC eh - sounds very interesting. I'll try and look into it further.

[danny]

Hi,
I have seen in the past a pre-production DHC and I think it had FHC rear wings as opposed to DHC wings.
What does your car have?




Danny
1980 TR7 fhc Brooklands green
1967 Spitfire Mk3 Signal red
1953 Ford Anglia E494A Black
View my Blog http://www.waringstowntr7s.co.uk/blogs/index.php/danny
http://tr7-n-spitfire.blogspot.com/

[John Wood]

Was it the dark blue/black one on ebay a while back?

1975 FHC
KDU483N

[oldmanbitter]

Wasn't on Ebay. I bought it from a Triumph mechanic in Liverpool and took it on the ferry home.

I didn't know that there was a difference in the rear wings. How do I tell which sort I have?

[danny]

The car I saw was red had a V8 & 5sp G/box.
The FHC rear wing tops have sort of an up sweept flute at their forward end fron the front of the boot to below the "B " pillar. The DHC has flat top rear wings. Have a look at some photos. How about if you post some photos of your car for us all to see.




Danny
1980 TR7 fhc Brooklands green
1967 Spitfire Mk3 Signal red
1953 Ford Anglia E494A Black
View my Blog http://www.waringstowntr7s.co.uk/blogs/index.php/danny
http://tr7-n-spitfire.blogspot.com/

[Beans]

In profile;
FHC ...



DHC ...



<center>
<font color="blue"><i>1981 TR7 FHC Sprint (better known as 't Kreng)
1981 TR7 DHC (now completely dismantled)
Also a 1980 TR7 DHC, 1980 TR7 DHC FI, 1981 TR7 FHC</font id="blue">
<font color="red">http://tr7beans.blogspot.com/</i></font id="red"></center>

[Maxwell]

Slightly off-topic, but I like the wheels on the
red Drop Head, Beans. May I ask what they are?

Maxwell [:)]

[silverseven]

maxwell they are the late model tr7 plastic wheel caps that go over the standard steel 13" rims






I also think they are a very nice design, and the caps are so well done that most people think the are actually mag wheels ......

Ron.