Postby tr8 » 09 May 2010 21:54
Here is a blurb on the ACN cars that I sent off a few years ago. Totals are now about 190 cars.
I include here some of the information that I have gathered on the ACN series of TR8 coupes and include the caveat that I put at the front of the bit I sent on the production coupes................
Paul MacDonald.....................
As part of my search for TR8 coupe VIN numbers I have assembled a lot of information from people who are knowledgeable about the cars, Ted S, David Huddleson, Woody, and from many other people and written sources. Here is a composite of a lot of what I have learned about the pre-production TR8 coupes. The words are not necessarily mine but cut and pasted from information received (so references to I and me are not necessarily Paul MacDonald).
If you have information that refutes some of the statements, I would like to hear about it (no one knows everything about these cars), and if you have constructive comments, I'm all ears!
Thanks
Paul MacDonald
"Pre-production, Assessment, Prototype" ACN Cars
The ACN series of TR8's were built in 1977 in anticipation of a Spring 1978 product launch in North America (it didn't happen!)
Which car will have the earliest build date. So far I think it is ACN8... in January 77.
As Ted Schumacher stated, "These were produced and given to factory reps to "test" drive here in the States. A few cars were given to independents for additional driving and evaluation. We (Ted was a dealer) received one of these cars. I owned around 35 of the pre-production cars and several the 1979/80 coupes. " They were (for the most part) released to Triumph/BL staff for "evaluation" and later sold off... Around 150 of these were built, most of them with automatic transmissions. These are the cars we refer to as "Pre-Production" TR8 Coupes.
ACN01063UCA once owned by David Huddleson, was sold from Midtown Motors on St Catherine St. in Montreal, to the British Leyland Regional office on Cote de Liesse Boulevard (first registered owners)!
TR8CCA newsletter issue #35 page 21 and there is a copy of a Factory letter on Austin Rover Group Stationary to a Robbert W. Hinds dated 17 Nov 1982! Here a K. Bowen, Export Liaison Executive talks about Mr. Hinds ACN01110UCA "Assessment car" (we call prototype TR8s) and the quantities (119 cars) and that all were auto transmissions.
ACN 0001 and ACN 0002 are 5 speeds and came that way. There are several other ACN cars which also supposedly came with 5 speeds from the factory.
Within the ACN series of coupes there are differences, on early ones they have the large gas cap, and the interior light is on ceiling/headliner, not in doors. These were the cars built in January through June of 1977 (according to my listing). They are all ACN000xx numbers, less than VIN #1000.
The later ACN series, like 1000 and up (ACN01xxx) have the small gas cap,and door courtesy lights. These have build date between July 1977 through September 1977 (according to my listing).
I own ACN01081 (Aug 77) which was/is titled as a 1977 but apparently should not have been titled as a 1977 either, since those cars were US "Certified" for 1978 emissions!
Ted was telling me how his #1 coupe has had numerous names tried on it. Apparently you can still see where they tried out several names including "Bullet". He also said he has several misc bits that came with the car that they tried out on it such as a roof spoiler and several other aerodynamic aids.
Ted mentioned that he thought door lights on ACN 0003 were dummies and were just used for the brochure photo shoots. Apparently they took a BUNCH of photos of the first 3 or 4 cars they built. ACN 0003 lights don't work and when the original owner was asked about them, he said he couldn't remember that they had EVER worked.
The interior of #3 is a little funny in that it's got a regular feeble dome light WAY at the back of the roof (because of the sunroof). It's also got this nifty little maplight on a coil cord between the seats. That works. It's also got these door lights which don't work at all. My guess is that they were trying out everything to see which they liked. ACN0003 does have the HUGE gas cap.
I think you will find that all the very early Coupes: ACN00001 - 00036 (and maybe more!) have the large gas cap, and have the early style interior light on the ceiling. I think the early cars used for photo sessions may have been "rigged" for the brochure appearances, and I do know that #1(Ted's car) has door lights without wires, and metal behind has been "bashed" to form a cavity where backside of lamp needs to sit...
All the ACN cars are supposed to have mat-black rear tail lamp panels. If you do rub the flat black hard enough, the body color does reappear (ask me how I know that!!!). Only when the TCN cars were produced did the "body color" rear panels appear. The #3 car has been repainted, and the rear panel has not been re-done with flat black! To be correct, it should be black.
NUMBERS
I have, on the VIN listing (numbers approximate but close, as a couple are suspect):
15 cars ACN0001 to ACN00036 listed
47 cars ACN1003 to ACN1116 listed
Total 62 ACN cars
28 cars TCN 150003 to 150199
68 cars TCN 160001 to 160145
Total 96 TCN cars
1 car TPZEV8A199999
Grand total approx 160 coupes.
