TR2 and TR3 Part 1

Neil Revington of Revington TR shares his expertise on the sidescreen TRs, with additional comments by Chris Loynes, the TR Register’s Wensum Group oily rag.

There are a number of ways you can divide up the various TR models, spanning as they did 26 years and seven numerical designations from TR2 to TR8. We have chosen three categories: sidescreen, Michelotti/Karmann and wedge. So let’s start off with the sidescreen TR2 and TR3, so called because they featured cutaway doors with removable side screens instead of wind-up windows.

The TR3 that took over in 1955 was essentially the same, but was recognisable by having a grille over the gaping mouth radiator aperture and a bit more power. The optional overdrive was extended to the top three ratios, now giving drivers a choice of seven forward gears. There was also a rear seat option, but really it was more of a padded parcel shelf in practice.

Front disc brakes and a stronger rear axle were fitted from 1956, but the big change was in 1957 when the TR3A – pictured on these pages – took over. (Neil points out that although this is the accepted model designation today and the one that we shall be using, Triumph never used the terminology TR3A or TR3B in its advertising and referred to them all simply as the TR3.) The TR3A is by far the most numerous of all the sidescreen cars, with 58,236 examples produced. Recognisable by a new full width grille, it also had such luxuries as external door handles. From 1959 there was a 2138cc option, and when the TR4 took over in 1961, Triumph continued building the sidescreen model as what we now call the TR3B for export only, partly to use up leftover parts but largely to satisfy US dealer demands for a cheaper and simpler alternative to the new model. Most TR3Bs had the TR4’s 2138cc engine and all-synchro gearbox.

The vast majority of all TR variants were exported, mainly to North America. Neil Revington says that converting a lefthand drive TR2 or TR3 to righthand drive is not difficult, and will cost around £2000. Even the later TR3B, which had a redesigned bulkhead that did away with the previous blanking plates for RHD holes, only requires a little extra hole-cutting and welding on of caged nuts and is not difficult to convert.

‘It can still be worth buying and shipping a car in from abroad if it is the specification you are particularly interested in,’ says Neil. However, he also cautions: ‘These cars are so old that the chances of finding one which is totally standard is the square root of naff all. And although lots of people say they want a totally standard car, getting out of a modern car and into a 50 year old Triumph can be something of a shock. The seats are far from comfortable for example, which is why we do so well with out Revington TR bucket seats. If you have any kind of back problem, the chances are you won’t be happy in an original TR2-3A.

sources:
Triumph World, June-July 2018