The Triumph TR2-TR3 Series Spotter's Guide
by Ken Streeter, with input from Keith Martin and Bill Piggott
One model of TR2/3 can be difficult to tell from another unless you know what to look for. They all resemble bulldogs -- short-squat, full of vigor, with distinguishing cut-away doors. The first was the TR2, built from 1952 to 1955. The early "small mouth, long door" has a small, recessed front grille and door skins that extend down to the bottom of the rocker panel.
To spot a really early TR2, check the wiper spindle spacing. The earliest cars had their windscreen wipers only 10.5 inches apart, which caused only a relatively narrow area of the windscreen to be wiped. At TS995, the spacing was increased to 14.5 inches. As the spindle holes are punched into the front scuttle and as it seems unlikely that anyone would ever alter this spacing during a rebuild, the narrow spacing remains a reliable guide to a genuine early TR2. This difference in wiper spacing is surprisingly noticeable on the cars and even in photographs, enabling one to look at a picture of a TR2 with an unknown identity and say with some certainty that it is a sub-TS995 car!
After the first few thousand TR2s, the Triumph factory responded to complains from owners who scraped the door bottoms on curbs by shortening the door skins, and introduced the TR2 model which has come to be known as the "small mouth short door." Altogether, approximately 8600 TR2s were built.
In late 1955, the TR3 "small mouth" was introduced. This model can be recognized by its grill: the opening is still small, but the grill itself is no longer far recessed, but nearly flush with the front valence. Production reached nearly 17,000 for this model of TR3.
In 1958, Triumph opened up the grill to increase air flow and the TR3A "wide mouth" was born. At 58,236 cars, this is the most common of TR2/TR3 series.
The final version of the TR3 came in 1962. Triumph had released the svelte new TR4, but sales were initially disappointing, particularly in the USA. So the company put the 2.2 liter TR4 engine in left-over TR3 body stock, and created the TR3B, of which 3,331 were built. Without examining the engine compartment, it is difficult to tell a late TR3A apart from a TR3B.
There you go -- you now know the quick and easy ways to differentiate between the models of the TR2/TR3 series.
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