Club Triumph

On the log book of my recently acquired Herald 1200 saloon, it states, 'declared manufacture 1962', and the date of first registration as 1987. Does that indicate that the car spent 25 years out of this country? I have read that Herald's were shipped abroad as a kit of parts and then assembled in places like India, South Africa and Australia - the so called CKD's - but the car and engine numbers both have GA prefixes, which doesn't seem to fit what I've read. Also, it seems to have a factory fitted electric fan and temperature gauge. More evidence of living in warmer climes for a quarter of a century? Any help or information gratefully received.

Quoted from Wezzywitch

On the log book of my recently acquired Herald 1200 saloon, it states, 'declared manufacture 1962', and the date of first registration as 1987. Does that indicate that the car spent 25 years out of this country? I have read that Herald's were shipped abroad as a kit of parts and then assembled in places like India, South Africa and Australia - the so called CKD's - but the car and engine numbers both have GA prefixes, which doesn't seem to fit what I've read. Also, it seems to have a factory fitted electric fan and temperature gauge. More evidence of living in warmer climes for a quarter of a century? Any help or information gratefully received.

Quoted from Wezzywitch

On the log book of my recently acquired Herald 1200 saloon, it states, 'declared manufacture 1962', and the date of first registration as 1987. Does that indicate that the car spent 25 years out of this country? I have read that Herald's were shipped abroad as a kit of parts and then assembled in places like India, South Africa and Australia - the so called CKD's - but the car and engine numbers both have GA prefixes, which doesn't seem to fit what I've read. Also, it seems to have a factory fitted electric fan and temperature gauge. More evidence of living in warmer climes for a quarter of a century? Any help or information gratefully received.

If your car was assembled overseas then the "chassis" number should have a prefix

"When cars were assembled outside the UK (often for tax purposes in a particular country), Triumph often added a character in front of the normal alphabetical prefix of the commission number. Initially, there was an alphabetical prefix of "B" for Belgium, but that changed to a numeric value of "1" as other sites were brought on line.

Belgium[B] 1
Australia 2
New Zealand 3
South Africa 4
Malta 5
India 6
Eire (Republic of Ireland) 7
Phillipines 8
Peru 9
Portugal 10
Israel 11"

From here
http://www.fairpoint.net/~herald948/database/assembly.htm

Adrian

Thank you for that Mark. Less "romantic" than my conjecture, but sounds totally probable. So, if the car has always been in this country, should I be able to get any sort of record of those 25 years when it was on a different plate from DVLA? Or would perhaps the British motor museum at Gaydon be able to turn anything up, if given the commission number?

Quoted from ahebron

If your car was assembled overseas then the "chassis" number should have a prefix

"When cars were assembled outside the UK (often for tax purposes in a particular country), Triumph often added a character in front of the normal alphabetical prefix of the commission number. Initially, there was an alphabetical prefix of "B" for Belgium, but that changed to a numeric value of "1" as other sites were brought on line.

Belgium[B] 1
Australia 2
New Zealand 3
South Africa 4
Malta 5
India 6
Eire (Republic of Ireland) 7
Phillipines 8
Peru 9
Portugal 10
Israel 11"

From here
http://www.fairpoint.net/~herald948/database/assembly.htm

Adrian

I've never heard of a Herald with a factory-fitted electric fan, but temperature gauges were "factory fitted" to cars for the North American market. As to the car's original destination, some clues might be discerned from a BMIHT build certificate, but no guarantee that such information would be available.

Oh, and Adrian, thanks for linking to my web site. Unfortunately, many of you might find that the link doesn't work right; IF that is the case, copy the text of the URL and try pasting it into your browser, which then should work. It's all residual effect from a long-ago hacking (long since cleaned up and fixed) that some other sites still seem to think is dangerous and will cause your dashboard instrument lighting to flash like a bad disco.

Finally, to give credit where credit is truly due (and I think Adrian and many others will appreciate this), my information came originally from Leon Guyot!

A heritage certificate would be conclusive.

Mark

Quoted from herald948

Finally, to give credit where credit is truly due (and I think Adrian and many others will appreciate this), my information came originally from Leon Guyot!

Get or print off a form V888; fill it in & send it off to the DVLA with your cheque for a fiver. Some of the photocopying is a bit rank but you'll get lots of interesting - perhaps, illuminating information. It's ideal for expanding a vehicle's history. I put everything in chronological order in a cheap ringbinder using plastic sleeves...It can take up to a month, sometimes well over, to come through, so be patient...

Unfortunately form V888 is no longer an option as DVLC have stopped issueing such info to owners just wanting the back history on their car.

Quoted from vitessesteve

Unfortunately form V888 is no longer an option as DVLC have stopped issueing such info to owners just wanting the back history on their car.

Quoted from vitessesteve

Unfortunately form V888 is no longer an option as DVLC have stopped issueing such info to owners just wanting the back history on their car.

It still exists, but they’ve drastically tightened the criteria acceptable for releasing the info - now it’s basically only available if needed for a legal dispute (crash etc).