We try to explain the unusually high far-infrared emission seen by IRAS in the double-lobed radio-loud quasars 3C 47, 3C 207 and 3C 334. High resolution cm–mm observations were carried out to determine their radio core spectra, which are subsequently extrapolated to the far-infrared in order to determine the strength of the synchrotron far-infrared emission. The extrapolated flux densities being considerably lower than the observed values, a significant nonthermal far-infrared component is unlikely in the case of 3C 47 and 3C 334. However, this component could be responsible for the far-infrared brightness of 3C 207. Our analysis demonstrates that nonthermal emission cannot readily account for the difference between quasars and radio galaxies in the amount of their far-infrared luminosity. On the other hand, a significant role for this mechanism is likely; full sampling of the mm-submm spectral energy distributions is needed to address the issue quantitatively