Sports bodies for a special or replica or travesty (depending on your point of view)

[Chris KC]

Chris Gould grp bodies - 'Imp' and the new 'Elf' kit price is approx £2500-3000 with full instructions.

[Urgent Austin]

Unless you were planning on doing any trialing I'd fit the low sports axle. It looks better with the sports type bodies. Of course, if you've got a delicate spine you might want to think otherwise!
As far as period correctness goes I'd just say hang it and go for what YOU like most, wherever possible. It's only problematic when people claim it's "genuine".

---

Unless you were planning on doing any trialing I'd fit the low sports axle. It looks better with the sports type bodies. Of course, if you've got a delicate spine you might want to think otherwise!
As far as period correctness goes I'd just say hang it and go for what YOU like most, wherever possible. It's only problematic when people claim it's "genuine".

With high asking prices on specials it's also worth asking how much money the builder/owner actually put into the car. With hyper-accurate Ulsteroids people are probably making the tiniest of profits, if not a loss.

hello Dave, I wouldn't be looking to sell the completed car on any time soon (ever, in fact!). The prices one sees at least suggest that an Ulsterish car would make less of a loss than some of the other options?

[AllAlloyCup]

My friend Neil is building a LWB GE Cup Model which has xtra storage
behind the seat. Plans ( SWBversion)for these are available on EBay for £85.

It’s nearing completion so hope to post a photo of it soon,

Regards
Bill G
Aka All Alloy Cup

[Urgent Austin]

I hoped there would be a good range of views on this subject I take the point that any original sports body is likely to be well past its best (probably why it ended up separated from its chassis in the first place). I'll look into all the specific suggestions you kindly make. I'm not keen on fibreglass (pure prejudice on my part). I havent seen a Rod Yates Trophy body - if anyone has a picture id be interested to see, before I start a campaign of cajoling... I love the concept of buying plans off eBay; then I wake up to cold reality. Is that really an achievable proposition without buying lots of tools and having some prior experience with both the timber and metal elements?

thanks again,
Geoffrey

[Tony Betts]

Hi Robert,

Thanks for correcting me.

I Don't know what happend there, I changed the spell checker twice to a J and it still managed to go in wrong.

It's bad enough I can't spell myself, but when apples spell checker is thicker than I am. what chance do we have.

Tony.

[Nick Lettington]

Travesty... only when you take a complete car for the chassis and V5 and end up "recycling" the rest..but that is only my view. From what you said about your project, you didn't do that, so we can still be friends

On the spell check front, my sister texted to say she'd taken her granddaughter to a satan spectacular last Christmas... reindeer, elves and all.

[AllAlloyCup]

w ideally, plus a good jig saw and a belt sander,
Plus power drill screwdriver. I joined a local Men’s Shed and had good acccess both to tools
And helpers! The metal body mounts are relatively easily fabricated but d need some welding
That cost me £15!

I used the chassis as a jig. Modifying the Swb plans to suit a LWB is a bit tricky but doable.

I’ve made two frames and recently just sold one.

Regards
Bill g

[Hedd_Jones]

I have to say, I'd not go for an Ulsteroid. The long ones both look odd, are not replicas of anything, nor are they really in the 'special' ethos.

The Gould Imp GRP bodies are well within the Special Ethos, and if built with care and with period bits look suitably (post) vintage. Thats what I would go for if I were building a special with an off the shelf body.

Bill, there was a LWB cup at the Audlem Festival of transport last year. It was very nice. The only improvement I would have made was a proper short cowl, rather than the cut down tall one it had.

[Mark McKibbin]

I think a Special should be a Special with all the advantages of not trying to look like something else.  I am currently building a slab sided "MG" type body on a LWB chassis using square section tube for the frame with an aluminium skin, this has allowed me to make something that will fit my long legs and still have some luggage space and importantly be lightweight.  Anything with a pointy tail may look good but is hopelessly impractical, difficult to have a spare wheel, luggage and beyond the ability of most amatures.

Just my two bobs worth.

Cheers

Mark

[JonE]

I'd like to see what a LWB Cup looks like if anyone has any pictures.
I must admit that with a few notable exceptions, I find a lot of the LWB Ulsters just don't look visually balanced without some real care. Whereas the originals are. You can try and get it right but some of the variables aren't variable enough to allow proportions to avoid compromise (i.e.width, tyre size and so on)