It is quite difficult finding information about original hoods, and more so for the Sports models.
Has anyone got any memory or evidence, photographic or physical, of 65 or Nippy hood fastenings. i.e. lift the dot, press stud, Tenax or turnbuckle... on hoods which could conceivably be original. The photo evidence is always difficult as the items are so small, even if the images are hi-res.
I'd also be interested to know when hood material like duck came into use. WE know earlier hoods were rexine, but it seems less clear by 1935.
(27-11-2017, 09:30 AM)JonE Wrote: It is quite difficult finding information about original hoods, and more so for the Sports models.
Has anyone got any memory or evidence, photographic or physical, of 65 or Nippy hood fastenings. i.e. lift the dot, press stud, Tenax or turnbuckle... on hoods which could conceivably be original. The photo evidence is always difficult as the items are so small, even if the images are hi-res.
I'd also be interested to know when hood material like duck came into use. WE know earlier hoods were rexine, but it seems less clear by 1935.
TIA
Hi Jon.
We recently had a customer's 1934 Nippy in the workshop. The car was unrestored and had been laid up since 1967, so should be pretty original.
The attached photo clearly shows studs for "Lift The Dot" fasteners.
Martin - that IS positive information, (lift the dots I've now found were around in 1934 and far earlier, and mine is the same...) but I can plainly see the car is not in its original paint finish, so we can't really make that statement, surely? It would indeed be good to see the surface as it was rubbed down to the blue to see what emerged.
One of the issues is that the test car photo from 1933 very definitely does NOT have a male L.T. D stud in the final position just behind the door; and that the hood covers seem to have slightly bun-domed tops (more domed than today's press stud tops, and a bit larger) rather than oval with 'oles in!
Was the hood with it, out of interest? I'm in contact with the owner now so might be a good one to follow up on as I agree, that car has/had a lot of good information.
There didn't appear to have ever been anything else there. The hood didn't come to us with the car.
The present owner bought the car in the early sixties, when he was a medical student in Edinborough. As he lived near London at the time and made regular weekend trips home, usually in the dark, he painted the Nippy in "Jaffa Cake" colours to make it more visible!
I haven't specifically asked him about the studs, but the extent of his work on the car 50+ years ago seems to have been confined to the paint job and running repairs. I would imagine that the studs came with the car when he bought it and as it was under thirty years old at the time, I should have thought that these would have been original.
Although not a Nippy, our May 1934 PD still had what appeared to be its original duck hood with Lift the Dot fasteners when we bought it in 1974.
My Nippy had Lift-the-dot fasteners, but since it was built up from a collection of parts in the early 1950s that's inconclusive.
The yellow Nippy appears to have the fastenings in the same place as mine did; however, the fasteners also appear on the door and scuttle, which suggests a later tonneau cover, since the standard side-screens would normally cover these positions ...
27-11-2017, 07:58 PM (This post was last modified: 27-11-2017, 08:05 PM by JonE.)
(27-11-2017, 05:36 PM)Martin Prior Wrote: As he lived near London at the time and made regular weekend trips home, usually in the dark, he painted the Nippy in "Jaffa Cake" colours to make it more visible!
...
Although not a Nippy, our May 1934 PD still had what appeared to be its original duck hood with Lift the Dot fasteners when we bought it in 1974.
Now we're talking! Clearly THAT changes the situation entirely. So thanks for further clarification. I'll perhaps ask him about the hood.
Your PD - have you still got images of that, or indeed the remains? I'll send you the pics of mine to see if there are similarities. But it sounds that you think that double duck WAS a possibility for '34/'35, irrespective? Others thoughts on this? (cloth sandwiching a rubberised layer)
many thanks
(27-11-2017, 06:15 PM)Mike Costigan Wrote: the fasteners also appear on the door and scuttle, which suggests a later tonneau cover, since the standard side-screens would normally cover these positions ...
agree.. thats the only thing which makes me wonder whether a freshen up of fasteners might occur at the same time. But would a student - even an Edinbugh one - really have done anything other than add to the specification already there? Perhaps it was even dealer added.
Remember too that sidescreens weren't 'factory'.... whereas its thought that the wind deflectors (only in late 36 and 37) were....
(27-11-2017, 05:36 PM)Martin Prior Wrote: As he lived near London at the time and made regular weekend trips home, usually in the dark, he painted the Nippy in "Jaffa Cake" colours to make it more visible!
...
Although not a Nippy, our May 1934 PD still had what appeared to be its original duck hood with Lift the Dot fasteners when we bought it in 1974.
Now we're talking! Clearly THAT changes the situation entirely. So thanks for further clarification. I'll perhaps ask him about the hood.
Your PD - have you still got images of that, or indeed the remains? I'll send you the pics of mine to see if there are similarities. But it sounds that you think that double duck WAS a possibility for '34/'35, irrespective? Others thoughts on this? (cloth sandwiching a rubberised layer)
many thanks
A couple of 1974 PD pics are attached. The hood cover was definitely double duck and the fasteners Lift the Dot. Unfortunately, these aren't visible in the photo.
The sign on the back was the previous owner's joke and read "I smoke rather a lot, but I am trying to give it up!"
Double Duck was certainly available in the mid-1930s: MG even used the term to describe the hood material in the J-Type catalogue of the period. I see no reason why Austin wouldn't also have used it.
My 1936 APE 2-seater had a similar disreputable hood when my brother acquired it (before passing it on to me) in 1961, although that had a lighter-coloured inner cloth and a black outer cloth. But from my experience a Double Duck hood in regular use only has a life of perhaps 10-15 years, so I doubt if many hoods in the '60s were still the factory original.
