In recent years, companies have stopped producing rubber bonnet extrusions, especially the ones for Ulsters. Those differ from saloons and and tourers. I have an old sample that I believe to be genuine Ulster profile. In restoring my Ulster(#125) I am considering having a run of genuine Ulster rubber bonnet profile made. How many of you might be interested? As companies have gone away, and the survivors have reduced the amount of their product, I think it important to keep these companies solvent. For me, it isn't just about getting bits for my Ulster and Ulster Rep. It is about keeping these companies around and staying in business. As we are stewards for our cars, we are just caretakers for a time. Expendables like rubber are an important part of keeping the cars on the road.
Erich - why don't you post a pic of the profile? The Nippy one was being gradually being usurped by others being used, but was still around with searching?
Just slightly off subject but when I restored my Nippy many years ago I used the rubber strip around the radiator but not around the rear of the bonnet. It just seemed right at the time. I have seen pictures of Nippys, especially those for sale in "The Automobile" magazine, and most of these have rubber strip at the rear of the bonnet as well as around the radiator. The picture facing page 129 in Wyatt's book seems to have no rubber strips at all. So, what is correct for the Nippy I wonder? Did some have rubber strips and some not?
30-06-2020, 12:06 PM (This post was last modified: 30-06-2020, 12:37 PM by JonE.)
I think that is a stylised/worked photo, Ivan. The LCC road test car image in June 33 plainly has a rubber at the rear.
Images in Automobile - presumably that means several-times-"restored" cars?
Just noticed that there isn't a post on the Nippy archive about it so if anyone has any samples of obviously original material do shout.
There was a draft!
here is a new post: https://aus7in.wordpress.com/2020/06/30/...r-section/
Ruairidh, according to Chris who has my Ulster, the cherished suppliers can't supply the common profiles anymore. This is apparently a recent development as last year I was able to get the more common material. The usual one, which was sourced from Edgware(pattern 447), and is somewhat similar to this, is no longer kept in stock at Edgware. They want a 50 meter minimum to do a run. My thought is that depending on the cost of tooling, it might be worth it to produce something more accurate.
