Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 309 Threads: 56
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The ‘back on the road’ article features the restoration of a Swallow saloon.
I am confused by the comment that the front bumpers are made of ‘cast iron’. I would have thought spring steel. Strange headlamps currently fitted although the owner has acquired the correct lamps(should be R47’s).
Regards from the creative county - Staffordshire.
Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 1,644 Threads: 93
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Location: Monmouthshire
Trials cars never have rear bumpers made of cast iron, or any other removable rear components, good lord no.
Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 202 Threads: 11
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It's my car! Indeed the bumpers are cast-iron!
They were manufactured by Wilmot Breeden and fitted to other cars as well as Swallows. Not many cars with the cast-iron survive for obvious reasons, but despite that, they should withstand a small degree of flex.
The total weight of the bumpers, front & rear, is around 20kg...
The headlamps were Lucas R40 units and would seem to have been fitted circa 1950's given that their paint colour matched that of the bodywork when this was re-painted at that time - the remains of the green paint is visible to the body tub in one of the photos.
The duo-grey paintwork was matched to original paint samples that were covered over, so degradation from sunlight would have been minimal, so as close as it could be to how it left the factory.
My car is now wearing the correct R47BA headlamps and looks better for it, the article was produced a year ago, but held back as there had been previously a lot of A7 content during 2022...
Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 1,715 Threads: 47
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Location: Auckland NZ
Car type: 36 Nippy, 31 RM, 38 Special, 24 Works Rep
It would be nice to see a couple of pictures of your car in its finished form here Gary
Black Art Enthusiast
