07-11-2019, 12:40 AM
(This post was last modified: 07-11-2019, 12:41 AM by Bill Sheehan.)
A while back on this subject Tony Press wrote "a reproduction body which, even though very well made I find it difficult to accept as original".
This brings up an interesting question - how much of a car has to be still there before it's accepted as "original"? The car in question (either late-December 1923 or January '24) was badly damaged in a collision and in about 1929 a saloon body shell was fitted. The original engine, gear box with monkey puzzle, running gear etc was still there. I used (small) parts of the flloor but most of it was unusable, from memory the original firewall, dashboard, doors, windscreen, rear wings, radiator & shell, sparewheel drum, other bits, were used to bring it back to what it originally looked like. The windscreen had been narrowed 1 5/8" to fit inside the saloon pillars so I added the necessary bits. Naturally I had to make another hood frame & sidescreens and the owner produced correct headlights & tail light. It took a week to remove the extraneous brackets and get the matching chassis back to scratch. In all, I tried to save everythig oriiginal possible. I believe otherwise a bit of history would have been scrapped. If the incident had occured in the UK the owner would have probably bought a replacement tub from Longbridge & I doubt one would call the latter a "reproduction" body.
SO what do others on the Forum think - how original does a car have to be before it"s accepted as "original"? Cheers, Bill in Oz
A while back on this subject Tony Press wrote "a reproduction body which, even though very well made I find it difficult to accept as original".
This brings up an interesting question - how much of a car has to be still there before it's accepted as "original"? The car in question (either late-December 1923 or January '24) was badly damaged in a collision and in about 1929 a saloon body shell was fitted. The original engine, gear box with monkey puzzle, running gear etc was still there. I used (small) parts of the flloor but most of it was unusable, from memory the original firewall, dashboard, doors, windscreen, rear wings, radiator & shell, sparewheel drum, other bits, were used to bring it back to what it originally looked like. The windscreen had been narrowed 1 5/8" to fit inside the saloon pillars so I added the necessary bits. Naturally I had to make another hood frame & sidescreens and the owner produced correct headlights & tail light. It took a week to remove the extraneous brackets and get the matching chassis back to scratch. In all, I tried to save everythig oriiginal possible. I believe otherwise a bit of history would have been scrapped. If the incident had occured in the UK the owner would have probably bought a replacement tub from Longbridge & I doubt one would call the latter a "reproduction" body.
SO what do others on the Forum think - how original does a car have to be before it"s accepted as "original"? Cheers, Bill in Oz
This brings up an interesting question - how much of a car has to be still there before it's accepted as "original"? The car in question (either late-December 1923 or January '24) was badly damaged in a collision and in about 1929 a saloon body shell was fitted. The original engine, gear box with monkey puzzle, running gear etc was still there. I used (small) parts of the flloor but most of it was unusable, from memory the original firewall, dashboard, doors, windscreen, rear wings, radiator & shell, sparewheel drum, other bits, were used to bring it back to what it originally looked like. The windscreen had been narrowed 1 5/8" to fit inside the saloon pillars so I added the necessary bits. Naturally I had to make another hood frame & sidescreens and the owner produced correct headlights & tail light. It took a week to remove the extraneous brackets and get the matching chassis back to scratch. In all, I tried to save everythig oriiginal possible. I believe otherwise a bit of history would have been scrapped. If the incident had occured in the UK the owner would have probably bought a replacement tub from Longbridge & I doubt one would call the latter a "reproduction" body.
SO what do others on the Forum think - how original does a car have to be before it"s accepted as "original"? Cheers, Bill in Oz
A while back on this subject Tony Press wrote "a reproduction body which, even though very well made I find it difficult to accept as original".
This brings up an interesting question - how much of a car has to be still there before it's accepted as "original"? The car in question (either late-December 1923 or January '24) was badly damaged in a collision and in about 1929 a saloon body shell was fitted. The original engine, gear box with monkey puzzle, running gear etc was still there. I used (small) parts of the flloor but most of it was unusable, from memory the original firewall, dashboard, doors, windscreen, rear wings, radiator & shell, sparewheel drum, other bits, were used to bring it back to what it originally looked like. The windscreen had been narrowed 1 5/8" to fit inside the saloon pillars so I added the necessary bits. Naturally I had to make another hood frame & sidescreens and the owner produced correct headlights & tail light. It took a week to remove the extraneous brackets and get the matching chassis back to scratch. In all, I tried to save everythig oriiginal possible. I believe otherwise a bit of history would have been scrapped. If the incident had occured in the UK the owner would have probably bought a replacement tub from Longbridge & I doubt one would call the latter a "reproduction" body.
SO what do others on the Forum think - how original does a car have to be before it"s accepted as "original"? Cheers, Bill in Oz