29-07-2021, 09:35 AM
Jon's summary is correct.
It would have been nice to make the build as accurate as possible, but we haven't been able to arrange access to the Freehollow car and the expense account won't stretch to a trip to Switzerland!
This leaves us with a pair of doors and the firewall as the only original parts to work with. Using these and extensive and detailed scaling from period photos, plus the published pictures of the Freehollow restoration, I reckon that we're pretty close to the original design, but with the best will in the world it isn't going to be a 100% perfect replica.
In view of this and in consultation with the owner we've decided to take the opportunity to make a considerably more robust look-alike body, if at the expense of an increase in weight. However, the flimsiness of the original GE construction is the very reason that so few survive and even if accurate drawings were available, I'm not certain that I'd have wanted to build an "unimproved" replica.
It would have been nice to make the build as accurate as possible, but we haven't been able to arrange access to the Freehollow car and the expense account won't stretch to a trip to Switzerland!
This leaves us with a pair of doors and the firewall as the only original parts to work with. Using these and extensive and detailed scaling from period photos, plus the published pictures of the Freehollow restoration, I reckon that we're pretty close to the original design, but with the best will in the world it isn't going to be a 100% perfect replica.
In view of this and in consultation with the owner we've decided to take the opportunity to make a considerably more robust look-alike body, if at the expense of an increase in weight. However, the flimsiness of the original GE construction is the very reason that so few survive and even if accurate drawings were available, I'm not certain that I'd have wanted to build an "unimproved" replica.