----------
From: A.G.Whiteford(at)gcal.ac.uk
>Jay Laifman wrote
>>.....in my opinion (and I repeat, my opinion), I always thought the
earlier
>>top matched the lines of the car better and appeared rather unique and
well
>>designed.
>
>I agree.
>
>I'd thought about fitting the early(ser I/II) hard-top and windscreen
frame
>to my ser III,
>as these have both rotted beyond repair, and the early ones are alumin
/
>brass etc. = no rust.
>I'd need early doors, but mine are nothing special just now. It could
work
>out cheaper than
>getting a decent hardtop & frame for later series.
>But Jarrid told me the metal work for the screen frame -to scuttle
mount is
>different, and I think the door hinge mounts on the A post may be
different
>too.
>
> Are there problems with the earlier tops which I'm not
>aware of?
>
>visibility restrictions ? aluminium corrosion / oxidation ???
>
>andy
>
>It's raining here today.
>not in Glasgow. Beautiful cold & clear Winter's day here.
If you ask me, the look of the early car with the aluminum hard top
is really tough to beat. The overall look is round and very smooth.
Very aerodynamic too.
The early frames were solid brass, with some steel brazed on
for the interconnects.
Series 1 and 2 cars had a very simple sheet metal layout underneath
the windscreen, but the series 3 to 5 had a raised ridge underneath,
that will make fitting tricky. I think the rationalization for the
raised
sheetmetal was to reduce the likelyhood of leakage beneath the
windsceen frame seal. In all likelyhood, simply mounting the early
frame to the later body will result in the frame being at the wrong
angle
relative to the door pillars, and will also misposition the top of the
wind-
screen relative to the hard/softtop mounting points.
I would say that since the early cars required the flatter mounting
area, that it would not be difficult cutting the ridged piece of sheet-
metal, then welding in a flatened peice. This would be just fine,
as the windscreen and the dashpad fully cover these type of sins.
BTW, I have a series 1 complete windscreen frame assembly in
good condition "needs re-chroming" that I would easily part with.
cheers,
Jarrid Gross
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