An interesting time right now. I have been playing with the height of the radiator and was aware that lowering it meant that i had to buy a new (smaller) dynamo, which i was okay with until i found out that vintage dynamos cost a fortune, are pretty useless anyway and my one had the starting handle running through it. Lowering the radiator meant that i lost the starting handle and I think i want to keep that as a feature. So the radiator will go back close(ish) to its original position once I have the old dynamo rebuilt which is a fraction of the cost of buying a new one.
Second step back is the bodywork design. Raising the radiator affects the design of that AND the height of the steering wheel etc etc. So I mocked up what i thought would be the height of the side of the car and discovered that if i DID build the coachwork at that height then it would be pretty difficult to get into and out of the passenger seat. I was a little disappointed at this stage seeing all my plans go downhill. It was at that point that Learned Council across the road popped his head into the garage and said the side of the car was asthetically too high (by about 4 inches). Lowering that down to his suggestion did the entry/exit easier for sure and put the side of the car at about the height of an arm resting comfortably on the side.
I also realised that if I try to install the rear seat where I thought it would go – there would not be any space for the rear suspension to ‘bounce’ which would give the rear passenger an interesting driving experience every time we hit a bump… so i have to raise that up concepptually.
I have now installed some 3d modelling software on my PC so that i can mock up a few designs and play with the look… my car will definitely now be unique… watch this space for news on that.
This weekend I go to Beaulieu auto jumble, looking for a few things, a period rev counter, a temperature gauge, a starting handle and anything ‘interesting’. Mind you all these bits need to be cheap 🙂
Birth of a Vintage sportscar 