What the eff..

[NicBowman]

Hi. Rebuilding my 1969 Vixen, the phrase I use quite frequently is 'what the eff is this?' Sometimes followed by the word rubbish.. Still, it was in active service for 49 years before,being laid up in 2018. It even had an mot in 2018.

Anyway, there were two round 'masking plates' under the bonnet, all painted in original 1969 paint. I thought they were rubber seals over too many holes open the bulkhead. See photo.



I thought, they look like coins. So, some while later..



A 1968 post decimalisation 10p plus a 1946 one penny with George VI. I guess the original owner and builder (Stephen) fitted them, on a bed of something like silicone back in 1969. Why not? They did the job!

Shall keep them somewhere special.

Nic

[Moto]

Nick,

When restoring my old cottage many years ago we found coins under the window sills. Apparently a few hundred years ago it was quite common as they believed it would keep the devil out of the house. Maybe. there's some similar idea with your find.

Moto

[V8Tolerancefit]

I bonded 2 lucky 2p's into dads car when I built it.

[Granturadriver]

I like such finds. I have also found coins, pens and CDs in my car, even if they were no technical solutions.

[GTRene]

what if, your car was build in 1968 (sold in 1969) and the guy who build it was born in 1946...

could be his sign to say, I did that :-)

just like some leave a writing under the carpet.

anyhow, nice find.

In my first house long time ago in the 80-tisch, I had to go on the flat roof on my kitchen, it had roofleather with stones and when i walked over it I saw a coin mixed in it, it was a war coin, 1 cent I believe.

ah, yes Seetang like this one, a 1 cent 1942 German occupation in Zinck. mine looked worse though :-)



and of course in some of the many second hand cars I've owned and when cleaning them out I also found coins in some cars, also German coins when such car was imported long time ago from Germany to the Netherlands and I say had to get the seat out and hey, I'm Rich... ok not really lol, but always fun to find such.

Edited by GTRene on Saturday 4th March 22:59

Edited by GTRene on Saturday 4th March 23:00

[GeneralBanter]

There’s your profit right there Nic.

[NicBowman]

I wonder how much the self build cars were left dismantled? This car was one of the car tax free self builds.

Lots of weird stuff, like bolts 40mm long to hold together a 10mm item. Poor choice and a bh to remove, especially the door hinge bolts.

Door construction really laughably cr@p. Can’t be like that if factory built?

Nic

[V8Tolerancefit]

NicBowman said:

I wonder how much the self build cars were left dismantled? This car was one of the car tax free self builds.

Lots of weird stuff, like bolts 40mm long to hold together a 10mm item. Poor choice and a bh to remove, especially the door hinge bolts.

Door construction really laughably cr@p. Can’t be like that if factory built?

Nic

Nic. kit built cars were supplied built but minus engine, wheels and minor items. There was very little work required to build them into a completed car. The kit supply was purely a ruse to get around the purchase tax laws.. My experience of these cars is that some 50 years later they are not being re-built and restored for the first time Having said that you should never be surprised that some elements of construction really were pretty poor out of the factory :-)
N.

[Moto]

NicBowman said:

especially the door hinge bolts.

Door construction really laughably cr@p. Can’t be like that if factory built?

Nic

Nic,

I'm with you 100% on this. The design is very poor and easy to install badly causing damage to the fibreglass in the door post hinge area . Assemble the door hinges to the post with care.

My tips from memory are to ensure the flat at the back of the hinge box seats comfortably to the floor of the door post recess. You will most likely need to cut some fibreglass spacing pieces to fill any gap (probably a different number of spacers for each door). If not, the fibreglass in the door post recess will crack and break when you tighten the hinge to post bolts - very difficult to repair well.

Also the original bolts have low profile heads so they don't protrude as much as a standard bolt head. This is for clearance to the back of the hinge when the door is closed. Again without the clearance the stresses will crack and break the fibreglass usually in the door post. Make sure you use the correct original bolts or if using new, grind their heads down before using them. Then carefully close the door to feel if there is any interference - or use some wet paint on the bolt head to see if it transfers to the door hinge when trying to close.

Moto

Edited by Moto on Sunday 5th March 11:41

[Granturadriver]

V8Tolerancefit said:

Nic. kit built cars were supplied built but minus engine, wheels and minor items. There was very little work required to build them into a completed car. The kit supply was purely a ruse to get around the purchase tax laws.. My experience of these cars is that some 50 years later they are not being re-built and restored for the first time Having said that you should never be surprised that some elements of construction really were pretty poor out of the factory :-)
N.

Yes, exactly! This advert pic shows what you got delivered ordering a kit.

[NicBowman]

Thanks. Very informative. This is definitely the first time this car has had major resto, but maybe repairs as you go done badly! Anyway, it will go back together rather better this time!

Nic

Possibly outrageous but just got a red Tesla, colour would look good on my Vixen!