Thursday 12 June 2008

Herald/Vitesse Radio Mounting Bracket

Herald/Vitesse Radio Mounting Bracket
After a fair bit of searching I managed to source an original Herald/Vitesse radio mounting bracket. These are starting to go for silly money on eBay - a complete radio bracket and speaker assembly went for £150 a few months back - definitely a case of demand outstripping supply.

Although the pressing does look a little complicated, it's a shame no one's considered remanufacturing them. I understand a source of the wobbly finisher plate has already been identified.

Monday 9 June 2008

Spitfire Sold

I should have posted this one last month - after a lot of thought I decided to sell my Spitfire 4. It's a great car with lots of potential - it just needed some TLC to bring it back to its former glory. Rob Sparrow is the new owner - he came down with his Dad to pick up the various spares - fortunately they realise the rarity of an early Spitfire in original condition, so I look forward to seeing it back on the road soon.

Here's a picture Rob took collecting the car outside Karl Dandridge's workshop.

Saturday 7 June 2008

Chassis Mods

The original Coupe chassis required a fair bit of work, so I'm using a replacement "technical college" chassis instead. From what I understand these were rolling chassis Triumph put together to show the arrangement of the various mechanical components of the drivechain along with the steering, suspension and brakes. These display chassis were sold (or I guess maybe donated) to technical colleges throughout the UK for students to train on. The good thing is they've never been out on the road, so are pretty much rust free.

Paul at Triumph Auto Classique has made a few modifications to the chassis. It is possible to get the branch exhaust manifold to clear the main rails, but Paul has done a great job relieving the top edge (as per the later Spitfires) to make manifold fitment a lot easier.



I've never been a fan of the engine bay valences on the Herald. Most of the time they get in the way, and the only useful purpose they serve is holding up the radiator. To get the Shorrock Supercharger positioned where I need it, the right hand valence is in the way, so it has to go. To hold the radiator up, I'm going for the Spitfire "U" shaped bracket mounted directly onto the chassis, and we'll use the Spitfire bracket that goes from the top of the rad down to the suspension turret.





Shaun Ogbourne pointed out that the rear pockets of the side rails is a real muck and rust trap, so these are now closed off to prevent the ingress of any mud build-up.




(please excuse the funny picture angles of all these shots - the chassis was stood on its end leaning up against the workshop wall!)

I'm hoping to get the chassis and body into the final paint stage very shortly.

Supercharged Spitfire

Here's some pictures of Lewis Jones' Spitfire taken by Herald fanatic Rob Newton Allen at The South of England Meet this year. Unusually the Shorrock unit is fitted to a 1300/1500 cylinder head using a Herald 13/60 inlet manifold, and I guess for bonnet clearance reasons the unit has been mounted upside down.

Please note all photographs are copyright Rob Newton Allen.