In 1951 I drove a new Hillman Minx that had mirrors on the fenders (wing
mirrors, to the Brits). They were convex glass and I was so impressed by
them that I put them on almost every car I have ever owned since, sawing
off the door mirrors that came with the cars. They provide a wide angle
view and eliminate the blind spots that you get with mirrors on the doors.
The wing mirrors go over the center of the wheel. But when I replaced them
with flat glass mirrors the result was terrible. The mirrors are too far
away and the field of view is too narrow. I found the flat glasss mirrors
useless. If your bullet mirrors have flat glass I suggest that you don't
use them.
So I would recommend using convex mirrors over the wheel centers or else no
mirrors at all. The copies of the original Lucas wing mirrors are
available, though not of the original quality. Once you have driven with
them for a few days you will be used to them and wonder how you ever did
without them before.
Those mirrors have been on my Series 3 Alpine from the day I bought it in
1963. You used to see them on almost every British car, and when I visited
Japan in the late 1970's they were on every car I saw there.
Fred Levit
1963 Series 3
Fred Levit
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. USA
fle426@northwestern.edu
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