The question:
> >I noticed that the bonnet catches on the '80 Spits were painted body color.
> >Was this a late factory change or just part of the advertising?
On Sun, 16 May 1999, Laura G. noted:
> In my handy dandy spitfire book by Michael Cook, all it says is that the 79
> and into 80 model years carried "virtually no chrome trim at all."
>
> I really haven't seen many '80s (or '79s) . I do seem to vaguely remember
> seeing a spit once that had bonnet catches painted the same colour as the
> body.
I'll guess that Mike Cook's reference here is to the fact that the late
"Federal" Spitfires had gained the large black safety bumpers, replacing
the chrome bumpers of before. By 1979, those chrome bumpers were about
the only "bright" trim left on the Spitfires.
As to the bonnet latches, this has intrigued me for years. So far as I
can tell, on all but possibly some of the earlier 948 Heralds, the
latches were put in place on the bonnets and the exposed chrome covered
(perhaps with a wax substance as Rich suggested, or otherwise masked
off), then the color coats applied to the body. As far as I've seen on
Spitfires of all years, that practice never (theoretically) changed.
However, I used to frequent my local Triumph dealers back in the 1970s --
right up until it closed in the early 1980s (by that time I already had a
small fleet of Triumphs to keep running). Naturally I would spend much
time looking at the new cars. From around the 1975 model year on
(approximately), I would estimate that anywhere from 20-40% or more of
the new Spitfires that came through that dealer had bonnet latches that
remained painted as well as the rest of the car (insert your own comments
here about BLMC quality control of the era). But it wasn't consistent.
Sometimes just about every Spitfire on the lot would have painted
latches, and sometimes just about none of them would.
So: intentional? No, I rather doubt it. Common? See above percentages as
a very rough guess. "Correct" as in acceptable in Concours judging? Well,
maybe not. I'll defend it on a car that appears to be original and never
repainted, but I have no documentation beyond my own memory, so my
defense probably won't get you very far! :-)
--Andy
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* Andrew Mace, President and *
* 10/Herald/Vitesse (Sports 6) Consultant *
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