I have taken a look at Rick's car, and as someone else wrote,
there was not a factory luggage rack. I put an Amco brand rack
on my car 'way back in 1975'. It is lower and more sleek than
the one that Rick has. As I don't have a web site (too lazy
to create one for myself), I can send photos of it if anyone
is interested. Although I don't have a good one here at work
with the luggage rack.
Someone else asked about water in the trunk lid. In the 26
years that I have had the rack on my car, I have never had
a problem with water in the lid. They also mentioned a couple
of plugs in the lid. The only exterior holes in my lid are
the ones for the luggage rack. I have seen some holes on other
cars on the underside of the lid near where it meets with the
weather seal for the trunk. I believe that those holes were
not from the factory, but are from after market rustproofing.
(Having said that, I hope that the holes refered to are the
ones that are somewhat exposed to the outside. If they are
the ones on the underside and protected from the environments,
then as Emily used to say: Never mind.)
Doug
--
Doug Mitchell
mailto:dbmitch@peoplepc.com
'73 Spitfire 1500
-----Original Message-----
From: Will Slater [mailto:slaterw@bluffton.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2001 5:18 PM
To: 'Rick Gregory'; 'Spitfires Autox. Team. Net (E-mail)'
Subject: Was Soft-Top Retainer - now luggage rack
I noticed on Rick's web page a picture of his Spit with luggage rack. (By
the way beautiful car Rick!). Does anyone know what the original factory
rack was? I saw discussion of this on the Spitfire and GT 6 web page
suggesting that the 4 rung racks were aftermarket racks. I wonder if there
is a more original rack of better quality? My main concern with my rack
which looks just like Rick's' is it appers to ahve caused the trunk lid to
rust. Some PO or dealer put mine on by drilling though the lid without any
sealant or washers around the bolts. Was that usual practice? Water seeped
in and has rusted the lid at the rear edge between the chrome lid edge and
where the lid contacts the trunk. I am planning to repaint my car, rust
proof it and replace or repair some rusted body parts. On the whole the car
is quite solid. I am pondering whether to attempt to patch weld this place
or replace the lid with one from my parts car. The parts car lid had no
luggage rack and only has surface rust. In either case I would like to keep
the luggage rack if I can do so without it causing my trunk lid to rust in
the future. Is this rust problem caused by these luggage racks one that can
be prevented? What have others done to prevent water getting in and causing
it to rust. I am concerned whether my lid can be saved as the lid seems to
be double walled and I imagine there is considerable rust inside the lid .
What would you advise?
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