Mark,
To which 'eyes' are you referring? You'll find two on the engine (or should
do) around the cylinder head. These were used for slinging points when the
engines were bench run at the factory for lifting on to a a multi-engine
dynamometer. They were later used in Assembly. This was where the engine
was lowered on to the trackcarrier in Pre-Mount which comprised the front
and rear suspension onto which the body was then lowered to make the car a
whole unit.
Depending on the age of your car, the 'eyes' at either end and usually to
one side of the vehicle are essentially lashing eyes for securing the car
when on a transporter. It's not a good idea (as you'll know) to use a
trackrod end for the same purpose. According to their position, they can
reasonably safely be used as towing eyes in the event of the car breaking
down or for hauling another lighter vehicle which has broken down.
External 'eyes' might have been used for shipping purposes but mostly the
cars were stored (very tightly packed) on or between decks, in gear with
their handbrakes on.
In fact, I greatly doubt whether they were lashed down all that often. A
former colleague and long standing chum of mine who worked at Leonia, NJ
told me that after rough Atlantic crossings, it was not at all unusual to
have as many as 50 or 60 cars requiring extensive panelwork repair before
being released to the US dealer network.They were loaded in England by
being driven on to a rectangular frame with variable length wheel chock
slots and then craned onto the boat. I did see a photograph on one occasion
taken at the docks in Liverpool in the late 1950's where a line of TR's -
with timber bumpers front and rear - were
being pushed in convoy onto the frame with the car at the back doing all
the work.
Must have done the clutch on the 'pusher' a power of good!
John Macartney
Now in the same museum as the cars he sold when they were new
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