Not to pour water on anyone's parade but I'll wager that BE production lines
were much like many other vehicle production lines all over the world. When
a vehicle came down the line and they were out of a certain series widget or
paint to put on it, they grabbed one from another pile rather than stop
production and be sure each vehicle was totally consistent. I know for a
fact that MG production was that way at Abingdon as I was told by an old
fellow about his experience working there in the 1960s. He assured that they
put Sprite parts on MGs and vice versa all the time rather than not meet
production measures. My BMW motorcycles were also made that way. You can
never be sure that anything is absolutely authentic. I suppose that people
who write the Concours Standards are aware of this but simply choose to
ignore it. Unfortunately, the guys on the production lines never got a copy
of the Concours Standards - they were just expected to turn out so many
vehicles a day.
One good reason I never played with such things. I have better things to
argue with other people about.... (Where's Ed?) ;-)
Cheers!!
Jim Johnson
Don't miss the BIG PARTY!! Midget 50th Anniversary!
Elkhart Lake, WI July 18-22, 2011
Info & Registration here:
http://www.sprite-midgetclub.org
On Mon, Mar 14, 2011 at 6:37 PM, Linda Grunthaner <grunthaner at
gmail.com>wrote:
> Jack what book are you referring to pg 181 and if I don't have it how can I
> buy one?
> Thanks,
> Linda
> this stuff is very interesting.
>
>
> On Mon, Mar 14, 2011 at 7:03 PM, Jack Laird <jlaird237 at cox.net> wrote:
>
> > Leo, I can not even think why these are black I have never seen any other
> > than car color. However, my 1960 BE one year old when I got it had black
> > hood hinges. No fooling. You know, thinking about it I would supose that
> > bonnets and bodys were painted before mateing them.
> >
> > But then what do I know, maybe some were body color and some were black.
> >
> > I expect that the frame horns black is an aberation, In fact in that pic
> on
> > page 181 I see other things that are not correct as we know it. Maybe
> > someone slipped us a sneeky one. Happens. Guess that is why an orginal
> > documented car is worth so much.
> >
> >
> > I don't want to get into the semantics of a he said, they said argument
> >> and
> >> nor do I want to choose sides in this conversation but why not approach
> it
> >> from a logic perspective. As far as the frame member under the radiator
> >> does it make more economical sense for a manufacturer to paint an area
> >> under
> >> a component after the component is installed or before? I would argue
> >> that
> >> the area was painted before . Which brings us to the next question ,
> did
> >> the manufacturer mask off and paint a second color over the original
> color
> >> which means he had to pay the labor to mask off the surrounding
> metalwork.
> >> I think not!!! Is it possible there is a high instance of where paint
> got
> >> on
> >> the cross member when an owner refreshed the radiator paint.. much more
> >> likely. Have learned a little investigative logic goes a long way lots
> of
> >> times. That said I would argue that, as the standards state, that the
> >> frame
> >> rail is painted body color.
> >>
> >> Leo
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> In addition, the frame comming from under the radiator is black as well.
|