Tuesday, August 4, 2015

More on Neil's special.

As Simon pointed out the body had a brief airing on an Autosport forum entitled "Australian Sports Special" earlier this year. Conclusions at the end were that the body was made from moulds taken from an E-type coupe, before shifting to a more general JWF thread.

"The chassis it was sitting on was a Triumph Herald, but it did not fit the lower body, which has channels for chassis rails in the sills. The body was moulded in two pieces, an upper and lower section, and there is quite a lot of double skinning that has been cut away. There is a spare wheel well behind the rear axle". (see photos in previous post). It looks to have an MGB windscreen, dating it after 1962. "There are winding windows installed in the doors, which are double skinned and an inspection hatch let into the floor moulding over the diff centre. The whole front end flips forward and there are two lower box sections forward of the bulkhead that extend about 20cm. It looks like the holes at bumper level could accommodate MGB lights". It is not a known US kit. "The bonnet scoop is not original it seems, has been let into the bonnet, but very well done. Also looks to have had a round bonnet badge near the screen at some point."

Conclusions so far : 1. Not in the JWF family.
                                 2. Looks like a Velacia.
                                 3. A bit like a J&S Hunter at the front but the
                                     rear is completely different.
                                 4. The roof is very E-type.

"The bulkhead has stiffening ribs and a different shape on the driver's side (RH). There is wood strengthening at the base of the A-pillar indicating that it was originally intended to have hidden door hinges. The dash is crude, but fashioned out of steel and alloy with quite a few holes for clocks and switches."
Contributors now coming back to Velacia, Italia, Hunter front, Velacia rear.

Front and rear screen are glass and not laminated or toughened.
Under the sill is the channel for a chassis tube.
"The sills are quite deep and the floor low. Note unusual shape of transmission tunnel and the fact that the glassfibre floor is shaped with stiffening ribs. Doors have window winders and places where internal hinges must have been used."
Side view of transmission tunnel - odd shape.

"Bulkhead is quite complex. At bottom of bulkhead there are short rectangular sections that look like they were meant to rest on the chassis, so chassis in sills and then supporting front bulkhead."
                                                                 Profile
                                                                Intake
                                                                     Interior

Another conclusion - Chassis may have been HQ Holden van or ute.

A breakthrough - Bulkhead and floorpan and windscreen is Triumph Herald/Spitfire and the rest is from E-type.

We really need to trace some history.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Definitely not hunter. Although there was 2 versions, one a fast back with mgb windscreens, the front isnt hunter. Where was it found?

degruch said...

Very intriguing! I'd pick on the Spitfire as source of the bulkhead as opposed to a Herald, as the Herald is taller...having said that, this could have been cut down. The floor pan right up to the hump over the diff looks Triumph too. This may have been sitting on a Spitfire/GT6 chassis once?