MASCOT August 1994 (1)

ROADSTER NOTES - The Little Detail

Bill Haverly

Prompted by photos of three recent fine Roadster restorations we're back this month on the narrow track of original detail. To be fair, these are only minor points under discussion, but when vast amounts of money have been spent on the body beautiful, gleaming chrome and a quality trim finish, it then becomes important to get the small specification right in order to pip the rivals for that top concours award.

With so many cars being finished to such a high standard of excellence these days, a judges decision must often rest on the correctness of the fine detail.

But it was a bit more than a coincidence that these three cars - from America, India and Hong Kong all showed the same reversal on two points of detail. Small mistakes to be sure, and equally easy to put right.

The first is the fairly common one of fitting the grab handle upside down, and its proper position is hanging downwards from the scuttle rim. Mount it upwards and you can still grab it effectively when the driver takes a corner too fast, but try to fit the tonneau in position and it will tend to foul on the leading edge.

The direction of the inner door handles is the second little point to note, and it's illogical in a way for Singers to have fitted them facing forward. To open the door this way round it's a lift and push operation, when the natural tendency is to press the handle down. Fit them facing rearwards, however, and you get the normal opening action, but at the expense of fouling the front seats when they pivot forward. I know this one
well, for the man in the dark green Roadster with black trim had them facing rearwards for many years.

(Another probable reason why Singers fitted the inner door handles pointing forward is because wide doors with the hinges relatively close together have more than a tendency to drop. If the inner handle has to be lifted to open the door, then this tends to lift the door itself as well, reducing the drag on the sill - Ed.)