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This is a shot of the nearside front door - lower half.
The wooden panel on the floor is a newly fabricated inner door liner; it
has been turned about face to show the inside. The box and rod on
the left contains the lower door lock that is connected to the main lock
and handle by the vertical rod. When the door is shut it is held in
alignment not only by the usual lock bolt but also by a vertical pin (in
the bottom lock) which locates in a conical seat that protrudes from the
shut-face on the body. This system ensures that the door gap does
not distort even if the chassis flexes on uneven surfaces. |
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Looking at the rear nearside wheel arch: wing removed
and the door opened right back against the body. The lower sections
of the doors on this car are curved or barrel-shaped. Over the years
the grain of the wood had straightened out, slightly, to leave the
flange at the rear of the door, over the wheel arch, proud of the body by
about 1/4 inch. The structural integrity of the door had not been
compromised. It was decided that the safest way to rectify the misalignment
was to remove the aluminium over the forward arch frame, let in a tapered
piece of ash and then re-cap in aluminium. This photograph shows the
new wood and the re-profiled aluminium sheet. |
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Nearside rear door, looking towards the hinge just beneath the bottom
of the window. To make sure that no further door frame distortion
occurs all of the door joints were fitted with metal gussets. |
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More door gussets. This is the lower section,
hinge side, of the nearside front door. As all of the photographs
show, the wood and metal were in incredibly good condition. |