richard b glenn Posted October 6, 2009 Report Share Posted October 6, 2009 (edited) I've got to the stage of my long term body off resto where i require a replacement rear panel/valance(part No 850379) unfortunately these do not appear to be available, can anybody throw any light on when thay might be produced, I have placed a wanted ad on the buy/sell/trade forum and would accept a good second hand item, but it would have to be good and not butchered, all leads greatfully recieved Edited October 6, 2009 by richard b glenn Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Barbusmaximus Posted October 8, 2009 Report Share Posted October 8, 2009 Hi, Have you tried Moss? I know they were readily available from them last week. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stuart Posted October 8, 2009 Report Share Posted October 8, 2009 Hi, Have you tried Moss? I know they were readily available from them last week. Have you tried fitting one of theirs Better than they were but still not the best. Stuart Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Barbusmaximus Posted October 8, 2009 Report Share Posted October 8, 2009 No I haven't, I was just calling round for prices and availabilty, they seemed to be the only people to have them. I am surprised re your comment on the fit though, as I am led to beleive they are made in conjunction with British Motor Heritage Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stuart Posted October 8, 2009 Report Share Posted October 8, 2009 (edited) I am surprised re your comment on the fit though, as I am led to beleive they are made in conjunction with British Motor Heritage Exactly! I have to try and get panels to fit every day of the week and if it hasnt got Stanpart written on it then its going to be difficult. Mind you most of the Stanpart outers that are around still take a little bit of fettling as most are factory rejects that wouldnt fit straight away on the line and went out to the dealers but at least you have a lot more chance of getting an acceptable fit. Stuart Edited October 8, 2009 by stuart Quote Link to post Share on other sites
roy53 Posted October 8, 2009 Report Share Posted October 8, 2009 Exactly! I have to try and get panels to fit every day of the week and if it hasnt got Stanpart written on it then its going to be difficult. Mind you most of the Stanpart outers that are around still take a little bit of fettling as most are factory rejects that wouldnt fit straight away on the line and went out to the dealers but at least you have a lot more chance of getting an acceptable fit. Stuart thanks for your input stuart as i was wondering if i had a bad one of the new panels ,its hard to make it touch anywhere.as i waited over 18months for these to appear with my car stuck in the body shop to a point that i had to bring it back home,was very intersted to hear that radford panels make this part to order,has anyone had dealings with them and especialy the rear valance? Roy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stuart Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 thanks for your input stuart as i was wondering if i had a bad one of the new panels ,its hard to make it touch anywhere.as i waited over 18months for these to appear with my car stuck in the body shop to a point that i had to bring it back home,was very intersted to hear that radford panels make this part to order,has anyone had dealings with them and especialy the rear valance? Roy I have yet to try any of the panels from them so I too would be interested although I believe the Spitfire boys deal with them a lot. Stuart Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tr4Tony Posted October 14, 2009 Report Share Posted October 14, 2009 Hi all Ive tried a Radford rear valance and I wasnt impressed. This the last port of call before I had 12 handmade ... I may do it again if there is demand, but they are quite costly. Quality was obviously good. Regards Tony Quote Link to post Share on other sites
roy53 Posted October 15, 2009 Report Share Posted October 15, 2009 Hi all Ive tried a Radford rear valance and I wasnt impressed. This the last port of call before I had 12 handmade ... I may do it again if there is demand, but they are quite costly. Quality was obviously good. Regards Tony Tony could be interested unless i find someone with the required skills to make this one fit "PROPERLY" Roy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
harrytr5 Posted October 15, 2009 Report Share Posted October 15, 2009 I too tried the first Moss rear valances when building my TR5,as has already been stated 'fits where it touches'.I am surprised this is still the case after 8 years and would have thought it was well sorted.After searching for 3 years I located a Stanpart new old stock through word of mouth and had to pay £300 plus a pub dinner and lots of begging.Well worth it as it of course fitted so well.Now, I would expect to pay more for one.I would have ordered one from Tony if I had exhausted all avenues(subject to seeing the prototype)and if I knew he was doing this at the time. Regards HarryTR5 Nutter Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tr4Tony Posted October 15, 2009 Report Share Posted October 15, 2009 Hi I was delighted with the fit of the hand made ones I had made. They are very very good, came in 3 parts so that the sections under the light bowls can be attached as necessary; either in alloy or steel, with or without the bumper iron holes. The alloy ones are a work of art and I kid you not when i say i think they fit better than the NOS Stanpart one i have as a pattern for the man to use. I may get another batch done, subject to paid up front orders (minimum 10 again) as otherwise the outturn cost is just too high. Last time round it was £450 for the main valance plus the two upper sections, less without these or without the cutouts. Same price for alloy or steel plus or minus a few pints. The former will only reliably do a certain amount of pressings and hand formings, so each time a new one has to be made - this is where the primary cost lies, hence the minimum numbers. I am also looking at front valances, with the TR5 cutout as an 'add on', TR5 / TR6 door frames and possibly the TR4 headlamp panel and the valance together but this will be indemountable form for competition use. Regards Tony Quote Link to post Share on other sites
harrytr5 Posted October 16, 2009 Report Share Posted October 16, 2009 Well done Tony.I would not hesitate to order one from you if I was building my TR5 today as I know from bitter experiance how bad the repros are.i am still very surprised Moss has not improved on these after the very first batch all those years ago.Mind you I have not seen the latest pressing of yet so I should not be too hard on them, after all with out Moss where would we be?. Regards HarryTR5 Nutter Quote Link to post Share on other sites
harrytr5 Posted October 16, 2009 Report Share Posted October 16, 2009 Well done Tony.I would not hesitate to order one from you if I was building my TR5 today as I know from bitter experiance how bad the repros are.i am still very surprised Moss has not improved on these after the very first batch all those years ago.Mind you I have not seen the latest pressing of yet so I should not be too hard on them, after all with out Moss where would we be?. Regards HarryTR5 Nutter Quote Link to post Share on other sites
graeme Posted October 17, 2009 Report Share Posted October 17, 2009 Hi Tony, I would definitely have one rear valance and possibly two if numbers needed to be made up. Please keep me informed if you decide to have a batch made. Cheers Graeme Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BrianC Posted October 17, 2009 Report Share Posted October 17, 2009 (edited) The alloy ones are a work of art and I kid you not when i say i think they fit better than the NOS Stanpart one i have as a pattern for the man to use. I don't understand this. Presumably if the guy used the StanPart one as a pattern, then the fit should be the same (good or bad) on any one car. Or does having it made in sections simply allow flexibility when fitting? Regardless of this, it's great that you are able to get these vital parts made and I really don't understand why the New Spares Fund isn't involved. I haven't checked the part numbers, but are the TR4/4A/5 valances interchangeable (apart from the various cutouts) - perhaps with a little extra work? Edited October 17, 2009 by BrianC Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stuart Posted October 17, 2009 Report Share Posted October 17, 2009 I don't understand this. Presumably if the guy used the StanPart one as a pattern, then the fit should be the same (good or bad) on any one car. Or does having it made in sections simply allow flexibility when fitting? Regardless of this, it's great that you are able to get these vital parts made and I really don't understand why the New Spares Fund isn't involved. I haven't checked the part numbers, but are the TR4/4A/5 valances interchangeable (apart from the various cutouts) - perhaps with a little extra work? Even Stanpart items will need a bit of fettling to suit each car . The rear valance itself is the same 4/4a/5 its just the 5s that have holes in the extensions for reversing lights. Stuart. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BrianC Posted October 17, 2009 Report Share Posted October 17, 2009 (edited) Even Stanpart items will need a bit of fettling to suit each car . I fully appreciate that, but I wondered why the reproduction item would fit better than the original from which the pattern was made. I would expect them to be virtually identical (with due allowances made for the manufacturing process by human rather than robot ). If there is some variation, then I guess some may be better than others - but then that's the nature of hand-made panels. I was fortunate enough to have some of the first batch of hand-made sidescreen panels from Cox & Buckles (made by Pete B's father, I believe). I had rear apron, quarter panels, floors and inner and outer sills. The rear apron and quarter panels varied in quality including ripples, so I was able to pick the best of the bunch, but the guy who fitted them for me had no real issue (despite the fact he worked for Vauxhall Motors and had never seen a TR before ). Edited October 17, 2009 by BrianC Quote Link to post Share on other sites
richard b glenn Posted October 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2009 Thanks to everyone for taking the time to comment on my original message, Although i did locate a non original item the body shop has dismissed it as not fit for the quality of the work that thay have done so far, at the moment the thought is to remove the current panel which was 'fitted'!! prior to my purchase of the wreck, sorry car!, cut out the poorly formed sections and then hand form new sections, we have already done this to the nearside rear wing as having ordered a replacement from Rimmers, it was found to be so out of shape that it was more cost effective to properly repair the original than buy a replacement which needed nearly as much work to make it fit right, Have to go now to buy a bigger shovel to get more cash in the ever widening hole(s), Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ianc Posted October 26, 2009 Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 To answer Brian, the reasons that the Spares Development Fund has not been involved with Tony's enterprise are: 1 - we wouldn't want to sponsor a repro where one was available already, and Moss have them. 2 - Tony doesn't need the funding (he knows we are there and would have asked had he needed funds, but, because of the above, we would have declined). 3 - if Tony wants to produce something which he believes to be superior to the existing repro item, that is his decision and he needs only to convince others that his product is worth it. When I was talking to Pete Cox last January, I gained the impression that the latest rear valance from Moss IS a good fit, and that, as ever, one of the big problems is that the cars differ because they have been bent, have sagged, or have been bodged in a previous re-build(s). I would be interested to know if anyone has actually compared the latest version from Moss with an absolutely unmolested original Stanpart item. Ian Cornish Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Alec Pringle Posted October 26, 2009 Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 Don't forget that even when the cars were relatively new, a replacement rear valance could be an absolute swine to fit, as in all too frequently it didn't. Not even where it touched. Heaven knows how they fitted them on the line, maybe all or at least most spares stock was production reject. And that's without the subsequent rebuild factor, body sag, accident repair or whatever. Recently I had a chap on the phone bemoaning the quality of repro valance compared to his 'original' . . . . I happened to know the car, to my knowledge it's had a body-off rebuild and then subsequently been rear-ended and repaired. Beats me, the number of new owners who think their cars are 'original', 40-odd years and 20-odd owners later. And they haven't a clue as to the amount of brute force and bl**dy ignorance that's oft employed in a body shop . . . . Cheers, Alec Quote Link to post Share on other sites
graeme Posted November 1, 2009 Report Share Posted November 1, 2009 Just to confirm what Alec says about original quality, this is a picture of a TR that I owned in the early 70s which had no accident damage, so was completely original. Quality isn't too good as it is a scan but you will get the idea. Cheers Graeme Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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