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To spat or not to spat


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I must say that I think spats look dreadful and should never grace such a beautiful car, what were ST thinking of when they put them out as an option?

 

John Worthing

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Welcome to the forum! I hope you enjoy it here and stick around!

 

Spats were highly fashionable in the late forties and early fifties and fitted to Bentley Continentals, XK120s and various coach built cars of the era. They not only improved streamlining, but were a style statement, but because brakes heated up in racing they didn't last too long, so my feeling is that they are probably okay on early TR2s, I think they might have been an option, but the TR3A is a bit too modern.

 

Ash

Edited by Ashley James
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If you own a sidescreen TR and it is equipped with wire wheels, then spats will not fit. About 3 or 4 years ago, a chap in Detroit area found some in his basement, years after selling his TR3A. He was asking $1400.00 for the set.

 

Most spats we see on TRs these days have been fabricated recently.

 

I bought my 1958 TR3A brand new with steel wheels to cut down on the total cost of the car - so obviously, I didn't order the expensive option that the spats cost new. The total cost was $2616.00 CDN with the overdrive and windscreen washers, undercoating, licence plate fee and a tank of gas. My car is still very original, so I won't want them on now as I like it to be as it was when I bought it originally.

Edited by Don Elliott
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Welcome! Nice of you to join. Only yesterday, I had a look at a 3A (!) with spats. And to be honest, I didn't like it. Too far fetched, I would say. I'm sure it will look great on 2 or on a shiny Pebble Beach contender. But on a 'every day' classic, it looked out of place.

 

Totally off topic: Every time I see Don's pic of the Continental Devide, I come up with the same question: obviously, the person who shot the pic had the sun in his (her) back, according to the shadow, so he/she was positioned south-ish of the car, thus looking north or north east. From that position I would guess that the text on the plaquette has to be switched: the 'Atlantic' text on the right, the 'Pacific' text on the left. What do I miss (answers on a postcard or a PM).

 

Menno

 

Menno

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Welcome to the Forum TR3Rick. Nice to hear from you. Spats seem to be hard to come by now and very expensive. Nearly all seem to be reproduction ones, and some don't seem to have the correct shape of the originals, so if you find any it would be good to have the option to try them on your car first. If you like them go for it !

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Welcome tr3rick.

 

Worth contacting the Roadster Factory in PA as they used to have someone make up "fender spats" for them. You also need a fitting kit with the spring locking clip at the back. Together they were part 552083.

 

For something different I helped rebuild a TR2 with spats - it has wire wheels on the front and steels on the back, Even though the spats were original NOS in primer, they still needed fettling to fit the shape of the wheel opening.

 

Spats were popular on XK120 Jags of the era, but I don't think they were big sellers as a TR2 accessory and were discontinued after a while.

 

Viv.

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The TR is a Sports Car - and who would want to encumber a Sports Car with spats, which look dreadful, add weight and make wheel changing an all-day event!

 

Ian Cornish

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Hi Menno,

regarding your 'Continental divide' conundrum - it gets worse.

Where the red granite monolith is sited it is on a North/South stretch of road.

According to Don's shadows the pic would have been taken at apprx midday. in the afternoon

 

I think the road simply heads in the two directions irrespective of compass bearing - going South to the Pacific and North to the Atlantic (with a few twists in the middle).

 

Roger

Edited by RogerH
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Thank you all so much. The 3A which I drive is not for racing (different car for that) so the concern about over heating is not a major concern. Your comments on the visual perspective gave me much to consider. Rick

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Hi and welcome tr3rick.

I first saw those spats on TS1 and TS2 at the IWE in 2008 and didn´t like them then, let alone on a TR3A now. :angry::(

I had a 1964 MKII 2.4 Jag with those half size rear spats and I thought on that car they looked great, as without them too much of the tyre and wheel arch were visible so it finished off the shape of the car. :rolleyes:

Dave.

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AND if you want wires on all four corners you can do this which in my opinion looks equally HIDEOUS!

 

spats_TR32.jpg

 

 

Wow Frank! I nearly hit the 'report' button when seeing this! A warning NSFFHM (not suited for faint hearted members :D ) would have been nice.

I agree with you: it's hideous!

 

Menno

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AND if you want wires on all four corners you can do this which in my opinion looks equally HIDEOUS!

 

spats_TR32.jpg

 

 

Bl**dy Awful, and those white wall tyres! can it get any worse? The half spats on the Benters or MKII Jags would be better than this homemade abortion!

 

Dave

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It certainly isn't any worse than the original spats, mind you the originals look so absurdly over large that it would be hard to imagine anything worse.

 

In conjunction with the weather equipment and whitewalls, the dinky spats kind of fit in quite well, the overall effect reminds me of a birthday cake, and the styling cues are no more outrageous than some of the native boulevard cruisers of the mid-1950s.

 

It looks better than the spat-encumbered TS2 anyway . . . .

 

Cheers,

 

Alec

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Menno - As mentioned above by Roger, there are twists and turns in those mountains and the slope towards the Pacific at that spot goes "east" for a bit then the rivulets curve around and end up in the pacific. The same for the other directiion. BTW, I remember the photo being taken in late August at about noon. When we left Breconridge, it was about freezing (altitude about 9000 ft) and we drove in a long convoy climbing to the top of the pass where there was about an inch of snow trapped in the long grass - but the snow on the road had sublimated.

 

Think about the Panama Canal. A ship travels east from the Atlantic Ocean all the way in a south-easterly direction before getting to the Pacific. This is because Panama makes a geographical "S" curve where they built the canal. Check the map.

Edited by Don Elliott
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And neither the Bentley nor the Jag would last more than 3 laps of Goodwood before losing the rear brakes . . . . it's not until you try it that you realise just how much spats reduce the brake cooling.

 

Ahhh, maybe that's why Ken Richardson was able set the 124mph speed record at Jabbeke Highway on 20 May 1953.............he couldn't stop! :o

 

396752_4136964297624_172146116_n.jpg

 

Cheers

Andrew

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